Author: Bryony Tuijl. This piece was originally published in the Eastern Daily Press.

We’re climbing higher and higher. I can’t see out of the windows and I’m not sure I want to. Over the noise of the engine I can see the instructors motioning to each other and we all begin to shuffle forward slowly. Before I know it I’m sat in the open doorway of the plane, my body leant forward. We’re thirty thousand feet in the air…

Author: Ellen Robson

Stuck for things to do with your summer holidays? There is a huge range of family friendly activities for you to try as part of the RSPB’s Wild Challenge. Completing challenges will earn you awards, so see if you can go for gold! You can sign up for free here to have a look at the full list,  but below are just a few examples of the things you can do to help give nature a home, and have fun…

Phew!

After 34 days we have finally come to the end of our crowdfunding appeal! We have raised a whopping £14,801, through crowdfunding which includes offline donations from collection boxes at Titchwell Marsh and people very kindly sending us cheques. 

We make no apologies that during the 34 days we bombarded people’s social media feeds, asked time and time again for help, emailed thousands of people, submitted…

Author Emily Kench

The knot is a medium sized dumpy shorebird. On the face of it, it’s nothing special, and its name appears just as plain.

Knot on The Wash, RSPB Snettisham. Photo by Andy Hay

But what’s in a name?  Well this name is thought to be steeped in history. You may have seen a blog on this topic last week, but here is a more in depth look at the origin of the name knot.

King Canute (or King…

The Lodge in Sandy, Beds, isn't just the home of the RSPB's UK and international headquarters. It's also a fantastic nature reserve with rare habitats that are home to some special wildlife.

One of the creatures thriving in the sandy heathland and seasonal pools that have been created for it (and other wildlife) is the natterjack toad, and this month RSPB Picture Researcher Ben Andrew was able to join the…

Author: Carrie Carey

It’s early in the morning and the gentle but unmistakable purr of a turtle dove is carried across the silence of the empty car park at RSPB Titchwell Marsh. This soulful sound conveys a whisper of hot summer days and balmy evenings and though once common, is now the long lost background of my childhood. Sadly, a bird that I was well acquainted with in my youth is now considered at risk of global…

Sam Seal's husband Tim proposed to her at RSPB Snettisham in 2015. They love the place so much, they even had pink-footed geese knitted especially for the wedding! Sam explains why RSPB Snettisham is so important to her and husband Tim.

I first visited RSPB Snettisham at dawn on New Year’s Day, 2012. I had read about the pink-footed goose spectacular online, and wanted to check it out as it sounded amazing. It was…

Author: Ellen Robson

After the recent launch of our name a knot campaign, where we have been asking you to give a name to one of the 100,000 knot at RSPB Snettisham, you may be wondering why knot were called knot in the first place. The name is thought to originate from the story of King Canute (King Cnut in Danish) and the waves. This story describes how Canute goes to the shore and commands the sea to avoid him. In…

10  days into our Crowdfunder appeal to rebuild Snettisham's lost hides, wildlife writer and photographer James Lowen shares his memories of his first visit to the reserve and the wildlife he experienced there:

The eastern sky has started to glimmer hopefully, but I am directing eyes and ears westwards. It is November, and – here on The Wash – it is very nearly showtime.

For the first ten minutes…

Author: Emily Kench. This item originally appeared in the July edition of Let's Talk magazine.

Snettisham is special. As the sun rises and sets, it touches vast mudflats that divide the sea and inland lagoons. When the sea rolls in on a high-tide, the mudflats disappear – blink and you’ll miss it – the tide doesn’t hang around in north Norfolk.

As the silt is submerged, whirling waders abandon…

Why did the RSPB decide to use crowdfunding?

We decided to research alternative ways to fund projects; when we looked into crowdfunding, it seemed to tick all the right boxes for us. We know that Snettisham is an extremely special place for lots of people and rebuilding the hide was something many people told us that they, as individuals, would be willing to get behind and support.

As crowdfunding typically raises…

RSPB launches 1-month appeal to rebuild Snettisham hide, 10 July – 7 August 2017 

This week has been a landmark one for The RSPB in the East as we launched our first ever crowdfunding appeal, starting the clock on a 28-day appeal during which we hope to raise the £120,000 needed to replace two wildlife hides at Snettisham nature reserve destroyed by coastal storms in 2013.

Wildlife TV presenter and RSPB Vice…

 

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…

Author: Jim Scott - Site Manager of RSPB Snettisham Reserves

Snettisham is rich in history. The village, the beach and the reserve all have a story to tell.

A discovery of precious metals, known as the Snettisham Hoard, suggests that people have settled in Snettisham village since the Iron Age. Later, people opted to establish communities in this lovely little village, with some of the oldest buildings date back to…

The little tern is one of the UK’s rarest seabirds, having suffered chronic declines over the past 25 years. These little 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.

In the 1980s there were 2,500 breeding pairs, this…

Author: Emily Kench. This blog post originally appeared as a feature in the Eastern Daily Press Weekend magazine on 17 June 2017.

I’m not a particularly detail-oriented person. I tend to be interested in the bigger picture which on occasion means that I miss out on the intricacies of nature. Whilst I could tell you all about the reasons why our wildlife is in decline, the importance of giving nature a home, and the…

Author: Emily Kench. This blog post originally appeared as a feature in the Eastern Daily Press Weekend magazine on 10 June 2017.

It’s hard to avoid the media’s perception of a perfect body these days. Whether it is Myleene Klass taking a dip in the jungle, or Peter Andre baring all in a calendar – the concept of a flawless body is everywhere.

Luckily nature is largely unaffected by our crazy quirks…

Author: Rupert Masefield. This blog post originally appeared in Let’s Talk.

Food, glorious food! Is there any aspect of our lives and the world we inhabit that is not touched in some way by food? It’s everywhere: at work, at home, at school, in our fridges and freezers, on supermarket shelves. Social rituals are built around the meals we share with our families, friends and colleagues, and what we eat is becoming…

Author: Rupert Masefield

I used to dream I could fly. Or more accurately, I flew in my dreams. Lots of people do – flying is one of the most common themes for our dreams. Theories abound as to the ‘meaning’, symbolism, and causes of dreams about flying. Don’t ask me to interpret their significance, that’s not what this is about and it’s not really something I want to understand. I’d much rather focus on the sensation…

RSPB ‘Active in Nature’ officer Martin Rendle gives us a taste of a whole new way to experience the watery world of The Broads...

 

6.30 am on a warm bright summer’s morning and out on the water in the Norfolk Broads about to embark on a little pre-work adventure before the river gets busy with boaters, as it does around these parts at this time of year.

 

 

Photo credit: Ben Hall

 

But I’m not in…

Author: Rupert Masefield Some of its nicknames may sound less-than-flattering – goggle-eyed plover, heath chicken, thick-knee – but there aren’t many birds that have captured the hearts of the people that share the land where they...

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…

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 15^th 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…

Written by Emily Kench. This blog post originally appeared as a feature in the Suffolk Magazine in the April issue 2017.

Spring: that glorious time of the year where we draw back the curtains, fling open the windows and once again turn our gardens into a multifunctional seasonal living room, dining room and playroom. A ‘room’ we must tend to when preparing for the lazy alfresco morning coffee, the long scone-consuming…