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 and shelter naturally in outdoor spaces for house sparrows, other birds and wildlife in general. But due to changes in our partners' budgets, some of this work may not continue after our project ends. It's not that it is hugely expensive, it's just that more cash is needed to protect core services.
Breathing life back into our surroundings is good for nature, good for us and good for the economy. Politicians keep saying we need to make cuts to balance our books, but their books ignore the inputs from nature. We'll never truly have a healthy economy if our environment and communities are impoverished.
I'm shivering, but it's not with dread anticipation of another bout of low temperatures, it's with excitement at what can be done on a local level by determined communities. Maybe aided by trembling at the vision of what those local communities can achieve with partners on a bigger scale through adopting our Futurescapes approach.
Staying in and turning up the thermostat is a short-term answer. Rolling up our sleeves and working with neighbours to bring about environmental and community improvements offers a far better long-term solution.