RSPB in the East

June has been a BIG month for turtle doves. One of the UK’s (and Europe’s) most threatened birds, their plight has inspired farmers, politicians, birders and nature-lovers to step up to help save them. We reflect on what could prove to be a pivotal time for this perilously rare summer visitor and British breeding bird.

Earlier this month, one of our most threatened birds, the turtle dove, gained a new …

Photo: Martin Smith, by Sam Lee (RSPB)

Burnham Wick Farm is a medium-sized arable farm. Since Martin Smith took over its management in 2003, he has worked hard to develop a thriving arable environment, whilst promoting habitat diversity. An appreciation of farmland wildlife and its coexistence alongside productive farming has clearly been a strong motivation for Martin’s work.

In recognition of his achievements…

As I watched the first week of BBC Springwatch last month (is it June already?!), it was impossible not to marvel at the technical and cultural achievement of the series' producers in painting this intimate portrait of our native wildlife. Familiar recurring characters the blue tits and wrens sit alongside new cast members like the leverets (young hares) and little owl on our TV screens, while the perennially engaging…

Author: Jeff Knott, RSPB in the East's Regional Director

Back in January, Theresa May launched Defra’s long-awaited 25 year environment plan. A plan slathered in promises to secure a generational turn around in the fortunes of our natural world. One key idea was to create a ‘world-leading environmental watchdog’ to ensure the interests of our environment had a strong voice in decision making.

Our Wild Things at Easter events are now in full swing and running across RSPB in the East reserves throughout the Easter holidays - find your nearest reserve running events here.  Whether you can make it to an RSPB reserve or not, RSPB volunteer Georgia Hebdige has pulled together the top ten ways to be a wild thing this spring.

Spring is here and come rain or shine, there is no better place to be than the outdoors! From mud…

RSPB in the East is looking for little tern volunteers in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.

Why volunteer to help little terns?

Little terns are one of the UK’s rarest seabirds, having suffered serious declines over the past 25 years. These tiny chattering birds travel a 6,000 mile round trip each year to breed on the beaches of the British Isles, but their numbers have been declining as they struggle to find safe beaches…

Our Wild Things at Easter events are now in full swing and running across RSPB in the East reserves throughout the Easter holidays - find your nearest reserve running events here.  Whether you can make it to an RSPB reserve or not, RSPB volunteer Georgia Hebdige has pulled together the top five wild things to see this spring. 

Saying goodbye to the winter has brought little sorrow. The sun has pushed its way through the…

I have always loved nature, ever since I was little. Hours wasted moving frogs from a rust and dirt mingled wheelbarrow to the pond, so obviously created for these very creatures. The place they were meant to be, enclosed in those four slab-paved sides, whether they liked it or not. There was nothing quite like the coldness of their skin on mine on warm spring days, and the feel of their quickened heartbeat on the palm…

Show the Love for Halvergate Marshes

Mark Smart - Senior Site Manager of Berney Marshes and Breydon Water

The impact of climate change

Whether you’re a climate change sceptic or completely accept it, we must all appreciate that our weather systems are changing and becoming increasingly unpredictable.

Gone are the balmy summer days I remember as a child and teenager in the 80s, and gone are the predictable…

James Robinson, Regional Director Eastern England

This piece first appeared in the Eastern Daily Press on 31st January 2018.

What will you be doing this Valentine’s Day? Romantic dinner? Trip to Paris? Buying a last-minute gift? Indulging in a takeaway with friends?

Can you believe that #BigGardenBirdwatch is only 4 days away! Following on from last week's countdown, we're now taking a look at some familiar faces that made the top 5 in the Big Garden Birdwatch charts here in the east last year. If you haven't downloaded your free Big Garden Birdwatch pack yet, there's still plenty of time, just visit rspb.org.uk/birdwatch

5. Down two places, it's the blue ti…

There's just over a week to go until #BigGardenBirdwatch! So we thought we'd take a look at some familiar faces that topped the Big Garden Birdwatch charts here in the east last year, starting this week's countdown at number ten and finishing at number 6 - look out for the top five next week!

10. In at ten, it's the long-tailed tit  - easily recognisable birds with distinctive colouring, long-tailed…

Not a kebab made of birds! A kebab for the birds in your garden to eat, and one that's not toxic to your dogs and cats either.

This kebab is very much like our other kebab, but without the raisins, and with a few cute dogs thrown in.

It's the perfect way to get ready for the Big Garden Birdwatch: cheap and fun to make. Oh and you can sign up for the Big Garden Birdwatch for free here!

All you'll need to make…

No, not made of birds! A kebab for birds to eat!

This simple homemade feeder will help attract birds to your garden for this year's Big Garden Birdwatch - now only a couple of weeks away (sign up here!)  It's cheap and fun to make, and all you'll need is:

• Apples
• Hard cheese
  (cut all of the above into cube-sized pieces)
• Raisins (do not use if you have pets - these can be toxic! Instead check out our pet…

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is less than a month away (sign up here!), so now's the time to start encouraging more birds into your garden. Don't worry, you won't have to spend lots of money. For this homemade feeder, all you'll need is:

• An apple
• A corer
• String
• Sunflower seeds
• A few relatively thin sticks

1. Carefully remove the core from the apple, preferably by using a corer. You…

It's here! The time is upon us. You can now sign up here for Big Garden Birdwatch 2018. Whilst the event itself might be over a month away, this leaves plenty of time to start prepping. So get outside, clean up the bird table and fill up your feeders. Just make sure you follow our dos and don'ts for feeding garden birds:

DO feed your garden birds:

Mealworms - dried or alive, both are enjoyed by insect-eaters…

It's time to once again fill up your feeders and register for the Big Garden Birdwatch 2018.

Last year, over 76,000 people in the East, and close to half-a-million people nationally, joined in with the world’s largest garden wildlife survey, counting more than eight million birds.

This year we are asking you to do the same again. Over just one hour, on the weekend of the 27 and 28, or Monday 29 January, we…

James Robinson, Regional Director Eastern England

This piece first appeared in the Eastern Daily Press on 6th December 2017.

Yesterday, the 2017 State of the UK’s Birds report was published. A report that has provided an annual overview of the status of bird populations in the UK and our Overseas Territories since 1999. It provides a one-stop shop for annual, on-going and one-off bird survey results; data gathered…

This month we have had more fantastic news from the #SnettsHide appeal. An individual has kindly donated £30,000 towards rebuilding the hide at RSPB Snettisham! And, the icing on the cake? We also received a cheque from a community trust for £2,000. This means we are nearly half way to reaching our target.

We continue to apply for further funding and if you do have any ideas, thoughts, suggestions or contacts…

Spooky spiders 

Head out into the garden first thing in the morning and witness these eight-legged creatures weave glistening dew-dropping webs.

Fabulous fungi 

Look out for mushrooms and toadstools in enchanted forests. If you’re very quiet you might see fairies resting there. Look, don’t touch! Use our fungi-finder bingo sheet to help you spot an amazing array of fungi.

Bursting berries 

Admire the…

Whenever I stand on the sea wall at RSPB Wallasea Island, with the dust-muddied estuarine water lapping at the sea aster, looking at an egret silhouetted against clouds resting on the tide, mottling the sun, I feel wholly wild.

Inside all of us is a wild thing. It gnashes, it gnaws and it roars, like an encroaching tide, desperate to be sated, longing to be let out. The beast within that we dampen in our day-to-day…

As Halloween approaches, creatures are hunkering down and hibernating, but across RSPB nature reserves, in the depths of enchanted forests, mystical marshes, frightening fens, and haunted heathlands there remain many beasts that go bump in the night.

You don’t have to go far to experience the #wildthings. This October half-term we'll be on hand to showcase beasts that creep, crawl, flap and slither, in a range of #wildthing…

Author: Martin Payne. This piece was originally published in Essex Life.

The temperatures may have dropped from summer highs but there is still plenty of wildlife to get out and enjoy, including the wildlife spectacle found every year along the Essex coast.  The brent goose arrives from its breeding grounds in northern Russia and Siberia to feed on the eelgrass along the coastline and more recently they have moved onto…

We had some wonderful news last week, a community trust has pledged another £5,000 to Rebuild Snettisham Hide which takes us ever closer to raising the money we need to rebuild the hides we lost in the 2013 storm surge.

Since crowdfunding closed we have also received many personal cheques from people who heard about the appeal after the crowdfunding appeal ended. We are so grateful to everybody that has donated…

Author: Emily Kench. This piece originally appeared in the Eastern Daily Press on 19 August 2017.

All nature has a ‘wow factor’. Everything from the emergence of dragonflies from deep within the darkest pond water, to the swifts that eat and sleep in the air, to the intricate underground labyrinths of rabbits, constructed for their huge families – every obscurity and complexity amazes.

However, it…