• Swifts, Swallows & House Martins - I am a bit clueless

    Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

    I don't know about you but I have loved having our summer visitors here. As they soar overhead in the evening I wish I knew a little more about which was which – I know it shouldn’t really matter and I should be happy to just enjoy their flirtatious skirting of rooftops. There is something maybe geeky or nerdy about it, identifying something, giving it a name, putting it…

  • The legal status of corvids in the UK

    Crows, jackdaws and rooks are protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 and the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985. This makes it illegal to intentionally take, injure or kill them, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents. However, the law recognises that in some circumstances control may be necessary. The UK Government issues annually a general licence (for which it is not necessary…

  • Where to let your wild thing roam

    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…

  • Inspiring our future conservationists

    Blogger: Agnes Rothon

    Can you remember what it was that inspired you to do the job that you do today or the job that you did throughout your working life? I can remember mine and I revisited it quite by accident the other day.

    I was clearing out the spare room – the drawers at the bottom of the book case were beginning to sag under the weight of the cargo that they carried. It was time to get down to the serious business…

  • Go wild and uncover the nature on your doorstep!

    We are calling on families to get outdoors, get creative, get exploring and get wild this Spring. The Wild Challenge is the RSPB's brand new online awards scheme encouraging children, families and schools to go out and get closer to the natural world.

    By completing the 30 fun and engaging activities, families can log their achievements on the website and receive bronze, silver and gold awards! Each activity comes…

  • Register for the Big Garden Birdwatch 2018

    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…

  • Events for your wild things this half-term

    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…

  • Champions stepping up to save turtle doves in 2018

    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 …

  • Nestboxes make prime real estate for birds

    The snow may have vanished as quickly as it appeared but the cold, dark days of winter have lingered on. This being said, do not become too accustomed to these seemingly bare days, because if you look a bit closer you might just find the tiny green buds flourishing on our trees and the overzealous shoots ready to blossom at any second. Then take a second to listen to the increasing trills of bird song and inhale a deep…

  • Geese Galore

    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…

  • A new home for glow worms

    Blogger - Agnes Rothon

    The good news is that another creature, the glow worm, has decided to call RSPB Lakenheath Fen nature reserve its home. My first experience of glow worms came when reading Roald Dahl’s classic novel James and the Giant Peach as a boy - one of the creatures that James shares his epic journey in the peach with is a glow worm.  I learnt from the book that they are curious creatures – perhaps…

  • Remember, remember ...?

    In case it has been erased from your memory or you are in desperate denial about the turning of the seasons, there is no  escaping that it is bonfire night this weekend!

    The sky will be adorned with that healthy orange glow of bonfires and fireworks and we will all be testing out our vocal chords with chimes of oooohs and ahhhhs!

    I for one will probably be snuggled up on my sofa with a hot mug of tea, watching from…

  • Farming for turtle doves in Essex

    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…

  • Wildlife of The Wash

     

    Author: Jim Scott

    RSPB Snettisham sits on the edge of The Wash: the UK’s most important inter-tidal wetland site nationally. At peak times, The Wash can hold between 400 – 450, 000 waders and wildfowl. Up to a third of these can occur on our reserve.

    However, the site isn’t just of national importance. Internationally, The Wash is important for 16 species of birds: pink-footed goose, dark-bellied…

  • Volunteers needed to help save rare seabird

    Author: Emily Kench

    One of the UK’s rarest seabirds, the little tern has suffered serious declines over the past 25 years. The 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 to nest and feed their young, free from predators and human disturbance.

    The East Anglian coast is home…

  • Volunteering has got me closer to nature

    Studying BSc Ecology at UEA and volunteering in the RSPB’s communications team are completely different, yet so similar – the bottom line being conservation, conservation, conservation. The past year, I have not only had the closest nature experiences of my life, but have learnt why conserving our wildlife really is so important.

    Training to be an ecologist requires a large amount of field work – something…

  • The true value of nature

    Guest blog from Dr Rob Field & Dr Richard Bradbury RSPB Conservation Scientists

    How do you put a value on a nature reserve like Wicken Fen?

    Man — despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments — owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains. ~ Anon.

    The natural world has always provided for us, and throughout history we have valued that…

  • No bat, yeah bat, no bat......

    Blogger: Rachael Murray, Projects Officer

    At the RSPB, we are well known for our royal allegiance to birds.  And, whilst we think things with beaks are pretty marvellous, it’s less known that we also spend a great deal of time protecting, campaigning for, and creating space for all manner of other beastie.  

    And though I know this theoretically, it’s been working on The Lodge wind turbine project that has really…

  • Winter Walks Series: Wallasea Island

    If a walk in the wilderness is what you're looking for this winter, the Wallasea Island Wild Coast project will give you just that.

    Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project is a collaboration with Crossrail to combat the threats from climate change and coastal flooding by recreating the ancient wetland landscape of mudflats and saltmarsh, lagoons and pasture. With 101 pairs of breeding avocets this year, RSPB Wallasea Island…

  • Nature Wow!

    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…

  • Winter Walks Series: Strumpshaw Fen

    A firm favourite with families and wildlife enthusiasts alike, RSPB Strumpshaw Fen nestled in the broads and part of the Mid-Yare National Nature Reserve has an array of fascinating wildlife and plenty of activities for everyone to enjoy.

    Walk around the reedbeds, woodlands and meadows, look out for shy wetland species including the resident bitterns and bearded tits, or the distinctive blue flash of a kingfisher hunting…

  • Improving our presence on Facebook

    BLOGGER: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

    The RSPB currently has 52 Facebook accounts which include regional, reserve, country, volunteering, online shop and national pages.

    This lack of consistency is confusing. It makes it difficult for good people to find what they’re looking for and for.

    It is not practical for every reserve to have its own account, as we are lucky enough to have over 200 nature reserves…

  • Mushrooms and Toadstools From the Fairy Stories


    Author: Mark Brandon

     

    To quote Keats, now that the ‘season of mist and mellow fruitfulness’ is upon us, it is a great time to see mushrooms and toadstools in our colourful autumnal countryside. The Lodge nature reserve, just over the Cambridgeshire border, is a great hunting ground for fungi. Over 600 different species have been recorded there!

     

    The stunning fly agaric, often depicted in illustrations…

  • We can all make room for nature in our gardens

    Are you a ‘tidy it to within an inch of its life and then I won’t have to think about it again until spring’, or a ‘leave it completely alone and never venture into it except to walk down the path to the car’ type of person when it comes to your garden in the winter? Hopefully most of us are somewhere in between, doing a bit for wildlife and storing up our rewards as gardeners for next season too. There’s always a little…

  • Spring at RSPB Titchwell Marsh nature reserve

    Author: Carrie Carey

    There’s nothing more likely to put a spring in your step than seeing the new blooms of flowers and trees emerging at this time of year. The term ‘spring time’ dates back to the 15th century in celebration of the new year springing out from the old.  With the long awaited passage of winter, springing time was seen as a period of rejuvenation and regrowth.

    Spring is the favoured…