• England needs a plan

    Simon Marsh
    It’s a surprising fact that England is the only country in the UK that doesn’t have any kind of strategic, spatial plan. In fact, it seems to be one of the few countries in the world not to have one. OK, we’ve got plans that cover England that do things for different sectors, like national policy statements for energy infrastructure or ports (in England and Wales). There’s even a National Infrastructure…

  • Make your counting count

    Andre Farrar
    When a colleague of mine was talking to a friend at the BTO about birds seen at our respective headquarters, it all went a little too far!  And now we locked in a year-long competition to see how many species (and not just birds) we can see here at the Lodge (pictured in the December snow) or at the BTO’s HQ, the Nunnery in Thetford.
    You can read all about it on this blog (and yes, I know, we’ve got some ground…

  • Dead horse spotted in Thames Estuary

    Andre Farrar

    Stop flogging it Boris.

    Just in case anyone is in any doubt – here’s our reaction to the latest attempt by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to breath life into the crazy idea of building an International Airport hub in the middle of the Thames Estuary.

    Today (Tuesday18 January), the Mayor addressed business leaders in the Capital, telling them the business gains will be great and that planning needs to start…

  • Countdown for Dungeness - bittern numbers boom.

    Andre Farrar
    Last year bitterns nested in the reeds at our Dungeness reserve for the first time – a great compliment to the habitat creation work that the reserves team have put in place.  A habitat without its characteristic species is a bit like a stage without the cast – something to look at but not the full show.
    Anyway – after the booming calls of the male bittern last spring – a new bittern record has been set for…

  • Focus on Shropshire lapwings

    Andre Farrar
    I wrote about an exciting project in Shropshire the other day – the Lapwing Meadows project.  They’re running some consultation events at the moment – there’s one tomorrow, here are the dates:
    Saturday 15 January 2011 – Parish Rooms, Newport.  9.00 AM to 1.00 PM
    Wednesday 26 January 2011 – Ruyton XI Town’s Memorial Hall 6.00 PM to 9.00 PM
    Project manager, Sarah Wheale, has been…

  • Localism or parochialism?

    Simon Marsh
    The Government’s Localism Bill gets its first debate in the House of Commons on Monday. As I blogged on 16 December, it’s a long and complex piece of legislation, and that’s just the bits on planning. We’ve been working through the detail, discussing it with officials and have even had a chat with the planning minister, Greg Clark.
    So what do we think?
    There are some things in there that we have…

  • Countdown to Lydd airport public inquiry

    Andre Farrar
    2011 is shaping up to be a busy year – the last few days of the new working year have seen us planning and preparing for the challenges and opportunities ahead.  At the moment it looks like we are shaping for at least four public inquiries starting, on 15 February, with the Lydd airport extension. 
     
    And that’s only just a month away.
    The inquiry is set to last until the end of March – by which time spring…

  • Happy Birthday RSPB Cymru

    Andre Farrar
    It’s a hundred years since we started working in Wales – by that stage the fledgling RSPB was 21 years old and on the brink of seeing it’s first campaigning success – the legal probation of the importation of feathers and the end of the massive fashion trade in bird plumes that had prompted out founding by Mrs Williamson in Didsbury in 1889.
    We were founded by women outraged at an international…

  • Fill my landscape with lapwings please

    Andre Farrar
    What would you like in yours?
    If you live in Shropshire – this is a question we would like you to answer. 
    The RSPB, Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Natural England and the Environment Agency are working with farmers and landowners to revitalise the wetlands of the Weald Moors and Baggy Moor to enable wading birds (like the lapwing, pictured) and lots of other wildlife to flourish.
    Wetlands also play an important…

  • 10 hopes and aspirations for special places in 2011

    Andre Farrar
    At the dawn of 2011 - here's a list of things that need to happen to ensure that our special places and the wildlife they support are safe and cherished for the future.
    • Dungeness is, finally, given the protection it deserves and is cherished both for its wildlife and as a great place to visit and get close to nature.
    • In England we want the Natural Environment White Paper to be a landmark in the history of nature…

  • 2010, that was the year that was. Part 2

    Andre Farrar
    Sandsculpture marking the campaign to stop Hunterston power station (picture courtesy of blueriverstudios)
    Looking back through the year’s posts it’s clear that there’s been a focus on estuaries and coastal wetlands.  While I’m happy to admit a personal bias towards these particular special places – that isn’t the reason they are such a dominant theme, it’s simply that there’s a lot of pressure on…

  • 2010, that was the year that was. Part 1.

    Andre Farrar
    Well, as we come to the end of the first full year covered by the Saving Special Places blog – what have been the highlights?  Here are some of mine – but do add any you think I’ve missed. (There'll be second post tomorrow).
    We’ve managed a post roughly every two and a half days – and at your end there’s been a good number of readers and, let’s face it, that’s the important bit!…

  • Birdwatchers Yearbook 2011

    Andre Farrar
    Did you get one for Christmas?
    I had the pleasure of writing an article for it – about our nature reserves.  My brief was to look at both their role in the future of tackling the threats and problems faced by nature and the way in which we (and as I’m a regular visitor to them as well) engage with them.
    On the first question, I conclude that nature reserves are an essential part of future approaches to…

  • Christmas greetings

    Andre Farrar

    Thank you for following our Saving Special Places blog during 2010

    Wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas - I hope you are having a wonderful day.

    The Swiss Cottage gatehouse at the RSPB Lodge nature reserve.

    Best wishes

    Andre

    Follow me on twitter

  • A scene not seen for 400 years

    Andre Farrar

    Here's a story about a re-introduction project - The Great Crane Project to be precise.  The link to our regular theme of special places is strong - without efforts to protect the best (in this case the Somerset Levels) there would be limited scope to take on these exciting and innovative reintroduction projects.

    Reintroduced cranes recreate lost scenes not seen for four centuries. (Picture by Nick Upton)

    Like…

  • Time to end the big green biofuels con

    Andre Farrar
    The current biofuels policies in the UK and Europe are driving habitat destruction in places such as Kenya and are perversely contributing to the emissions of greenhouse gases and thus making climate change worse.
     
    This much we know – and we’ve been following the stories of the Tana River Delta and the Dakatcha woodlands in Kenya though these posts – here, for example.
     
    Doubts are growing both in…

  • Love rivers? Here’s a little treat for you.

    Andre Farrar
    The Our Rivers campaign recently ran a public vote to find the nation’s favourite river.  Perhaps you took part?  Well, the Wye won.
    And a wonderful river it is too. 
     
    The Wye and Usk Foundation received the award recently which was marked by the release of short film made by the celebrated wildlife cameraman Hugh Miles – and you can see it here.
    Dr Stephen Marsh-Smith, director of the Wye and Usk Foundation…

  • Doing your bit for peat.

    Andre Farrar
    Many gardeners have long since ditched the peat in favour of other composts and other stuff to grow their plants in.
    For the thoughtful gardening-with-wildlife gardener it is a really positive step to ensure that special places for wildlife are protected from the euphemistically styled ‘peat winning’ has contributed to the destruction of over 95% of our lowland raised bogs.  There was a time when it looked…

  • Power to the People

    Simon Marsh
    After some delay, the Government has finally published the Localism Bill in time for Christmas. It heralds a shift of planning power to local people, with radical ideas about neighbourhood planning.
    It's long, and horrifically complex if you're not a lawyer. We're still wading through the detail, but here's a quick and dirty assessment of how it adds up against the six things we'll be looking out for.…

  • Mad, bad and dangerous to know

    Andre Farrar
    OK, so I may be jumping the gun slightly – but experience is beginning to tell me that massive concrete walls built across estuaries are a seriously bad idea. Here's what we've said so far.
    As a nation, we’ve come to that conclusion twice on the Severn and two decades ago on the Mersey.  So why are we putting ourselves through this again?
    Well – partly it’s because we need to tackle the threat of climate…

  • Countdown to Christmas: 14

    Andre Farrar
    White out
    It’s there, over by that rock!  What’s over there by what rock?  Ah, the challenges of birdwatching in the snow!
    And let’s face it some of our wildlife doesn’t make life any easier for us.  Getting through the winter for us is about keeping warm and being seen on those dark nights, but high viz garb is that last thing you want when you could end up as Christmas dinner for a golden eagle…

  • Could you step up for nature?

    Andre Farrar
    Many moons ago we put together a pack of advice about how individuals and communities could get involved in putting nature at the heart of local planning.  Then, the need was clear – there is a huge appetite for people like you to get stuck into protecting the important wildlife sites and features that make your area special.  Now the need is even greater – and on top of that, the planning system is undergoing massive…

  • Off for a re-tune

    Andre Farrar
    I’m told there’s some deeply technical work going on under the web-site’s bonnet.  There will be a short intermission and we’ll be back shortly.
    In the meantime, I’d like to add my congratulations to fellow blogger, Adrian Thomas on winning an award for his new gardening book – do have a look at his blog here.
    Follow me on twitter.

  • Building understanding – foundations for the future of the Humber

    Andre Farrar

    Ports and estuaries are closely linked for fairly obvious reasons.  Understanding the needs of the ports industry on the one hand and understanding the environmental issues on the other is a pre-requisite of wise decision-making. 

    So it’s great to be able to celebrate the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the RSPB and Associated British Ports (ABP).  The signing is significant because it marks a…

  • Nature will need you.

    Andre Farrar
    I spent a couple of days in Milton Keynes earlier in the week joining conservation staff from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. These are the people often at the centre of the long running sagas of site protection that I cover in these posts – so it was good to spend a couple of days catching up with them.
     
    We had a session reviewing some of the outcomes you’ve already heard about – the
    …