There's a rail-line at the bottom of my garden. I welcome the comforting rumble of trains carrying people to and from Liverpool Street. I also welcome the wildlife roaming the embankment; and the blankets of spring bluebells; the birds turning their heads as trains approach; and the cloaking canopies of the oaks and the glorious London plane tree. They support crows, jays, squirrels and so much more wildlife that losing…

RSPB Vice President Chris Packham has been exciting newspaper columnists and the twittersphere by suggesting we need to do something about cats. It's one of those topics like pensions, free access to museums or marmite that sharply divide people.

Chris is 100% correct in saying domestic cats (an estimated 7 to 9 million of them in the UK) are responsible for killing some 100 million critters a year or a half-year…

Dateline: 8 am, Monday 18 June 2012.

A cold, grey morning with a feeling of drizzle in the air, the sort that seeps under your collar and would make even the undead shiver.. It's just another London day.

Oh no it's not. It's the day the Cockney Sparrow Count gets underway. A day that's been ten years in the making and here it is at last! Light the fireworks, break out the bunting. Or did we do that already?…