Time will come to a standstill today to mark 100 years since the death of the last passenger pigeon and the extinction of what was once the world’s most abundant bird.

LITTLE terns began nesting at Crimdon, near Hartlepool in Teeside, in the mid-1990s.

DOZENS of common bird species have declined across Europe over the past quarter of a century, with some pushed to the brink of extinction in the continent, a report warned yesterday.

A leading campaign group has welcomed a decision to withdraw controversial GM crop trials which had been planned to take place only two miles from Europe’s biggest organic research centre.