Have you been watching Springwatch on BBC2?  I have, I would have been anyway but I was on twitter duty this week and so was watching closely.  I wrote recently about my recollections of Ynys-hir, the location for Springwatch, on a visit years ago – and seeing the reserve on the tele is a real reminder that I have left returning for far too long.

On Wednesday night’s show, the evening ends with Springwatch Unsprung…

The RSPB is the UK partner within BirdLife International and we’ve been supporting our colleagues in the Bulgarian partner organisation – BSPB (the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds).  In particular, we’ve been supporting their campaign to get key sites designated and protected under European and Bulgarian law.

So we were delighted to here the other day that the Bulgarian government has confirmed…

I've been moonlighting and contributing to the Saving Species blog - here's my introduction to what has every chance of becoming the bird conservation story of the decade.  If we are to save the spoon-billed sandpiper from extinct (yes it is that bleak) then several things have to happen.  High levels of hunting (for subsistence food) has to be substantially reduced and the headlong loss of coastal wetlands on the…

My first encounters with Blean woods were not entirely happy ones. Cross country running. Wasn’t my thing at all, but I still had to plodge round before returning to school in nearby Canterbury.  This was a long time ago and I haven’t any recollections of the wildlife at all – just the burning sense of injustice that only cross country running can leave in the non-runner.

I’ve been back a few times since…

I’ve written before about a forest I know in the North Downs called Kings Woods. At the height of the fears raised by the forestry sell off I looked Kings Wood up on the map produced by the Forestry Commission and found that it was classified as ‘small commercial’ – didn’t sound very special.

Yet I’ve just come back from my annual appointment with Kings Wood’s nightjars – I’ve been doing…

BBC’s Springwatch is up and running again and this time from our own, very special, Ynys-hir nature reserve in Ceredigion.  I know just how much work goes into putting on the programme and the efforts of the BBC team and our own staff are much appreciated.

You can keep up with Springwatch here from the BBC and here direct from the team at Ynys-hir. But do be careful of the webcams - they can keep you up really late…

All those years ago when Old Moor was little more than a dream – the thought that avocets would hatch young at the South Yorkshire wetland wasn’t quite beyond expectations (I recall conversations that they just could colonise the middle of the country) but nobody was counting their, erm, chickens.

Well with news that there are now young avocets at Old Moor – the vision, passion and sheer bloody-mindedness…

This week the House of Commons has been debating the Localism Bill for the last time before it goes to the Lords. Maybe more of that in another post.

Today, with rather less fanfare, a draft of the proposed National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) for England was published. It’s no less an important part of the planning revolution than the Localism Bill, and has rather a lot more to say about saving special places.…

I've been to Wallasea Island catching up with progress on the Wild Coast project.  I met up with Hillary Hunter who is the face of the RSPB at Wallasea and is encouraging enjoyment of the island and its coast.  She was full of stories of the kayaking event at the weekend - and you can read about it in her own words here.

Wildlife highlight of the trip for me had wings (rather spectacular wings) but wasn't the marsh…

One of the nice things about working at the RSPB’s HQ is that you bump into so many great people.  Serah Munguti was the latest, she has featured in these posts before as she fights to save the Tana River Delta and other vital places in Kenya.

Serah visiting the Tana River

I snatched a quick conversation with her between meetings.  She’s over here simply because the pressures that threaten natural resources and…

Saving nature is what we do – and one of the most pressing challenges has always been to ‘protect the best’. By accident of location or history or careful stewardship or just plain luck – some places stand out as being special for nature.  Once much more would have been, but we are where we are and if there is to be a meaningful attempt to stop and reverse the loss of nature, safeguarding our best…

I’m so pleased that, at last, we can tell you all that this year’s BBC 2 Springwatch programme will be based at our wonderful RSPB Ynys-hir nature reserve in Wales.

At which point I have two guilty secrets to confess – first it is over 30 years since I visited Ynys-hir and secondly that following a very convivial evening in a pub I was, well, tired and emotional resulting in the need for a short sleep in…

I expressed the hope in yesterday’s blog post that the twite that are just starting to nest in the South Pennines had escaped the worst of the moorland fires.

The news isn’t good.

Now twite need some introduction, as they are aren’t very well known.  Their close relative, the linnet, is much more familiar.  Their name comes from the nasal call they make as the bound across the heather.  A close-up view…

As the hottest April on record dried the countryside – one outcome was sadly inevitable, fire.  It is inevitable that many of the fires now being reported across the UK will be down to carelessness or malicious acts of arson. They add yet another threat to fragmented and all too small sites and they come in the middle of spring when the breeding attempts of wildlife will fail in the flames.

Just one example is Swinley…

Today is Mark Avery’s last day at the RSPB – and I hope you will join me in wishing him all the very best for the future.

He’ll be a hard act to follow – he has that enviable ability to take complex arguments, and summarise them in a way that brings clarity and makes a conclusion suddenly obvious.

Here's Mark holding his audience at an event to celebrate his 25 years at the RSPB

As a scientist…

I’ve spent most of yesterday on Romney Marsh – visiting two very contrasting places.  I ended up at Dungeness where I met Keith Taylor MEP to show him around our nature reserve – but more of that later.

I set off ridiculously early (pre-dawn chorus early) so that I could fit in my early visit to an ordinary looking chunk of farmland that is ‘my’ Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) square.  I say ‘mine…

Whether it’s Happy Leaping Frogs or Hearing Laughing Friends – our natural world is precious.

But you know that.

And without Heaps of Lovely Funds so much of what we and others can do to safeguard and cherish the natural world would be so much harder.

Can you tell where this is going yet?

Yes it’s the Heritage Lottery Fund – the HLF has been a vital friend to the natural world, it’s contribution has been…

A bunch of organisations, including the RSPB, see the benefit of high speed rail - here is the charter, launched today, that sets out the principles that we believe should be followed

An efficient, sustainable transport system is vital to our prosperity and well-being. Reducing the damaging impact of travel on the environment and local communities by shifting journeys from road and air to rail needs to be a key priority…

Our plans for Trafalgar Square have been put on hold. The Nelson Is like a God Here in Trafalgar Society (NIGHTS) - representing residents of Trafalgar, Australia – has taken out an injunction on the basis that our project ‘demeans the reputation of a great historical figure’. RSPB solicitor, Sue First, says: ‘This is a bit of an eleventh hour surprise. I thought we’d covered off key stakeholders by getting the Nelson…

The first stage of the Public Inquiry is drawing to a close with just one more week before it is adjourned until 10 May.

The inspector has already heard evidence on the likely impact of an expanded airport on bird populations, the effect on our much valued Dungeness Nature Reserve and the loss of the peace and tranquility that this special place provides to both people and wildlife.

This week evidence on air quality has…

When it comes to Stepping Up – Admiral Nelson is in a league of his own.  His famous message to the fleet ‘England expects every man will do his duty’ galvanised the battle of Trafalgar.  It’s fitting, then, that at his feet a new vision for the centre of London is unveiled to transform the iconic London square into a vibrant and green heart to the city.

The RSPB’s launch of the Trafalgar Naturepark…