• RSPB offers fantastic opportunity to kick start a career in conservation this Christmas - I did it, and so could you!

    Are you looking to develop a career in conservation, or maybe you're disillusioned with your job and want to make a difference in a new area or work?

    This is an opportunity that's close to my heart because I actually started out with the RSPB in this very internship!
    It's a great way in and I got the experience I needed to get into a career in conservation. 
    It's also really good fun and you get to meet…

  • A lunchtime refresher

    I just popped outside for a gulp of cool, fresh air here at the Norwich office. I was rewarded for braving the chilly December afternoon by the sight of 5 different birds..in less than 5 minutes! 

    A pair of black birds, a magpie, wood pigeons, a wren and a black headed gull!

    It just goes to show that you don't need to go hiking into the mountains to feel closer to nature (although hiking in the mountains is nice too…

  • 'Look, the star!' - getting arty at RSPB Minsmere - a blog by Ian Barthorpe

    Midwinter Star is the first temporary art work by Minsmere’s artist in residence Liz McGowan. This two and a half metre diameter star is made from reeds and can be seen in the North Bushes, close to the main path from the Minsmere visitor centre to the sea.  

    Liz says, ”This star was inspired by my memory of visiting a reedbed on a frosty winter’s day and seeing the banks of reeds shining golden in the slanting sunlight…

  • What's happening at RSPB Fowlmere - by Doug Radford, Site Manager

    Sunday was too nice a day to spend indoors, so in the afternoon I wrapped up warm and walked round the reserve. Lots of other people had the same idea and the car park was almost full, but the advantage of the circular trail is that you don't see many people as long as you all walk in the same direction at the same pace.


    Redwing by Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)

    The hawthorn bushes were alive with redwings, but…

  • Sleigh bells ring, are you listenin' ...

    This season, Father Christmas and the RSPB are working together to bring you magical Reindeer Food. On Christmas Eve, sprinkle the food onto your garden. Make a wish for Father Christmas to visit you. The smell of this delicious food will guide him to your home and the best bit is any food the reindeer leave behind will be gobbled up by your garden birds for their Christmas lunch!

    The elves have been busy, cutting…

  • Feisty friend

    Have you ever had that experience when you get up really early in the morning, it’s still dark and no-one else is awake? For a short time, while the sky is magical with wispy waves of star glitter, you could be the only person on the planet.  I used to get this feeling when I was younger and I had a paper round in the mornings. Especially in January and February, when it can be bitterly cold and eerily quiet. Now…

  • Beaches in the East

    Blogger: Gena Correale-Wardle, Community Fundraising Officer

    Beaches. No, I’m not being un-PC and derogatory in a Mexican accent. Neither am I talking about the weepy with Bette Midler. I’m talking about that age-old combination of sand and sea. The thing holiday memories are made of along with the scent of chip grease and vinegar and the crunch of sand in your sandwiches.

    I love going to the beach. I love…

  • Going big for Conservation

    Blogger: Sarah Green, Project Coordinator - Natura People Partnership Project  

    We are very pleased to announce that Agellus Hotels have become the first corporate members for Minsmere!

    Corporate membership for Minsmere is a new initiative we have developed for Suffolk businesses (or perhaps businesses beyond Suffolk who particularly Minsmere).  We have been offering opportunities for businesses to support the whole R…

  • Beginners Guide to: CAP, Europe and Wildlife Friendly Farming

    Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

    Things to talk to your mates about this weekend over take-out food - what is David Cameron up to at the moment in Europe?

    Download our attached Frequently Asked Questions document on the subject and give us a shout if you have any more questions.

  • Simon Says: This isn’t about rich or poor, big or small

    Blogger: Simon Tonkin, RSPB Senior Farmland Conservation Officer

    For those of you taking an interest in the latest developments in wildlife friendly farming and the EU Budget, let me reassure you, the current CAP system does have a good element about it; namely in the form of agri-environment schemes.

    These Schemes pay for wildlife improvements, soil and water protection and the conservation of historic sites.…

  • All aboard...

    As i pulled into the quayside there was a strong coastal smell. Rich, salty seaweed, damp wood from the pier, and pungent shellfish remains from the cockle van parked up at a jaunty angle. The enigmatic herring gull soundtrack was faint on this particular morning, but it was there none the less.

    This trip was a first for me. I was heading out on an old sailing barge called Victor to see the wildlife of the Stour Estuary…

  • TIME FOR ACTION: Funding fears for wildlife-friendly farming

    Blogger: Paul Forecast, RSPB Regional Director in the East

    " Over the past 40 years Europe has lost 300 million birds and in just the past 15 years we have lost 70% of European grassland butterflies.  Farmland wildlife remains in crisis.  Following proposals released yesterday, the situation will get a lot worse unless leaders make the right decisions next week on the 22 & 23 November."

    This year sees the…

  • Choose life; wear a poppy

    I don’t know whether I can write about Remembrance Sunday. As a subject it is so full of meaning and so full of feeling that I wonder if I can do it justice. Yet here I am and here are my words; I only hope that they can do enough.

    You see poppies everywhere at this time of year. On the tunic of a glittering Zoe Ball as she tells us, bouncing and beaming, of the winners and losers in this week’s Strictly Come Dancing…

  • From Norway with Love

    Blogger: Lauren Harris, Futurescapes Support Officer

    So, what do we talk about in our little offices on a Monday morning catch up with colleagues? Lots of things, but this Monday we talked about the influx of migrant birds coming off the continent onto our little piece of rock. The most impressive of these were the 21,100 redwings that were spotted at the Spurn Bird Observatory on Monday 22 October 2012. For those of…

  • Are you up for a challenge?

     Blogger: Sarah Green, Project Coordinator - Natura People Partnership Project

    What’s your everyday job?  Do you spend a lot of time in the office, reading a computer screen?  Would you like to spend a day in the great outdoors, away from the air con system, breathing fresh air in spectacular scenery?

    If you said yes then we’ve got a fabulous opportunity for you!

    We are offering team challenges at 19 East…

  • 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…

  • You can take the girl out of London

    Blogger: Laura White, PA to Public Affairs Manager

    I was surfing the net the other night, as you do, when I came across a Facebook group dedicated to my part of London. It was entitled the real East Enders. I began to read the odd post and then realised that I knew quite a few of the people who were posting. I also knew a lot of the people they were talking about, and the memories came flooding back.

    By some miracle…

  • Ash trees – the silent victim

    The countryside may be awash with crimson red and burnt orange, but a sinister force is creating a dark cloud over Autumn in the UK.

    Chalara fraxinea (try pronouncing that after a glass of red wine!) is a disease that has decimated Ash tree species throughout Northern Europe, already affecting over 90% of Ash trees in Denmark and Sweden and is present as far as Belgium.

    Until recently the UK was unaffected, but it now…

  • A Volunteer’s View: A Deer Safari at Minsmere

    Carol Miller, Community Fundraising Volunteer

    In the early morning mist of mid-October, I set off for my pre-booked 90 minute Red Deer Safari. As I waited for the start of the safari outside the visitor centre, I watched various birds visiting the bird feeders including long tailed tits, great tits, and blue tits. A jay was flying around the trees nearby and a squirrel scurried along the path, stopped in front of me…

  • Green is the new Black

    Blogger: Kim Matthews, Campaigns Officer

    So yesterday was a big day for me.  Aside from having just about recovered from the lurgy-from-hell that has been sweeping through our office like a viral tsunami, I jumped on an eye-wateringly early (for me!) train to London to take part in my first ever guerrilla marketing action.

    Ok so that makes it sound like I was donning camouflage gear and undertaking some James Bond-l…

  • Telling the difference between the Full Monty and a Hen

    Blogger: Alex Cooper, Conservation Officer

    It’s not often you get the opportunity to see Britain’s rarest bird of prey. So when some friends said they were going to watch a pair near where they lived and asked if I wanted to come along I jumped at the opportunity.

    Part of the reason Montagu’s harriers have never been common in the UK is because they are on the northern edge of their range. Along with other…

  • Computer says 'No'....

    Blogger - Aggie Rothon

    I’ve been on the phone for thirty minutes. At some point between last Thursday and today my computer has taken one of my files, chewed it up and spat it out, but without telling me why. I don’t understand what caused this sudden rage and neither it seems does the IT consultant that I have phoned, hoping that she will be able to mediate the virtual conversation I am struggling to hold. Unfortunately…

  • Rainforests in the East - Diary Post #5: Did you see Avatar?

    Blogger: Niki Williamson, Fenland farmland bird recover officer at Ouse Washes.

    The final blog in the series of rainforest stories inspiring people  around the Together for Trees campaign comes from Borneo.  To date Together for Trees bucket collections have raised £ 52,000 nationally, the East have relieved £9,990.43 so far. A HUGE thank you to staff who have taken part in collections, telemarketing and wonderful rainforest…

  • RSPB Birthday

    Blogger: Sarah Green, Project Coordinator - Natura People Partnership Project

    This week marks my 2 year anniversary with the RSPB.

    Blimey.

    2 years.

    It doesn’t feel that long, yet I think I’ve seen and done a lot in this period.

    Working on the Natura People project I have had the privilege to visit Minsmere regularly as well as work with some great partners on the continent and see their sites – …

  • Together for Trees.

    Blogger - Lili Kumar

    Together for Trees is the RSPB’s partnership with Tesco. Together, we can use their influence to educate, inspire and help people and business to embrace a more sustainable way of living and working for the future.

    Tesco has been independently acknowledged by the Carbon Disclosure Project as being the UK’s leading business for its work on climate change.

    In September, Tesco gave us…