So the fight against plans for new coal at Hunterson is over.  It's been one of the campaigns that has been running throughout the course of this blog and it has been aimed at preventing the development of a new coal-fired power plant at Hunterston on the Clyde.

Recently the level of public and political opposition to the proposal has become clear and yesterday Peel Holdings withdrew the application.  We welcome this…

At last year’s World Heritage Convention (WHC) meeting the Tanzanian government’s plans for a highway across the world famous Serengeti National Park came under intense scrutiny.  Here's some background on the issue.

The Park is on the route of the world’s greatest mammal migration – of 1.8 million wildebeest and other antelopes.  The road could cause this migration to collapse, taking with it…

The energy of the wind harnessed by well planned, correctly located windfarms, is an essential part of the response to the threat of climate change. But badly located wind turbines are a real threat to wildlife.

We’ve been working closely with our Bulgarian BirdLife partner BSPB for seven years to get the European Commission to enforce breaches to EU nature laws on the Kaliakra Peninsula on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria…

With the news that Network Rail stands accused of destroying birds’ nests on railway land in Islington and then hiding behind a shield of Health and Safety excuses. I’m reminded of when their contractors came calling on a stretch of railway in Kent that I’ve know since childhood.

The line runs through the downs and was fringed by scrub and woodland largely untouched for decades. Then apparently out…

I remember the genuine excitement that surrounded the original Earth Summit back in 1992. It seemed a dawning realisation of the parlous state of our planet was really going to translate into action. 

And to some extent it did ... do read Mark Avery’s guest blogs (here's one, do read the others) for a compelling commentary on the successes and failures.

Climate change came to the fore as the greatest long term…

Back at the end of February I blogged (here) on the news that, after a long-running legal battle, a Portuguese developer received a custodial sentence and a hefty fine for trashing a protected wetland. It was great news for the environment (and one of the most-read posts on the Saving Special Places blog!).

There's a sequel - in part two of the court case, the developer has now been made to restore the lost habitat.…

The RSPB’s former director of conservation, Mark Avery, is illuminating the road to the Rio+20 Earth Summit with 20 guest blogs.

Here he is on the subject of sustainable development – defining what the mantra of ‘SD’ actually is, has been harder than you would think.  After the first Earth Summit 20 years ago we developed a partial definition that to be sustainable, development should lead to no…

Former RSPB Conservation Director, Mark Avery, is making a name for himself as an environmental author and blogger.  He is writing a series of 20 guest blog posts in the run up to the Rio +20 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

His blog posts are covering a wide range of topics – this one is on Special Places – but do come back to read other posts.

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Daniel Pullen is RSPB’s International Site Casework Officer and he’s working with conservationists in St Helena to ensure there is a future for one of the world’s rarest and most threatened birds.

Daniel takes up the story:

St Helena is one of the UK’s Overseas Territories, 5000 miles out in the South Atlantic Ocean.  Following a decision by the UK government in July 2011 to fund a new airport…

RSPB Nature reserves got double billing on BBC Breakfast with the weather forecast coming from ‘Home of Springwatch’ Ynys-hir (don’t forget Springwatch starts tonight for its three week run).

Our nature reserve at Dungeness has featured in this blog more than any other site and apart from a slight case of author bias (sorry) the main reason is our long-running opposition to the extension of nearby

This blog has been following the story of many special places for wildlife and the people who work tirelessly to save them, nurture them and make them accessible for others to enjoy.

It’s 100 years since Charles Rothschild’s idea that the best places for wildlife should be protected led to the founding of a movement that, today, is the Wildlife Trusts.

There’s loads of fascinating material here and…

There was a time when buzzards were hemmed in the west of Great Britain. As a child buzzards were a holiday sentinel as we travelled from Kent to Devon or Wales or Cumbria or Scotland.

First-buzzard was always a special moment – a sign of special holiday places.  But then the return had last-buzzard, a sad departure to the more intolerant east of the country.

Buzzards weren’t constrained by their own fondness for…

The RSPB is the UK partner of the BirdLife International, we work with partner organisation on projects that make a real difference to bird conservation – Sarah Sanders, our RSPB head of partner development, is in Tanzania, and here’s her update on a vital project in the Uluguru Mountains.

With funding from UKAID, the RSPB is working with the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST) to enable communities…

The RSPB is the UK partner of the BirdLife International, we work with partner organisation on projects that make a real difference to bird conservation – Sarah Sanders, our RSPB head of partner development, has recently sent me an update from Tanzania.

I have done the 200km journey from Dar-es- Salaam numerous times but I never cease to be amazed by the Uluguru mountains. 60km from Morogoro you catch your first…

This blog has followed the intense campaign to save the Tana River Delta in Kenya from the biofuels-driven land grab that currently threatens natural environments, food crop lands and the ways of life of local communities.

The issues will be featured in the BBC 2 series Indian Ocean with Simon Reeves – I understand that the full programme will be broadcast at 8:00 pm on Sunday 13 May 2012 – check it out

The project to restore Wallasea Island’s coastal environment and with it reconnect people with the Essex coast has taken a big step forward with the installation of the pontoon that will receive ships carrying material excavated from the Crossrail tunnel. You can follow the RSPB Wallasea Island Wild Coast project.

Here’s a picture of the pontoon in place.

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Sue Lees may have most recently been involved in the campaign to Save Kiln Meadow, but before that she was helping create a wildlife-friendly space in north London.

'My heart used to sink when I thought about Archway Cuttings South East (one of the wooded slopes around the Archway Bridge in North London, on either side of the A1). 

In the London Borough of Islington there is little space for nature. However, Archway…

All this week over in the Saving Species blog we have been reporting on progress with the LIFE+ projects in Bulgaria. 

These species rely on amazing places in Bulgaria, so please find below links to the blog entries to find out more about this special country and our amazing BirdLife Partner, BSPB.

Exploring Bulgarian LIFE projects

Tales from an infrequent traveller

Save the Raptor review day

Paperwork and a partnership…

Let me introduce you to Hintlesham Wood’s secret weapon Propolydesmus testaceus. This special millipede is one of the variety of wildlife found in the wood which is threatened by National Grid’s planned Bramford to Twinstead power connection in Suffolk.

One of the route options slices a new transmission line through the wood – if it came to pass it would result in the destruction of parts of one of Suffolk…

The Saving Special Places blog hasn’t visited our Wallasea Island Wild Coast project recently, this I must rectify.

A good blog to follow is this one – written mainly by Hilary Hunter.

The Wallasea Island Wild Coast is one of the most exciting projects the RSPB has ever been involved with. In terms of steps for nature this is a whopper (I’m tempted to say a huge leap).

But re-creating part of Essex…

As a postscript to my last post on the National Planning Policy Framework (can you have a post postscript?), I see that MPs held a debate on it this week. Planning minister Greg Clark introduced the debate by citing a lot of things that the NPPF does.

He said, ‘The NPPF makes it crystal clear, as most people recognise, that the local plan is the keystone of the planning system. It continues to protect our green belt…

The RSPB’s Minsmere nature reserve was only 32 years old when I made my first visit, how time flies.  Bitterns and bearded tits, avocets and marsh harriers – all much rarer then than now, really good news and all down to the safeguarding of that (extra) special place on the Suffolk coast.

From icon to logo - the relationship between the avocet and the RSPB started at Minsmere. Photo Chris Gomerall RSPB …

A colleague sent me a link to a short article on a big project – the restoration of 15 mires in Belarus.

A massive international collaboration has tackled the toxic legacy of years of peat mining and the results have been spectacular.

This is a great conservation success story – bring benefits to wildlife but equally to people living locally.  The benefits don’t just stop there, as healthy peatlands are effective…

With hosepipe bans coming into force across a swathe of southern England on 5 April the one thing that the affected area needed was a wet April … and with uncanny prescience that’s exactly what we are ‘enjoying’.

And it is a case of history repeating itself. Back in 1976 we were enduring an earlier record-breaking drought; one that prompted the Government of the day to appoint Denis Howell as…

Helen Byron is just back from a trip to Tana River Delta - here's her guest blog, and if you want to catch up with the story, here's a previous post.

Just before Easter I went to Kenya to get involved with the work on the Tana River Delta land use plan/strategic environmental assessment (SEA).   These activities are being funded by DFID (UK Aid) and led by our partner Nature Kenya.

It was a hectic and varied trip…