• My new friend the sparrowhawk

    Blogger: Gena Correale-Wardle, Community Fundraising Officer

    I’ve recently found a new friendship with a lovely sparrowhawk that I’ve seen flying around the train station and football club in Norwich. I say it’s a friendship, but I doubt my sparrowhawk has noticed me in the same way I’ve noticed her several times over the last few weeks.

    The first time I saw him was during a Norwich City football…

  • Are you ready to take on the Wild Zone at Minsmere?

    Blogger: Kate Blincoe, Communications Manager

    Here is my confession. I work for the RSPB yet I have not been to a nature reserve in my leisure time for over three years.

    Let me clarify a few things: I have not lost my passion for enjoying wildlife in stunning locations. I have not had a bad accident involving binoculars. I have not lost my love of walking in incredible habitats and meeting inspirational people.

    I…

  • The bird of the night, a right old public affair and a brand new opening

    Blogger: Laura White, PA to Public Affairs Manager

    I went for a look see round our Minsmere reserve last week. We’ve done lots of wonderful work down there (we do lots of wonderful work on all our reserves, naturally!) but we’ve just created a Wild Zone and Wild Wood Adventure with all sorts of fun things to do, things you wouldn’t necessarily expect on a nature reserve and so we headed down to investigate before it…

  • I like big (water) butts and I cannot lie

    Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer.

    As I stood in the queue to make my emergency purchase last week, the shop assistant declared, “This is the most umbrellas we’ve sold in months.”  With soggy feet, wrinkly toes, and less-than-glamorous, damp hair, I was beginning to seriously dislike the rain!

    But as we know, one of the worst droughts in living memory is currently gripping us. As I’m writing…

  • The best exotic marigold bird watch

    Blogger: Neil Santy, Volunteer (Business Partnerships)

    Perhaps you’ve seen the film; the one with Dev Patel, Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson? Well, the hotel really does exist! We went to visit on a recent holiday out in the wilds of Rajasthan, and although it was fascinating, I was drawn to the red-wattled lapwings and laughing doves that abound in that part of the Indian countryside.

  • 101 things to do with a bucket

    Blogger: Gena Correale-Wardle      

     A little while ago we asked our Twitter followers for some ideas of things you could do with a bucket. Some very good and strange answers came back – bury it and make it into a stag beetle home; use it as a coal scuttle and even have it as a makeshift toilet! The most sensible of the suggestions was to use your bucket to go collecting funds at your local supermarket, which is what 100s…

  • Perfect partners in a GREAT British Day Out

    Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

    What makes the perfect partner? Now do not fret I am not going to get all gushy about how great my wife is, my better half, the wind beneath my wings, the Ying to my Yang. This month on our blog we have been looking at partnerships and it got me thinking about this question of the perfect partner.

    Some of the answers came to me on a blustery weekend walk with my Little Chief…

  • Hintlesham OakeyDoke Awards After-show Party

    Blogger: Kim Matthews, Campaigns Officer

    Hello and welcome to the Hintlesham OakeyDoke Awards after-show party.   The bubbly is flowing and the nibbles are being passed around as we celebrate our winners...

    Wait...

    What’s that?...

    You missed the OakeyDoke awards?!

    Goodness me, Stephen Fry will be devastated!  Oh ok, so he wasn’t actually there, but it was still packed with stars and celebrities...of the woodland…

  • Poetry competition attracts global interest

    Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

    The RSPB encourages people around the world to get creative...

    There is less than two weeks left to enter the first ever RSPB poetry competition and the interest so far has come from all around the globe. As Europe’s largest conservation charity we have been encouraging nature lovers and budding poets to wax lyrical about wildlife, enthuse about the environment and gush…

  • Time to phone a friend

    Blogger: Kate Blincoe, Communications Manager

    What would be your Mastermind specialist subject? Like a party trick (I can twist my arm round 360 degrees), everyone should have one. I think my specialist subject would have to be Thomas the Tank Engine. I’ve studied his life, friends and various escapades in detail over the last few years. However, I have to admit, my young son is arguably more knowledgeable than me. If…

  • THE GREEN POST: Down hoses for wildlife!

    Blogger: Jane Warren, RSPB in the East Green Team Member

    Editor's Note: Your next monthly posting from our fab Green Team - who keep us on our green toes (or should that be green fingers?)

    I came back to Norfolk four years ago after a 15-year stint in Australia, which is often described as the driest inhabited continent on earth. Living with drought conditions was a normal part of everyday life where I lived in…

  • RSPB announces plans for a wind turbine at its HQ

    Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

    It feels almost paradoxical that something so clinical in appearance, so streamlined and architectural can evoke such strong emotions.  But, I suppose that’s to be expected when a feature as bold as a wind turbine appears in our landscape. I call it the Grand Design effect!

    It’s the TV show that I tune into every week, whilst eating my tea (shamefully on my lap most…

  • A bridge too far?

    Blogger: Alex Cooper, Conservation Officer

    Editor’s Note

    When thinking about how we impact on the natural world sometimes it is worth taking a step outside our normal everyday life and seeing what else is out there. You will be surprised what some people are up to. Alex’s post looks at that bigger picture in the Thames Estuary.

    The government is set to look into the case for a Lower Thames Crossing to…

  • What's it all about...David?

    Blogger: Kate Blincoe, Communications Manager

    Dear David,

    The world of politics moves fast. One minute you’re playing badminton in your suit, the next you are making decisions that impact on generations as yet unborn. No wonder you politicians don’t always get it right.

    In recent weeks, the government has upset pasty eaters, drivers and grannies. We’re hoping you don’t add hundreds of thousands of wildfowl…

  • She says there's moths out there...

    Blogger: Amy Crossley, Conservation Officer

    That's what my sister passed on to my parents one early summer weekend morning to explain why the door to our beachfront bungalow was wide open, welcoming a crisp breeze (and rude awakening) into their bedroom. I would have explained this to them to myself had I not been so engrossed at the time in marvelling at the latest specimens that were clinging to the white walls of…

  • Another year older and another year ... more terrified!

    Blogger - Erica Howe: Communications Officer, RSPB

    I’m going to let you into a secret. It was my birthday on Saturday. I suppose it’s not really a secret at all, not with the world of social media. I don’t think that there are many things that you can keep under your hat nowadays.

    I’m not going to tell you how old I was on my birthday, but needless to say, with each year I become increasingly more…

  • The cost of windfarms (subsidies, tax payers money, efficiency)

    We’ve made the case as to why wind power needs to play an important role in the future along with other sources of renewable energy, but can we afford it?

    How much is renewable energy really costing us and is it a price worth paying?

    Find out more from Emily's climate change blog post here.

  • Does the UK need wind power to meet its climate targets?

    A popular question that we often get asked and I’m afraid the answer isn’t a simple one. The truth is, the UK probably could reach its climate targets without wind power but it would come at a higher financial and environmental cost. It would also take a lot longer.

    Find out more here.

  • Wind power and birds

    To continue our 'wind week', we deal with one question that is top of mind for a conservation charity such as the RSPB - what are the impacts of wind power on birds?  There has been a variety of press on this topic in recent years,  our climate change blog gets to the bottom of the issues here.

  • RSPB Wind Week

    Wind power is in the news more and more, and the issue has never been so emotive. The RSPB considers that there is an important role for wind power to play on the land and at sea because it offers a low carbon source of electricity. We believe, however, that windfarms must be sited and designed so that they are in harmony with nature and do not cause unacceptable impacts. For the next week we’ll be pointing you towards…

  • A Falling Star

    Blogger: Kate Blincoe, Communications Manager

    The number crunching has been done and the eagerly awaited results have been announced. The nation wants to know what it means to them. No, not the budget! I mean the annual stock take of our birds; the results of Big Garden Birdwatch 2012 are just out!

    The weather has been particularly unusual so far this year, so we were interested to see how this has impacted on the results…

  • How to look good naked in the great outdoors

    Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

    The largest conservation organisation in Europe is today launching a plea for keen birdwatchers to take part in a rather unusual project.

    For its 2013 calendar, the RSPB is looking for bearded birdwatchers to take part in a photo shoot around the East of England.

    But there’s a catch. They are to pose with nothing more than their binoculars, strategically placed, to raise…

  • A Little Mining Bee Adventure with Tommy

    Blogger: Emily Field, RSPB Volunteer & Farmer Alliance Project Officer

    The other day was walking home from school with Tommy (age 5) whinging in the usual way "come on Tommy what's keeping you?”

    he replied "I'm looking at the bees going into the ground mum!"

    I go back and find, with Tommy, to my surprise, lots of tiny little bees, with shiny tails, and orange legs, digging holes into…

  • Earth Hour this Saturday (more specifically from 8:30pm - 9.30pm)!

    Blogger: Helen Leach, RSPB in the East Green Team

    Hundreds of millions of people around the world will be plunging themselves into darkness tomorrow by switching off their electric lights for Earth Hour!

    Earth Hour is a big deal! It's a symbolic statement of the need to do something about climate change. Last year 5,200 cities in 7 continents were involved, with some of the most famous world landmarks, like the Empire…

  • What impact does British Summer Time have on you?

    Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

    Did anyone else get caught out by the clocks going forward or did you welcome it in with open arms? For some of you, this is a pretty depressing thought. A whole hour less in bed, an hour snatched away from that precious Sunday morning lie-in. However, if you’re beaming with the thought of lighter evenings, and longer days then the hour sacrifice seems a little price to pay.…