Blogger: Aggie Rothon, Communications Officer

Why do certain images stay with you?  It seems obvious why memories of important events and meaningful people are filed away for a lifetimes musing upon, but why do some things remain lodged in your memory even though they have little or no relevance to everyday life?

This occurred to me the other day when, out of the blue, the image of something I must have seen once, as…

Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer

The other night I came home from work with a food craving! Rest assured, it’s not a good one; not mango or pomegranate seeds or anything ‘healthy’ like that. No, sadly my craving was for sticky toffee pudding and it wasn’t going away. Gorgeous, rich, sticky toffee pudding with custard. I’m making my mouth water just writing about it again.

A…

Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Officer 

It’s a sad day when you have to point out the glaringly obvious! Today, The RSPB is expressing serious concern over potential damage to one of Suffolk’s most ancient areas of woodland. You would think that in a time of such overwhelming environmental concern, this kind of thing would not be allowed to happen.

You can read about this in today's  EADT:

http:…

Blogger - Gena Correale-Wardle, Community Fundraising Officer

 Here in the RSPB office we love our food. Cake is a regular fixture during the week and lunchtimes come with a melee of delicious smells emanating from the kitchen as people reheat their leftover dinners. There are a lot of fine bakers amongst the staff (proven when we had a cake sale recently and at least 10 people brought in homemade goodies) and we spend…

Blogger: Aggie Rothon, Communications Officer

Apparently we as a nation put on, on average, five pounds over Christmas. That’s quite impressive, even taking in to account the super size me tins of Quality Street sold everywhere pre-Christmas. The BBC seems to have taken this bit of information to heart as the New Year has brought with it an unusually large number of ‘get fit’ programmes. Catching the beginnings of one…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communication Officer

You may find yourself humming the classic Christmas line about a partridge in a pear tree this festive season, but pear trees can be a great gift for all sorts of other wildlife too.

We are encouraging people to think about planting pear trees now, to benefit birds and other garden wildlife in the future.

At the time when most of us are thinking about all the chocolates…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

TURTLE DOVE FACT FILE:

Description:  The gentle cat-like purr of the turtle dove is an evocative sound of summer, but has become increasingly rare following rapid and sustained population declines. The species is now included on the Red List of conservation concern.

Where to see them: It is mainly a bird of southern and eastern England, although it does reach as far as…

MERRY CHRISTMAS - see you on your Festive Seasonal Walk out and about at our reserves!

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

Ahh the joys of collecting old encyclopaedias and natural world books (I know I am a chic geek) as well as the speed of Wikipedia. I was completely unaware that the Twelve Days of Christmas started on Christmas Day. Not only that but there are variations on the song and lots of debate about the origin and meaning.

In my eyes, it is a celebration of this time of year both…

Blogger: Rachael Murray, Media Officer

It’s an age-old tradition – using fresh holly branches to adorn your table and give your home a festive look – but don’t forget to leave enough out there for our wildlife this winter!

Holly is a valuable source of food and shelter for a number of birds, mammals and insects.  Thrushes, robins, dunnocks, finches and goldcrests use it for nesting as the prickly…

Blogger: Rachael Murray, Media Officer

For all you budding conservationists out there, the fab news is that we are looking for four people passionate about conservation who can dedicate a year to volunteering on their Eastern England reserves.

The internships begin in early March 2012 and will give volunteers the opportunity to spend two consecutive 6 month periods working at some of our favourite RSPB nature reserves…

Blogger: Lisa Robinson – Visitor Officer Intern, RSPB Minsmere

In light of the new internships that have been developed, I thought I’d tell you about my experience as an intern with the RSPB.

I’ve been an intern at the Minsmere visitor centre since early September. When I tell people where I’m working they tend to assume I’m outdoors all the time, getting hands on with conservation work. Not so! I’m pretty…

Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Manager

We reported on some rather shocking news this week. The hen harrier is the bird most likely to become extinct in England because of human pressure. I’ve only ever seen a hen harrier once; on a visit to RSPB Titchwell Marsh last Christmas. As I stood on the path i was freezing with the bitter wind blowing through my rather unsuitable, not-very-winterproof-coat! My eyes were…

A Week in the life of a media heart!

Erica Howe - Communications Manager

What a week! It has been busy, emotional, hectic, funny, scary, and all in the last five days.

Monday morning was the calm before the storm, but a really inspiring start to the week. Together with the Broads Authority, The RSPB is looking to the future to plan how we can manage landscape scale conservation in this valuable area. This is…

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

‘Yes!’ I hear you cry.  Well that’s to be expected as you’re reading this blog.  Lots of people appreciate the chance to get outdoors, experience the fresh air, discover some interesting wildlife and generally get involved with the natural world.  I got to do this recently and I wanted to share my experiences with you all…

Blogger: Aggie Rothon, Communications Officer

I remember picking up our Christmas turkey one year. I was only small, but I can still recall the slow drive up a rain sodden path following signs for ‘Norfolk Black turkeys.’  A few sheep grazed in the fields to the left, bundled up in their thick winter fleeces. Fluffy-footed chickens padded around pecking at stray pieces of straw avoiding the low-lying sheepdog…

Blogger: Rachael Murray, Media Officer

Suffolk Police, and RSPB in the East are appealing for information after a barn owl was found shot at a nature reserve in Suffolk. Derek Turner, from Saxmundham, found the bird on Tuesday 23rd November whilst walking his dog at nearby RSPB nature reserve, Snape Warren. 

The barn owl survived the incident, and is currently in a local bird rehabilitation centre.  It is hoped that the…

Blogger: Jon Reeves, Ouse Washes Site Manager

Due to the unique dry conditions on the Ouse Washes at this time of year. Roosting whooper swans are concentrated on pools of water in front of various hides. Currently the best viewing areas are Grose and Stocktdale’s hides, only 10 minutes walk from the car park. Of the 5000 whooper swans present on the Ouse Washes 700 are roosting in front of these hides as seen in photo…

Blogger: Gena Correale Wardle, Community Fundraising Officer

Being a Community Fundraiser is a varied life. When I tell people I am a ‘fundraiser’ they either think I do door-to-door fundraising with a clip board and a puppy-dog look in my eye, or that I sit behind a desk writing grant applications to raise funds for specific projects. My role sits somewhere in between, having some of both deskwork and face-to-face fundraising…

Blogger - Communications Manager, Erica Howe

I had to scrape ice off my car windscreen the other morning! Ok, so that’s hardly news I know, but I can’t believe we nearly made it to the end of November without having so much as a light frost. I live in the city so perhaps this isn’t unusual, but it fills me with comfort to think that winter is finally here. I’m a big fan of the warmer seasons don’t get me wrong, but I…

Blogger: Kim Matthews, Campaign Intern

This particular marine behemoth was not of the fishy variety; instead it consisted of an amazing conglomeration of sponge, strawberries and silver-coated chocolate on a board smothered in blue goo.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

My close encounter of the cake kind began earlier on this overcast Tuesday.  Emerging from the Westminster tube into a crisp winter’s day is quite…

December is here! The first door on the advent calendar has been opened.

And so here are our Steps for December, modelled by our regional volunteer team, Annie, Zahra and Jane.

Please see below for more detail on December’s Steps.

 Do: With winter arriving we are preparing for Big Garden Birdwatch already! Make sure to feed your garden birds with as wide a variety as possible to get the biggest batch of birds…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communications Officer

Today, pretty much all RSPB staff from the Eastern region and a few volunteers came together to discuss what we will be doing for the next 8 years - until the big 2020! You may wonder what on earth this has got to do with you. Well, let me take it from the top and break it down into Adam-sized-chunks (for my poor brain to digest what happened).

Firstly, the loss on biodiversity…

Blogger: Rachael Murray, Media Officer

We were shocked to hear the chancellor’s attack on vital wildlife rules in his autumn statement.

The chancellor bemoaned the burden of ‘endless social and environmental goals’ on industry and described the Habitats Regulations as a ‘ridiculous cost on British business’, claiming that they amounted to ‘gold plating’ on European legislation. Defra is…

Blogger: Adam Murray, Communication Officer

At the age of 11 I moved to Kent and was lucky enough to live in the Garden of England until I left for university to do zoology at the age of 18. Now that I live in beautiful East Anglia, like with all good conservation, it is good to see what your neighbours are doing. This latest story from my old stomping ground is worrying but good to see we have some great partners…