Blogger: Sean Locke, a Volunteer Bird Surveyor at Strumpshaw Fen Reserve

Winter
 
Hues of sadness paint the tired sky.
Suffocated by grey clouds.
Tears shed heavy.
Soaking the skin of this lifeless land.
 
The breath of Winter lingers.
An icy grip, harsh strangle on the throat.
Silver light of the moon shimmers.
The shadow of night creep quickly to cast.
 
Black knarly fingers entangle,
Skeleton-like, empty of life, pointing to the…

Blogger: Gena Correale Wardle, Community Fundraising Officer

Sunday is my favourite day of the week – a real lounge day when I like nothing better than to get the Sunday papers and spend the day cooking, reading and watching TV. Last Sunday I spent the morning cooking up a storm in the kitchen with my new favourite thing – my organic veg box!

The previous week one of the papers had run a promotion so you…

Blogger: Steve Rowland, Public Affairs Manager

Spring seemed a long way off last week as I took my lunchtime walk through the woods, the leaves on the trees were yet to unfurl, the ground was bare and covered in a mulch of last autumns dead leaves, and a light, cold wintry rain drizzled down.

And yet I realised that my mind had picked up on the subtle changes in the quality of light and drawing out of the days. I became…

Blogger: Kate Blincoe, Communications Manager

Look out of your window. The catkins are swaying in the spring breeze, the blue tit is hunting out caterpillars for its young family and an early bumblebee buzzes by. Nature is busy all around us.

What if pound signs were flashing over all these beautiful, natural events? If you look on these living things as paid workers for us then the catkins tree is capturing carbon…

Blogger: Jane Warren, RSPB in the East Green Team

As we edge along towards spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s worth sparing a thought for the climate. Today is the beginning of  Climate Change Week (12-18 March), and there are easy ways for us all to get involved. Many of us are already doing our bit, but it’s always good to be reminded! So here are three things to do this week:

Get cooking with Climate…

Blogger: Gena Correale-Wardle, Community Fundraising Officer

Do you remember in January when I blogged about the great partnership the RSPB had with Dozen Artisan Bakery and Pulse Cafe Bar, two great independent eateries in Norwich? I bet you’ve been waiting with baited breath to see how we got on....

Well, today I went to see the lovely manager of Pulse, Helen, as she presented us with a great big cheque (literally…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

Last June you may have remembered my Swift, Swallows & House martins - I am a bit clueless blog post, well just as think I have nailed some of my bird ID skills I recently went on my hols to Osea Island.

We went as a family with my brother and his gang and spent the time walking the island when the causeway (as seen on the Woman in Black movie) was covered by the tide…

Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

I have discovered some great wildlife facts this week about some of my favourite birds. I love all wildlife and the great outdoors, but one of my other favourite things is a good pub quiz! And what a way to marry the two together – facts about wildlife! My first of the week was this. The nuthatch is the only bird in the UK that can climb down a tree headfirst. This makes me…

Blogger: Kim Matthews, Campaigns Officer 

It’s always the quiet ones! At least that is what my grandmother used to say.  So what started me reminiscing on my grandmother’s pearls of wisdom? 

It all began with the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch.  In the aftermath of the big weekend there were rumblings on the Twittersphere about having only seen dunnocks during their hour.  LBJ’s (little brown jobs!) are often…

Blogger: Laura White, PA to the PA Manager

Have you ever been so totally bowled over by something that even a couple of days after the event you’re still thinking about it? You feel your mind wandering back to the moment and as you savour the awe you felt you smile to yourself in a goofy way, making people around you raise their eyebrows. Well I had that kind of experience yesterday and even now while I’m writing this…

Blogger: Annie Sadler, Volunteering Development Officer

I love taking part in the RSPB’s beached bird survey!  Who wouldn’t?  It’s a great excuse to get out on the coast, feel the wind in your hair and the sun on your skin.  Believe it or not, every year, for the seven years I have volunteered for this, it has been sunny, even in February! 

This important international survey is held on the last weekend…

Blogger - Erica Howe

I’m house sitting at the moment while our friends are off on a holiday of a lifetime! It sounds wonderful doesn’t it? I’ve left the city, living in the Norfolk countryside, in a bigger house with a garden – sounds like a holiday itself? Well, sort of!

It’s funny when you step into the shoes of someone else, live their life for a brief moment. That’s what it feels like when…

Blogger: Gena Correale-Wardle, Community Fundraising Officer

Yesterday I received the loveliest text from my oldest childhood friend who has recently moved to London.

“It’s another beautiful blue eyed day in fair London town :) I’m starting to spot those bumbles! I love those round fluffy beasts – my second one today in fact, is resting on my Juliet balcony catching some rays. Bless the bumbles!” …

Blogger: Emily Field, RSPB Volunteer & Farmer Alliance Team

The Sunday before last, it was a beautiful sunny morning and with my husband home to watch the children, I finally got round to setting up my telescope on a patch of "wild bird seed mix" (a crop on farmland planted to feed the birds) by my home, a few miles west of Norwich. In the 15 short minutes I spent there before breakfast: enjoying the spectacle…

Blogger: Kate Blincoe

Parenthood can feel complicated at times. We become circus skills experts with all that plate spinning, juggling and tightrope walking as we try to do the best thing for our families whilst managing limited time and money. Having just returned to work following maternity leave, this is very much on my mind!

I’ve never been one for relying on a parenting manual to help me with these challenges.…

Blogger: Aggie Rothon, Communications Officer

I went to boarding school. It was a funny old place. There were the metal-framed boarding-house windows that didn’t quite shut, lumpy horse-hair mattresses and thick canary yellow socks. We marched in to lunch to a band and had study on every day of the week.

Sounds a bit austere, doesn’t it? Except for the socks perhaps. But despite memories of rain sodden woollen…

I know it'sbeen a mild few days (and you know us, we LOVE talking about the weather!), but it's not staying warm for long. For us, we have the luxury of wearing an extra jumper and cosying up under a blanket, but our garden birds have less protection for the next cold snap hitting home this weekend.  With chilly Arctic blizzards forecast to head through the UK this weekend, we thought we'd highlight some  of…

Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

Peering out of my window in the office today, the snow is starting to melt and the sun is streaming across our desks. It is certainly warming my heart, if not my red fingertips that have been pinched by the frosty air on my walk in. It is amazing what such a dramatic change in weather can do to your perspective though. With roads covered in inches of clean, white, fluffy snow…

Blogger: Simon Tonkin, RSPB Senior Farmland Conservation Officer

Where am I? Over 800,000 square kilometres of land, surrounded on three sides by seas, serving as a bridge between three continents and forming a critical flyway for migrating birds? .....Turkey of course!

Turkey encompasses two main routes for birds migrating en mass, referred to as a flyway. Twice a year, the land and water habitats of Turkey offer…

Blogger - Aggie Rothon, Communications Officer

I have fallen in love with keeping chickens. They are quirky, personality filled creatures and I can fill hours in a day watching them. We now have five in total, including Colin the cockerel, but with the cold weather and drawn in nights we still have very few eggs. I can do without the scrambled egg suppers until spring time though if it means letting the chickens lead…

Blogger: Gena Correale-Wardle, Community Fundraising Officer

Have you ever had that dream where you’re running the 100 metres for your country at the Olympics? It’s all in slow motion, the crowd is going crazy as your feet take turns pounding the track, you can see the finish line in front of you getting ever closer and then... you wake up!

I know I have, and I probably will have this dream again as this…

Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

With a few days of January left all I can say is it has been a funny old month! I’ve seen people out and about wearing flip flops, I’ve even seen folk out in the city with shorts on. I’ve seen people eating their lunch outside and I’ve been out on my bike with only a few light layers on. Hardly typical behaviour for January. Then again, looking out my window it has started…

Blogger: Matt Howard, Community Collections Scheme Officer

You may remember hearing about our very exciting poetry competition that we are running in partnership with leading independent UK poetry magazine, The Rialto.

We really have been moved and delighted by the entries received so far, but why not have a go yourself?  As well as offering poets the chance to win considerable cash prizes and publication of their poems…

Blogger: Laura White, PA to Public Affairs Manager

Suddenly everyone around me has begun talking about children’s programmes and movies. Not the children’s films and programmes I remember like the great Crystal Tips and Alistair, Captain Pugwash and of course Mr Ben or the sublime Jungle Book or 101 Dalmatians. No, they’re talking about Madagascar, Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story. But funnily enough, even at my…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

www.youtube.com/watch

Until I started working for the RSPB I never knew how much we could really make a difference and get things changed. Apathy and a lack "umphhh" in the day to day grind often stops us thinking that we can make that difference. The great thing about the RSPB is that we are a bunch of like minded folks - our staff, volunteers and supporters all rally together…