In photos / Environment
In photos: Bristol’s climate news – September 2025
Fashion, film, music and song feature in this month’s roundup as people find creative ways to celebrate and highlight the plight of the natural world.
There’s also a spectacular bird’s eye look at the river restoration project at Belmont Estate in south Bristol, where a turtle dove – on the critical Red List, in danger of extinction – has been spotted and a rarely-seen White Stork recently paid a visit.
The campaign to clean up the Avon celebrated the birth of the Avona river puppet, the culmination of the tour of the Rave on for the Avon film and the launch of their art exhibition at Bristol Aquarium – photo: Louis Veillon
The Rave on for the Avon film, created by local director Charlotte Sawyer about the grassroots, female-led creative campaign to clean up the river, has now been seen by more than 4,500 people at over 80 screenings and received five stars in the Guardian – photo: Robert Browne
The exhibition is open for free in the Aquarium foyer until November 3. Art exhibits on display include the Avona puppet and a video installation of her ceremonial birthing and first swim – photo: Louis Veillon
Bristol designer Alice Bowen-Churchill crafted a coat for London Fashion Week made from recycled blankets and unwearable clothing which was modelled by singer Sam Ryder backstage where celebrities and audience members were invited to sign a pledge in its lining to ‘dress for the world you want’ – photo: Gabi Torres
The coat, emblazoned with words of hope and inspiration, appeared in the Oxfam/Vinted Style for Change Catwalk show. Bowen-Churchill aimed to show the importance of reusing and re-wearing clothing, and that choosing second hand can make a powerful statement. It follows her 2024 creation made from discarded festival tents – photo: Chris Yates
The river restoration project at Watercress Farm, part of the Belmont Estate, celebrated its second birthday this month. Allowing the water to flow freely through its original floodplain, it has improved water quality downstream by lessening agricultural run off; increased plant and animal species on the wetlands by 631 per cent; and seen an increase from 2 to 24 species of fish, molluscs and crustaceans – photo: Belmont Estate
The Bristol Climate Choir joined others at Kings Cross in performances of reworded versions of Handel’s Hallelujah chorus and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, calling on the government to ‘stop Rosebank’ and telling Rosebank’s owner, oil giant Equinor, ‘we don’t want your dirty oil no more’ – photo: Stop Rosebank
On 24 September Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership hosted a breakfast event on building climate resilience, as part of their Climate Action Programme – photo: Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership
A River’s Song, a Bedminster musical project celebrating the Malago, hosted a grand finale of public performances and participatory recording sessions at Philip Street Chapel – photo: Natalia Kida
From cello and violin to clarinet, flute, piano, guitars, bass, percussion, voices, choir, and spoken word, the river’s sounds were reimagined through a rich and varied ensemble – photo: Natalia Kida
The musical project was augmented by visual pieces including art and photographs created by local artist Lynn Templar – photo: Natalia Kida
The grand finale of the project was an immersive audio-visual spectacular at the Chapel, where Taylor-West’s finished composition was presented alongside a new light artwork created in collaboration with Bristol-based artist Zoe Broome – photo: Natalia Kida
Bristol Waste’s Reuse Shops reached the 350,000 items sold milestone, selling 100,000 over the last year which they say ‘highlights the demand for reuse schemes in Bristol and the city’s commitment to a more sustainable future’ – photo: Bristol Waste
Main image: Robert Browne
is needed now More than ever
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