Whilst looking at twitter on Sunday evening I saw this amazing tweet from New Zealand.  The sheer number of moths involved reminded me of the ‘moth snowstorm’ that environmental journalist Mike McCarthy described in his wonderful book of the very same name. A sight that no longer occurs in the UK. A thing of the past.

So, it was sobering to see Monday’s Guardian front page carry the story about ‘insect-ageddon…

Last week, the Prime Minister promised the House of Commons that ‘we must and will embed the strongest possible protections for workers’ rights and the environment’ after Brexit.  She also indicated that the UK should match (and in our view hopefully exceed) future EU environmental protections and indicated a willingness to legislate ‘to ensure that those commitments are binding’.

These are…

Planning to remove invasive mice from a UK Overseas Territory to save two Critically Endangered species from extinction has stepped up in recent weeks.  The Gough Island Restoration Programme is one of the RSPB’s highest priorities and we are determined to get the best plan together to give ourselves the greatest chance of success.

If you have been watching closely, you will know that we decided to delay the proposed…

My weekend started badly.

An evening with my neighbour was spoilt by the failure of our football team to progress to the next round of the FA Cup.

I used the excuse of a radio interview (a pre-record with LBC) to escape the misery after our opponents scored their third goal.  It was cathartic to have the chance to talk about the benefits of spending an hour watching birds in your garden before a segway into what we need…

The long wait is over and you can now buy chocolate bars made from forest-friendly cocoa grown by the communities living around the Gola Rainforest in Sierra Leone.  Our Gola Rainforest chocolate is now available to buy online and will be in our shops on our nature reserves in the next days.

This is a great achievement and is a result of five years hard work by our team working with farmers who live in and around Gola.

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Following the comprehensive rejection of the Prime Minister’s proposed Withdrawal Agreement by the UK Parliament last night, and without stronger assurances which would avoid a disorderly Brexit, the risk of leaving the European Union on 29 March without a deal remains. 

As politicians scrabble around to work out what happens next, I want to outline why the RSPB, and many other environmental NGOs, believe that ‘no…

One of the benefits of kids growing up is that, if given the chance, they stay in bed.  So, between Christmas and New Year, while my 14 and 11 year old children slept soundly I had the mornings to myself which meant I read “The End of the End of the Earth” by acclaimed author and birder Jonathan Franzen.

Through this collection of essays, Franzen offers a mix of hope and despair about the state of the planet…

In case you missed it, because this will definitely be my last blog of 2018 and I have run out of energy/inspiration (!), here is the blog I posted last Friday showcasing RSPB conservation highlights in 2018.  And because the world just keeps on turning, I can now add the positive news about our long running battle to #SaveLodgeHill!

Enjoy!

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It has been quite a year.

The UK vote to leave the European Union…

Amidst the political debate/furore/row about our future relationship with the EU, the Westminster government has snuck out an early Christmas present. Yesterday Defra published the draft Environment Bill that the Prime Minister promised earlier in the summer. The Bill sets out how the UK Government intends to fill the governance gap on our exit from the EU and secure the environmental principles in domestic legislation…

Yesterday DEFRA closed their call for views on England’s National Parks and AONBs. Kevin Cox, Chair of the RSPB and a resident of Dartmoor National Park, shares our thoughts on the review and our hopes for the future of these protected landscap...

There has been some encouraging news this past week about our attempts to save a crucial site for nightingales, Lodge Hill. My colleague Adrian Thomas has all the details...  Image credit: John Bridges (rspb-images.com) Many of you wi...

After a tough fortnight of negotiations in Poland, my colleague Melanie Coath reflects on what progress has been made in tackling climate change. 

Finally, two weeks of UN climate change negotiations came to an end late on Saturday evening in Katowice.

For many of the preceding hours it had felt like a meaningful conclusion was out of reach. While the conference end edged ever closer, progress felt snail-like as consensus…

It has been quite a year.

The UK vote to leave the European Union has dominated the political agenda and continues to pose both jeopardy and opportunity for environmental protection.  And while the excitement/turmoil will continue in 2019, some important markers were set in 2018 in terms of…

…renewed ambition to restore nature in a generation as laid out in the 25 Year Environment Plan launched by the Prime…

Our Senior Policy Officer, Melanie Coath, is out at the UNFCCC negotiations in Poland. Here she sets out some of the big picture challenges negotiators are facing and RSPB’s efforts to secure a good outcome for ecosystems and the climate.

It’s just started snowing here in Katowice, Poland, and temperatures outside have plummeted. But there’s a certain diplomatic chill in the air too after a dramatic war of words…

Amid the excitement/turmoil of this week's debates at Westminster, it is possible to think that Brexit* sucks in all the political oxygen and there is little space for anything else. 

Yet, globally at least, the wheels of multi-lateralism and cooperation keep turning.  This month there are conferences of the Parties to two international conventions (on biological diversity last week and climate change this week) and…

The RSPB does an amazing amount of work with partners across the four countries of the UK, the UK Overseas Territories and internationally for a wide variety of species, habitats and places. In this blog, I try to give a taste of the breadth and diversity of this work. However, over the years I have frequently returned to one particular bird.

The hen harrier has taken up more blog posts than any other, and for good reason…

There is a common refrain that environmental NGOs should work better together.  I agree, we should – we have much more to do to ensure we punch above our collective weight. 

What is often missing from any critiques is…

…the acknowledgement of what we are already are doing together and therefore how we can build on what we have

…the importance of broader collaboration beyond just environmental NGOs, to…

Guest blog by Kim Gutteridge, the RSPB's Head of Grants

Did you know that if you play the National Lottery then you’re helping to save nature every time you buy a ticket?

National Lottery players raise, on average, £30 million each week for projects all over the country. Nature benefits as part of the 20% of good causes funding that goes to heritage.  What has heritage got do with nature? Well, the UK is…

Two and a half years on from the UK vote to leave the European Union, huge differences of opinion still exist about the nature of our future relationship with the EU.  

While the UK was and remains divided by the referendum, I felt then and still believe that we are united by our love of wildlife – millions of people watch programmes like Blue Planet, Dynasties or the Spring/Auntumn/Winter-watch series, visit nature reserves…

I was delighted to hear that Candice Stevens (from BirdLife South Africa) and the South African Government have received (as shown in the image below) a Special Commendation in the UNDP‘s inaugural global Pathfinder Award for their unique Fiscal Benefits Project. The award ceremony was held yesterday during  the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (CBD COP 14) in Egypt.

South Africa is recognised…

On pages 356-360 of the much anticipated and hotly debated Withdrawal Agreement is a section called “Non-regression in the level of environmental protection”.  It is notable for two reasons…

…it provides meticulous detail on how the four countries of the UK must maintain the environmental principles, access to justice, laws, monitoring, compliance and enforcement arrangements that are currently provided…

In October, we received the delightful news that two of our staff had been given prestigious awards.  I thought I should put a spotlight on their success to celebrate their achievements and to say how lucky I am to call them my colleagues.

Both were winners of a Marsh Award promoted by two different partners.

Dr Juliet Vickery, our Head of International Research, received the Marsh Award for Ornithology from the BTO at…

I’ve written before about how we sometimes have to make difficult decisions when trying to meet our conservation objectives. I’ve also said that undertaking any kind of predator control is always a last resort and always part of a much wider package of action including influencing the policy and legal framework of land management.

In the case of the curlew, there is a lot of work to be done. There has been…

For anyone following the tragic story of Gough Island, you’ll know that the island’s unique seabirds are in a dramatic decline and that predation from invasive non-native mice is the primary cause. But until now we haven’t known the true extent of the damage mice are causing.  Below, my colleague Laura Beasley reports on new research highlighting the scale of mouse predation on seabirds.

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The RSPB AGM was an uplifting end to a tough week.

Tragically, two brilliant colleagues – John Lanchbery and Roy Taylor - passed away this week. In very different ways, they personified the best of the RSPB.

John dedicated his career to securing global action to tackle climate change particularly through reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the loss of tropical forests which was a core part of the landmark Paris…