You are looking so good! Ladies and gentlemen. Let's ride.

Thank you to everyone who wrote to EC President Jose Manuel Barroso. 11,500 people took time out let him and his EC colleagues know what they thought about plans to cut environmental funding from the Common Agriculture Policy, revealed by the RSPB just over a week ago.

Don't yawn. Admittedly the CAP is legislation wrapped in verbage so dense it should…

Working and living in London, it's a joy to visit our reserves or the countryside. Yet I'm all too conscious of the number of fellow Londoners who feel no connection with rural Britain and don't care where the food in our shops comes from.

It's a sad state of affairs and maybe I and other conservationists are partly to blame. Why are farmland birds important to you if you're struggling to keep a roof over…

There's a drumming on my flat roof .. it's raining heavily and I can almost hear the plants and trees sighing with relief.

Yet, newspapers and programmes continue to talk about drought. Now look at the lush green field pictured on the right. That's our Rainham Marsh nature reserve seen from the visitor centre at Purfleet. It looks good doesn't it?

The image is completely wrong. The reeds along the trenches…

A big smiley welcome to one female and two male peregrine chicks, now ringed and very visible on our re-aligned and cleaned webcam [Thank you Lyndon].

They are so fluffy and cute.

I defy anyone seeing them not to want to feel their fluffiness pressed up against your cheek - or maybe I'm just sad. It's hard to imagine these fragile looking balls of bounciness becoming the feared and fast predator that sends…

This weekend, Harry Boorman, his cousin Luke and mate (not in the biblical sense) Joe, are scouring the windy streets of London looking for birds. That sentence somehow feels a bit seedy but their endeavour is all above board and in a good cause.

Harry's girlfriend, Hara [pictured right], challenged him to spot 100 different bird species within the M25 over 48 hours. It's more than possible, especially at the moment…

I'd like to talk to you about footballer Rxxx Xxxxx, but that's old news now.

I want an injunction on sustainability, then maybe we'd see some interest from our news media in the shocking state (and decline) of our wildlife. I admit we're not talking sexy species like tigers and elephants, but vanishing grasses, bugs and yes even some birds is pretty bad news.

In London, we're losing house sparrows

I'm confused, what season are we in? Is it spring or summer now.

Yesterday (3.5.11) the first of four central London peregrine chicks hatched live on our webcam. This morning, I heard swifts screaming over my house and the tree at the end of my garden is now in full leaf. I'm even contemplating harvesting some elderflowers to make some syrup. Now, the weather forecast is for rain, after a prolonged hot and dry spell…

The sun was shining, the traffic rumbled distantly over Kew Bridge and only the screech of ring necked parakeets disturbed the squeaky-wheel call of great tits. I was standing on the banks of the Thames near Kew Gardens and had to strain to see the cluster of heron's nests in the trees on the opposite bank.

These giant birds are as big as it (avian life) gets in the UK. In flight they are serene and impressive. In…

The chatterring and squabbling of Cockney sparra's that has for so long been a feature of London's soundscape is falling silent.

The 2011 Big Garden Birdwatch results for London illustrate the birds' continuing decline. Comparing results from every borough with previous years findings, shows sparrows have tumbled down the tables; with fewer than ever before making it into the top three spots.

They are still…

You know the feeling. You're close to the top of a hill or even a ladder. You reach the top and look around.

The sense of achievement and yes, even wonder, is unique and often rewarding. The RSPB started 122 years ago as a campaigning organisation with a group of women taking on authority, before women even got the vote. That campagning spirit lives on, but we're becoming impatient. We want to step up our efforts…

The anticipation's excruciating.

It's almost time ... I'll need your help though.

Come back tomorrow.

If, like me, you have difficulty telling the difference between a black headed gull and a kittiwake, you'll probably not be excited by the slaty backed gull that's returned to our Rainham Marsh reserve in east London for a second visit.

This gull looks like any other to the untrained eye, but the thousands of fans that have descended on Rainham will no doubt beg to differ. Like those who queued and paid a fiver…

Just as we all consider putting away our winter woolies and thermals, along comes another cold spell!

It will hit spring flowers and wildlife as well as adding to already hefty heating bills for us mere mortals. Bring on the summer. Please do continue to top-up feeders and to put out extra food and fresh water for birds.

We've been working with a number of local authorities across Greater London to provide more food…

I love living in London. Just when you think you know a place, someone comes along and blows your notions out of the water.

I've been introduced to an amazing new space in Dalston, the Eastern Curve Garden. Anyone who knows the Dalston Peace Mural can find the entrance to this little green, wedge-shaped gem. It was established as a temporary community space but I hope it can find a way to remain. It's got wi-fi,…

It's been an emotional start to the New Year.  Tears of happiness and great sadness.

Now, with the Big Garden Birdwatch looming it's time to pick myself up, shed the extra pounds gained over the seasonal break and step briskly forwards into 2011. For birds, they'll still be looking to maintain or gain weight. In their case, weight loss is a slippery slope towards death. I've said enough in previous blogs about the…

I reckon I could power the national grid if Icould capture the energy from my constant shivering.

Still. I can always turn-up the heating, chuck another log on the fire or pull on another of my Mum's knitted jumpers. Blue tits, sparrows, starlings (pictured) and robins don't share that luxury.

Generally, birds need to maintain a body temperature of around 40 C. That's 3 degrees higher than us mere mortals. Bear…

I've looked hard, very hard, but I've never seen a bittern, which is why I'm desperately trying to find time to get to our Rye Meads nature reserve just north of east London.

I'm not one of those who'll bear discomfort to see a particular bird, but for a bittern, I might defy the cold snap. Especially as it's the cold weather that's forcing these shy and well camoflaged birds out into the open where they can…

You may have noticed that it's unseasonably cold?

This is the point where we traditionally urge everyone to put out extra food and fresh water for birds. I'm not one to break traditions so I'll urge you to do just that.

I would also like to invite you to drink in the spectacle of winter wildlife from the classy new interior of the Butt Hide (pictured right) at our Rainham Marshes nature reserve. Sadly, the…

The Europeans are coming. European starlings that is. Thousands of them come to the UK every Autumn to enjoy our mild climate. I guess they don't check the Met Office webpages before setting off, but even though it is cold and windy, the birds come here because food is easier to find, and that means survival. We all like survival.

The great thing about having all these extra starlings is that it makes for more spectacular…

George Osborne obviously sees the countryside as feminine and cities as masculine, as he's delivered a sugar and spice budget for farmers and and a snips, snails and puppy dogs tails budget for wildlife loving Londoners.

After much campaigning and lobbying by the RSPB and others, he halted the axe,mid-swing, to save the Higher Level Scheme for farmers. This funding stream helps farmers manage their land to keep our…

We're careering towards Feed the Birds Day at an alarming rate. This haste seems to have been maintained throughout 2010 and frankly, I'm looking forward to the Christmas holidays, which are... just eleven weeks away (sound of alarm bells and cash-tills)!

A partridge in a pear tree is possible in Greater London, but there are plenty of other birds to enjoy too. Feeding the birds can be expensive but there is a…

For a change, London is NOT the centre of gun crime... as far as Birds of Prey [BoP] are concerned.

Our magnificent falcons and hawks can continue to visit, safe in the knowledge that they're unlikely to become victims of prejudice.

The RSPB's 20th annual Birdcrime report recorded 384 cases of persecution in 2009, the second worst year for birds of prey; only 2007 was worse with 389 cases.

This doesn't include…

The London sun is fading as I grow old... and just like Justin Hayward sang in Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, the birds are flying south across the Autumn sky.

I know it's Autumn, 'cause I'm already sweeping up leaves that have fallen from the trees. the blackberries have been and gone. The skies above my east London house have fallen silent with the departure of the swifts. And, I'm tryting to find my bike…