It’s Valentine’s Day and so it’s time to show the love.

This year, as we are part of The Climate Coalition, the RSPB is asking people to share their personal pledge for nature to inspire others to do the same.  We have asked people to write or film their pledge and share it on social media using #ShowtheLove.

The video of my pledge (which was taken on a particularly bad hair day) was posted this week…

Last week saw the opening salvo in the negotiations about the future of the UK-EU trading relationship.  The EU released its draft negotiation mandate (33 pages) and the UK its written statement (2 pages) on the same topic. 

While both sides generally take very different approaches to negotiations – the EU being very open so that the 27 Member States can align behind a position while the UK keeps its cards close to its…

Last week saw the publication of a new UK Fisheries Bill, one of the government’s flagship pieces of post-Brexit legislation. This is the second time that the UK government has tried to pilot a fisheries bill through the Houses of Parliament. The temptation to bring back a carbon copy of the 2018 Bill must have been high, but it was clear to many that big changes were needed if government were to match its stated ambition…

From 11pm tonight, the UK is no longer a Member of the European Union.  The Withdrawal Agreement Treaty has been ratified by both the UK and EU Parliaments and we enter an implementation/transition* (delete as appropriate) period while a new trading relationship is negotiated. 

While people will have very different emotions about the denouement of a saga that has run for many years, from an environmental perspective, we…

I have had my porridge, so can sit back with my coffee and get started.  I will probably be on my own as two are in bed and my daughter is focusing on creating her Macbeth Board game which should be snapped up by Waddingtons very soon. 

In the cricket, South Africa are 123-7 chasing 400.

08:36: I know, it’s a little cheeky but the starling had just arrived, so I thought I’d start now.  And there is a house sparrow…

It was a pleasure to welcome Defra Biodiversity Minister Rebecca Pow to Wallasea Island yesterday and showcase the largest coastal habitat restoration project in Europe. 

The timing was good given that the Minister will soon be leading the Environment Bill through the House of Commons and this will be the legislation that the Government hopes will restore England’s natural environment in a generation.

As I wrote…

Nature does not adhere to borders nor do threats like climate change, so if the UK Government is serious about leaving the environment in a better state for future generations there is a clear need for coherent action from governments across the UK.  Today, my colleagues John Martin and Jane Clarke offer their thoughts on the environmental implications of the welcome return of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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“Later in 2020, governments will gather in Kunming, China, to revisit global targets on protecting ecosystems and halting species loss. This is a critical moment: as climate change exacerbates ecosystem collapse, we could be causing irreversible ecosystem damage with serious economic and social consequences.  Some of the most serious impacts will not occur gradually, but rather suddenly and violently, as critical…

2020 has, as expected, started with a bang with a raft of new announcements and bills.  Given the result of the General Election, it was inevitable that things would start moving and that has clearly happened in Northern Ireland with the Stormont Deal (which will be the subject of a future blog), at Westminster, but in this so-called Super Year, things are also moving globally. 

Below, I highlight three things that have…

Either side of the new year, I visited three of the RSPB’s most impressive conservation projects in England.  Last week I was with RSPB colleagues exploring our work in the Pennines and the Lakes brought to life by short, winter-appropriate tours of Geltsdale and Haweswater (with the latter looking particularly picturesque after a dusting of snow); back in December, I returned to Wallasea Island for the first time…

The end of 2019 was marked by the deeply disappointing Madrid climate change talks.  The holiday season was then dominated by news of the appalling fires in Australia, floods in Jakarta and record temperatures (see for example here and here). 

It would, therefore, be entirely understandable if you are in search of reasons to be cheerful as we enter a new decade. 

My simple tip would be to look out for the Earth Optimis…

In (definitely) my last blog of the year and indeed the decade, I am delighted to be able to report some more news (mainly good) to add to my review of the year published earlier in the week…

…first, some great news from Bangalore where six Himalayan Griffon vultures have been successfully released from an aviary.  The Himalayan Griffons used for this pilot release phase have been rehabilitated over the past…

While some may have been distracted by the Westminster general election here in the UK, Sunday saw the close of two weeks of climate change negotiations under UN climate convention. My colleague Melanie Coath was out in Madrid at these talks and I’ve asked her to share her sense of where the talks ended up and what this means for nature and the climate.  As you can read below, the outcome is not what what we would…

It's been quite a year.

Language that was absent last year is now centre-stage: we face a climate and ecological emergency.  The heightened profile and urgency are because the statistics are dire (as demonstrated by the latest IPCC and IPBES reports) but also because civil society is mobilising with Greta Thunberg rightly named as Time magazine’s person of the year. 

There are tentative signs that politicians…

We wake up this morning to a new Conservative UK Government. 

Whatever your views on the outcome, the election result is likely to mean that the Westminster Parliament will pass the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill by the end of January and then the UK Government will enter into intense negotiations about the future of the UK-EU relationship with a view to completing a deal by the end of 2020. 

It will also mean that the UK…

It was easy to escape the white noise of the Westminster General Election last week as I participated in my first meeting of BirdLife International’s Global Council in Cambridge.  It was a privilege to enter the inner sanctum of the world’s largest nature conservation partnership.  We covered a huge amount of ground over three days of intense discussions thanks to the deft chairing of Braulio Dias and the energy…

Over the last few decades, bird populations around the planet have been experiencing a dramatic and unprecedented decline. Illegal killing, taking and trade of wild birds (IKB) is a main driver of extinctions of wild birds globally, and it is the most significant threat, after habitat loss, to migratory birds. IKB is a global problem requiring urgent and coordinated international action.

Poisoned red kite (image courtesy…

I spoke at a conference today on policy developments in biodiversity and species protection.  As we are in the middle of an election campaign, no one was able to offer a government perspective, but it was still useful to catch up with the latest thinking from others.  A long hand version of my mini contribution is shown below.

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Amidst the white noise surrounding Brexit and the election we seem…

You may have noticed that we are in the middle of a General Election campaign.

But this one feels a bit different - not just because it is taking place in autumn/winter but because of the context in which it is taking place.  And I am not talking about the fractious political debate over our future relationship with the European Union.

The headlines from every news bulletin from the past week demonstrate that we are in the…

It has been less than two weeks since the Chair of the RSPB’s Council, Kevin Cox, made his announcement about our desire to review our policy on game bird shooting and associated land management.

There has been a bit of media reaction for example in the Mail and the Telegraph. What’s more, after a BBC Farming Today interview, there was also a rather amusing personal attack on my voice by Jeremy Clarkson in the…

If you were not one of the c400 members that attended our AGM in London on Saturday, this is what you missed…

1. An announcement from our Chair, Kevin Cox, that we plan to review our policy on game bird shooting and associated land management.
2. An update on our plans to engage members in tough conversations about diet. Following our review of how the RSPB should respond to the climate crisis, we are determined to…

At today’s AGM, the Chair of RSPB Council, Kevin Cox, made this announcement.

“There is growing concern about the environmental impact (including for carbon, water and biodiversity) of intensive forms of game bird shooting and associated land management practices.  This includes both driven grouse moor management (which involves shooting our native red grouse) and largescale release of non-native game birds…

Here's another guest blog, this time from my colleague Ali Plummer. This analysis was done with the expectation that today would see the second reading of the new Environment Bill. Obviously the Withdrawal Bill has taken precedence but the insight is still timely.

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As outlined in a previous blog, the UK Government laid its Environment Bill before Parliament last Tuesday. Coming nearly six months after…

I am away with the family for a few days over half term, but have lined up a couple of guest blogs this week.  The first is from my colleague Kate Jennings who leads our work on protected areas.

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Special Protection Areas (SPAs), created under the EU Birds Directive and now enshrined in laws across the UK, protect some of our very best sites for birds across all four countries of the UK, from the Somerset…

If you are interested in the environmental implications of the new UK-EU deal which will be debated in the House of Commons tomorrow, please do read this briefing that has been prepared by Greener UK (of which we are a founding member).

Let's see what tomorrow brings...