Staff at our Rainham Marsh nature reserve know when it's Wimbledon, even if they've stayed away from any newspapers, radio, TV, Magazines or the internet, because they suddenly get a rise in the number of tennis balls washing up along the Thames foreshore down the one side of the reserve.
It's not Serena William's whacking balls from Wimbledon into the river, it is more likely to be inspired fans dusting off racquets and stealing half-chewed balls back from their pet dogs for a quick knockabout in the parks and open spaces alongside the Thames.
Wimbledon sparks a reaction and people respond by imitating their heroes. So when Sir David Attenborough launched our State of Nature report, there was a mini-flurry of activity and support for nature conservation. It flags a 60% decline in the UK's wildlife; a scary fact. Flurries are welcome. Nature is relentless though and, like Andy Murray or Laura Robson, maintaining and managing it requires equally relentless hard work, investment and constant modification to allow for the nuances and impacts of other factors.
The RSPB is undergoing modification right now. We need to be match fit to deliver for nature and quite frankly, we'd let ourselves go a little bit. We've won many battles, but we're losing the war. Nature does well on our reserves, but less so elsewhere. We're now working on the structural European and national laws which support nature, from farming regulations right through to what some people with vested interests call the "red-tape binding the hands of development".
At the weekend I was working at the BBC Summer of Wildlife event at the London Wetland Centre, one of four events the RSPB London Team attended over the weekend. I was staggered by the blinkered mentality of some who claimed to support and enjoy wildlife and nature, yet whined about the changes the RSPB is undertaking. They did not want to enter into a rational discussion about why change is needed and simply believe it's a ploy to make money. Well, yes we DO want to increase our income, but only so we can do more for nature.
What we really want to do is build support and awareness for nature, so that more people are active for nature; not necessarily with the RSPB. We want nature to be top of everyone's agenda. It touches everyone's lives every day and without it, there would be no society.
Nature is in trouble and we're getting close to match point. Without mass support and effort, the investment required to sustain conditions for life will become intolerable. That's why it matters when house sparrow numbers fall. If such declines are left unchecked, my children will be among the last generation to hear cuckoos or see hedgehogs in the wild. What sort of parent would really want to pass on a depleted and ailing world to their off-spring? The ball’s in your court.