London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson was clearly impressed by Istanbul’s Ataturk International airport.  But, please, can we all try and avoid him being delayed!  It gave him time to think, and try to breathe life into his dream of building a huge airport in the Thames estuary.

The resounding chorus of 'no' is clearly falling on deaf ears – his plan is flawed.  It’s not just the airport that should concern…

I want to have a say in what happens in my local area – I expect you do too.  It’s also fair to expect the people who run things to have the plans and processes in place to do their jobs well.  A crucial part of the mix is the way in which communities and individuals can engage on a wider-than-local basis.  Back in the 1990s the RSPB was campaigning for a better future for our estuaries – many of them are large…

Wonderful news from Dungeness – the purple heron chicks have left the nest.  This is the first time that purple herons have fledged in the UK.  This news come hot on the heels of the UK’s second successful little bittern nest at our Reserve at Ham Wall – and to make a trio of stories of successful nesters, a young common crane has just fledged at the Nene Washes, another RSPB reserve, making this the first…

The seas around our islands are amazing.  The life it sustains is abundant and spectacular – let’s face it a visit to one of the UK’s seabird breeding colonies should be on everyone’s top 50 things to do!  Here's a picture of gannets off Troupe Head.

But that life is also fragile, the sea’s bounty is something we can’t take for granted.  The shock of oil-soaked wildlife and wrecked…

Over 5000 responses are already in and most are objections to plans by Ayrshire Power to construct a new coal-fired power station at Hunterston.  This recent article in the Herald shows just how wide the coalition of opposition has become.

You can catch up on the background to the case here and here.  In a nutshell – this proposal risks damage to the Portencross Coast SSSI at the same time as ramping up Scotland’s emissions…

Serengeti Darf Nict Sterben – The Serengeti Shall Not Die.

For all of my life the Serengeti has cast a long shadow.  The 1959 Oscar-winning documentary, The Serengeti Shall Not Die – made by Bernhard Grzimek president of the Frankfurt Zoological Society and his son Michael brought the majesty of the place to the attention of the wider world.  Their personal story – Michael was killed in a plane crash during…

The Barrow Port Area Action Plan has recently been Examined in Public – and as a result of the inspectors report has to make some changes if it is to be formally adopted – to be deemed sound, in the jargon.

The key amendment from the point of view of the natural environment is the removal of a section dealing with proposals to create a terminal for cruise ships.  We welcome this outcome on several levels. 

I heard yesterday that Dungeness is the most designated place in England – and so it should be, given the wealth of wildlife it supports. Yet even the most special of the special is not immune from threat. We are gearing up to put the case for the nature of Dungeness at a public inquiry into plans to expand Lydd Airport.

Where Dungeness is not unique is that it’s a landscape loved by people – locals and visitors…

Little bitterns are difficult to see.  They are small (so much is clear from their name) and they like big reedbeds.  Back in 1984, a pair nested at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve of Potteric Carr in South Yorkshire.  The East Coast main line runs through the wetland just before you get into Doncaster (heading North).  It’s one place a short delay on my rail journey would be entirely bearable with views over the open…

The avocet was adopted as the logo for the RSPB because it’s story of recovery and effective protection on the Suffolk coast in the 1940s is part of the history of our organisation (it's also handy that it’s black and white which helps with the photocopying – have you ever noticed how many logo-creatures are black and white, badgers, pandas?)

I’ve recently brought the Humber’s story…

The struggle to save coastal wetlands is a global issue.  We’ve been following examples here in the UK as well in Kenya.  Plans for a coal-fired power station in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh at Sompeta have been set aside by India’s National Environment Appellate Authority.  The developer had already started the land clearance before it had permission to do so.  In the protests that were sparked as result…

Jack(5) and I (older) called in at Dungeness on Sunday.  We played hide and seek with a white-tailed plover amongst the purple loosestrife.  Eventually it stood still long enough for Jack to see it through the telescope – ‘it’s all browny with white and yellow’ – just about summed it up.  Then we waited to see if we could see the purple herons. Jack isn’t too keen on waiting, neither am, I so…

The key to identifying and protecting our best places for wildlife starts with knowing what’s there. That can be quite tricky on land – at sea the challenge is even greater.

Between now and the end of September Natural England are encouraging anyone who knows their cockles from their mussels to submit their records on a new website.  The information gathered will be added to the knowledge that will inform…

The Humber estuary cuts its way into the heart of England.  It is a boundary and dividing line now crossed by the elegant span of the Humber bridge (now, I find, relegated to 5^th longest in the world).  The thin link suspended above the turbid tides of the Humber was, once, the longest and I queued for ages to drive across it the first weekend it was opened.  I hadn’t intended to, but after a day’s birdwatching around the…

Now would be a good time to dump the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO).  This precipitate law was rushed through without the implications being fully understood (here’s a press release from 2008 setting out the story in more details).

In the UK the RTFO is currently forcing 3.5 % inclusion of biofuel in vehicle fuel and this will rise to 5% by 2013.   And if the European Commission (and Member States) fails to…

Our thoughts are with the Nature Kenya staff and the people with them when a fact-finding mission to the threatened Dakatcha woodlands was disrupted by an armed group.  Only the presence of Kenya Wildlife Service personnel ensured that the incident didn’t escalate further.  You can read an account of the visit here.

At issue is the fate of 50,000 ha of woodland that includes an Important Bird Area and is one of Kenya…

It’s ages since I’ve had a chance to visit the western fringes of our islands.  To cross to the Outer Hebrides – and find time to stand in a landscape shaped by the wind and the nature of this wild coast is a treasured memory.  The machair;  a coastal plain of wind-blown shell sand that supports a fabulous show of flowers and a tumult of wading birds calling and displaying over their breeding grounds.  And…

Dartford warblers are tough little birds - and they know what they like.  For a Dartie a des res is a healthy heathland with an insect buffet set out under sheltered domes of gorse. In these havens they have the best chance of surviving the cold of winter (and Darties suffer in severe frosts) so that, in spring, they can scratch out their songs from the tops of yellow gorse clumps before hurtling into cover where a nest…

I posted a story about the threats to the Dakatcha woodlands – and I’ve just been sent some images of the place, and I thought I’d share them with you.

First – Clarke’s weaver (a picture by Steve Garvie)

And here's training in bee-keeping, part of work to continue the sustainable use of the woodlands.

So often the fate of the natural environment and the communities that live there are intimately linked.  We are hearing of yet another example from Kenya.  The Dakatcha woodlands are a relatively undamaged area close to the Kenyan coast.  They contain an Important Bird Area (IBA) – and are recognised for the importance of their biodiversity.  One of the endangered birds of the area is Clarke’s weaver.

The area…

The news that the pair of purple herons nesting at the RSPB’s Dungeness nature reserve are now feeding young got some good coverage over the weekend, here’s the BBC, Daily Mail and Wildlife Extra coverage. Most of the articles also highlighted the news that the controversial proposal to expand nearby Lydd airport has now been called in meaning that the proposal will now be examined at a public inquiry.

If…

A decade ago the UN’s Millennium Development Goals set a framework to spur on the improvement of social and economic conditions in the poorest countries of the world.

The goals are framed broadly and, goal 7 enshrines the need to ensure environmental sustainability.  This includes the goal of reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010 – remember these goals are shaped by the needs of the poorest countries…

Hot on the heels of the England football teaming securing a place in the last sixteen of the World Cup – we’ve just heard that the planning applications to expand Lydd airport have been called in by the Secretary of State.  Both are significant wins on the way to bigger matches in the future.  Call-in ensures that the proposals will now get the scrutiny they deserve at a full public inquiry and will enable the…

The campaign to prevent the construction of a coal-fired power station at Hunterston has taken a dramatic step forward.  An environmental coalition led by RSPB Scotland has pulled together the funds to back a judicial review (jr) of the Hunterston proposal.

The jr has been instigated by a local resident, Marco McGinty, who is convinced that the concerns of local people have not meaningfully been consulted.  You can read…