Saturday was glorious, chilly but comfortable in the sunshine. Just right for the Big Garden Birdwatch.

It was all pretty much what I'd expected, as my children and I scanned the trees and shrubs in my Hackney garden. Here's what we saw:

• eleven great tits
• seven magpies
• three feral pigeons
• two blackbirds
• two blue tits
• one robin
• one mistle thrush
• one black-headed gull

Twenty-eight birds in all. Whilst I was counting birds…

Here we are in the first week of this year's Big Schools' Birdwatch and careering towards the weekend of the Big Garden Birdwatch. It's more important than ever that people take part. We need to keep track of changes in our environment.

Once upon a time, the Government made the bold move to impose a target of an 80% reduction in atmospheric CO2 by 2050. Sadly, the decision to push ahead with a third runway at H…

Please say it's not just me and that you too have not yet got into the habit of writing 2009? Maybe it's another one of those age things, or perhaps it's denial that time's ticking away?

Time is a tricky old beast, more cunning than the urban foxes at the end of my garden, faster than the peregrines that feed on London's pigeons and more elusive than the dunnock that lurks in the shadows under my shrubs…

My first bird of the year was heard and not seen at twenty-two minutes to two in the morning of New Year's Day. I was in my back garden marveling at the silence when a cheery robin gave of its best and trilled in 2009.

Until the robin broke the silence, the lack of noise had sent shivers down my spine, reminiscent of the haunting peace that fell on London for Princess Diana's funeral. No sirens, no rumble of trains nor…