>> On August 5, colourful beach umbrellas along Italy’s sun-soaked coast were kept closed in protest against a government plan to auction patches of seafront. Although it is state property, access to much of the Italian coast has long been controlled by beach clubs. The beach clubs say the plan favours multinational companies and will put 30,000 beach business and 600,000 workers at risk.
>> After analysing 1,350 calls of 34 bat species, Zoological Society of London has created an online tool, iBatsID, that will help track bat species across Europe. The tool will be useful to citizen scientists to record the ultrasonic calls of bats and identify them.