Blogger: Lili Kumar, Community Fundraising Assistant

Hi Gena here for a quick update before I leave Lili to her rainforest post. Hopefully you will all have seen the information regarding the RSPB’s Together for Trees partnership with Tesco to raise money and awareness for tropical forest projects around the globe.

As part of this work, Tesco’s are opening the doors of all their UK superstores and Extra stores…

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…

Do you know what? I've completely forgotten what it's like to be fifteen all over again! This week, we've been joined by Ellen and Dylan who are on work experience from school. They have certainly made me feel old! But, they have both been lovely and we have hopefully given them a flavour of what it's like working for a conservation organisation. They are definitely our conservationists of the future!

Blogger - Aggie Rothon

It was four years ago that the Olympics first became ‘real’ to me. Before that they had passed me by as another sporting event happening a long way away. But in 2008 I was made to sit still and watch. The reason for this was that on a sunny August morning that year my son Robin arrived. A tiny, pink, curled up being, swathed in a too-big babygro, he clung to my front from day one and refused to…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

...a lesser and great spotted woodpecker? Good question – some detective work required.

I come from a primate background (study related and family heritage) and I was taught that the lesser apes are the smaller ones i.e. the gibbons, like the one you get in the Harapan rainforest in Sumatra. The great apes are the bigger ones such as gorillas, orang-utans, chimps,…

I run the risk of sounding like a small child in the lead up to Christmas but, there are only 18 days left till the Olympics Games! On 27 July, the opening ceremony of the most eagerly anticipated sporting event takes place in London and the whole world will be watching. It’s like throwing your own birthday party, nervous that no-one will have a good time, only on a slightly bigger scale of course.

I’m excited about…

‘Hot July brings cooling showers, apricots and gillyflowers.’ said Sara Coleridge, daughter to the famous Samuel.

I’m not sure what gillyflowers are (I’ll google them later) but I’m sure we are all well versed in cooling showers.

For those of us who love to Step Up for Nature, July also brings us things to do, give, volunteer and campaign for. 

Give: Rainforest appeal

Almost all of the…

Blogger - Kate Blincoe, Communications Manager

Did you watch EURO 2012? I watched a few matches, but more in an ‘ok then if it’s on’ rather than a ‘come on, score!’ kind of way. I’m probably in a minority, but I find it hard to get too excited about something where I can neither influence the result nor feel personally affected by the outcome.

What I can get fired up about, however…

This week has been National Insect Week! It doesn’t mean that all the insects in your garden gather at the local pub for a drink and put the world to rights. But It means that we get the opportunity to celebrate all those creepy crawlies, bugs and butterflies that often get neglected when we swoon over the wonderful wildlife of the UK. The good folk at the RSPB in the East put on a series of fun, interesting events…

Blogger: Gena Correale Wardle, Community Fundraising Officer

I’ve recently moved house and now live at the top of a hill overlooking some of Norwich’s most iconic places. From my bedroom window I can now see the magnificent spire of Norwich Cathedral, home to the Norwich peregrines who had two chicks fledge recently. To the left I can see Carrow Road football ground, home of the canaries, Norwich City Football Club who…

Blogger: Anna Sadler, Volunteering Development Officer

The Volunteer & Farmer Alliance (V&FA) provides farmers with a free farmland bird survey, undertaken by trained and sympathetic RSPB volunteers. Along with their results, the farmers are encouraged to seek further advice and put into place specific management for farmland birds. Through this, they experience positive contact, generate trust and build working relationships…

This is my new bike!

Now, for those of you who know me well, this is not the kind of bike i usually ride! My current bike is carbon, has blue tyres and cost the same amount as a small car! But this is my new favourite. Yes it has rust, yes it’s heavier than a bus, and yes, it needs a lot of TLC, but it is truly beautiful! For Bike To Work Week this week, our office has been remarkable in it’s efforts to change our…

Blogger: Jane Warren, Green Team Representative

I have a lot of affection for my first bike. It was red, my brother’s was identical, but blue. We spent long summer days cycling round the Norfolk countryside, or so I remember. Come adolescence, the bike got parked in the shed. It wasn’t till I was at uni a few years later that I rediscovered the joys of cycling. A touring bike with drop handlebars that one summer took…

I've just been for a very wet walk. It didn't rain, although it certainly did this morning; the heart-shaped petals of the dog-rose that dot the hedgerows have been battered by the heavy raindrops and are now stuck to the roads and tracks like thin scraps of crepe paper. No, it wasn't the rain that soaked me but the huge swathes of grass; the deep purple seeds of yorkshire fog and the furry meadow foxtail that…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

This year’s Summer Solstice happens today, June 20 at 11:09pm. It notes the longest day of the year and the first day of Summer.

"The date has had spiritual significance for thousands of years as humans have been amazed by the great power of the sun. The Celts celebrated with bonfires that would add to the sun's energy, Christians placed the feast of St John the Baptist…

Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

I was swiftly bumped back down to reality last week with the post bank-holiday blues as I sat at my computer watching the emails slowly clogging up. The grey Wednesday morning drizzle wasn’t doing too much to lift my spirits and i was already wondering when i could watch a repeat of the Jubilee concert  to get me back into the party mood. After all, it was quite the celebratory…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

I am a 70s baby, early 80s child (as the song goes) and I am getting very nostalgic at the moment what with reminiscing about the 1977 Silver Jubilee and collecting Ebay He-man and Ghostbusters figures for my 18 month old son. I am also looking into buying him his first tricycle and it took me back to 1983 and the struggles of learning to ride my bike (with stabilisers), my…

Blogger: Kate Blincoe - Communications Manager

Slugs keep eating my sunflowers, weeds grow as fast as I can pull them, and watering my thirsty sweet peas keeps emptying my water butt. After an hour or two of gardening, it is definitely time for a sit down and a glass of wine.

Making my handkerchief-sized patch into a pleasant place for my family and a haven for wildlife can be a labour of love at times. Blending the…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

I was in two minds about blogging something for the jubilee weekend because if your family is anything like mine you have staunch republicans (like my Dad) and then memories of my granddad standing and saluting at the Queen and the national anthem.

Then I thought regardless of the fact that the “R” in RSPB shows our historic connections to Liz & Phil, we all like a good…

You can find inspiration anywhere. To illustrate that I'm going to have to share a guilty secret: Sometimes I find myself watching repeats on more4.

I know it's fashionable to have not switched the TV on for ages, to not know that 24 hours in A and E is on on channel 4 at nine o clock on Wednesdays. Interesting people certainly don't glimpse snatches of Come Dine with Me as they flick for something worth watching…

Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

What is it that makes you proud to live in the UK? Is it the football team you support, the heritage, the fish and chips, the landscape? There are many reasons to feel proud of the country we live in and as a nation we’re blimmin good at celebrating.  Talking of which, I was invited to a Eurovision party on Saturday evening! It was a first for me and although I’ve never…

Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

Who are the top songsters across the countryside?

The East is alive with songbirds belting it out all across the East. And with Eurovision nearly upon us, It’s time for us to celebrate the top songbirds in the region.

Presenting, from Suffolk, the RSPB Wolves Wood Reserve, which has a thriving population of singing nightingales. Nightingales in the UK declined by 57…

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

The flowers are blossoming, Eurovision is just around the corner and the days are getting longer, it must be time for another Natura People partner meeting!

Every 6 months we (myself and colleagues from Provincie Zeeland, Provincie West-Vlaanderen, Natuur –en Recreatieschap de Grevelingen and of course the RSPB) get together to discuss progress…

Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

It’s been a bit like a James Bond movie at work of late. Either that or I’ve been watching too much Homeland on TV! Over the past few weeks, we have been preparing a rather 007-like project. There have been phone calls with code acronyms, urgent meetings, file notes and tight deadlines. Sadly, Daniel Craig didn’t turn up to the office, but nonetheless it’s an exciting time…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

Nature is amazing - help us keep it that way. And what better way than helping us collect money for our conservation work.

We’ll be collecting in shops and supermarkets in the East of England from 26 May to 3 June in your local patch for Love Nature Week.

If you recognise any of the following places and live nearby then you are just the person we need - give us a