Friday night, I was out on the town in Teddington at an environmental awards ceremony at the Landmark Arts Eco-Fair. A teenage conservationist stole the show. He'd been nominated for his work in the community and for growing organic food. As he accepted his certificate from the council for turning some land into a wildlife haven, he seized the moment to make a speech raising awareness of his campaign to save the ground from development. He cooly asked the audience to visit his website and sign the petition - AGAINST THE COUNCIL who are behind the development!
There were lots of encouraging schemes; green school travel plans, recycling initiatives and more. Many were school based or created by young people, who, the horror of it, wore hoodies. They are the text-generation and these tech-savvy teenagers can teach us a lot about campaigning techniques.
On Saturday, I and most of the RSPB London team were at an event in Cleveland Square where we've been advising residents on how to make their private square more wildlife friendly. We saw robins, blue tits, great tits, jays, blackbirds, magpies and of course pigeons. Ominously, there was not a cockney sparra nor a starling in sight. We have high hopes these missing birds will return in the future; once the planned work's complete.
The awards and the square both celebrate individual interests coming together for a common good. That is exactly what's behind Feed the Birds Day on October 27th. If we all individually made a small effort, the combined effect would be HUGE. All you need to do is put out some food or grow suitable plants in your garden to support birds and wildlife. A small and simple act. Your reward is seeing more life and movement around you. What's in it for us I hear you ask? All the science tells us that it will underpin our bird populations, making it easier for them to meet the challenges of climate change. That means we won't be fighting an uphill battle to conserve our common wildlife, freeing us up to focus resources on more threatened species.
One resident from Cleveland Square told me she was motivated by the sudden realisation that there was no dawn chorus. It had previously been so loud she'd moved her bedroom to the other side of her house, now it is nearly silent and she misses it.
Let's not lose the dawn chorus. Join me on October 27th in doing something about it. Visit our website, text your friends, write a letter to your MP, raise some money for our campaigns, join the RSPB or call us and book a Talk for your club or group to find out more about our conservation work. Together we can make enough noise to ensure the dawn chorus never falls silent.
If you want to find out more about any aspects of our work, call the London Office on 020 7808 1260, emails to london@rspb.org.uk or text me on 07921 740 753.