My aim with this blog will be to comment on matters of conservation importance and give you a few insights into the RSPB's conservation work - there's plenty to write about!
Let me start on a personal note - I love nature and have done since I was a kid. I get grumpy if I don't get out to see wildlife! Yesterday evening I was at a wood in Northamptonshire listening to nightingales - a fantastic experience! At 8:45pm, when the blackbirds, robins and song thrushes were packing up their singing, the nightingales were getting into the swing of it. What a beautiful sound - and so loud! Listening to the nightingales is an annual event for us in early May - and they never disappoint.
The natural beauty of the nightingale's song cannot easily be valued in monetary terms and yet it is no less valuable for that. My life would be much the poorer if I weren't able to hear its wonderful song in a wood close to my home every year. As I stood and listened I wondered how many of our politicians have heard a nightingale singing - and how many were moved by its song? I fear that in our busy lives there are fewer people who make time for nature in their lives and therefore fewer who are touched by the beauty of the wildlife around us. That's why the RSPB has to stand up and be a voice for nature - the nightingales have a more melodious voice than us - but sometimes it seems that no-one is listening.
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.