• Thinking big for curlew and all of nature

    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…

  • New research about the scale of mouse predation on seabirds gives greater urgency to the Gough Island Restoration Programme

    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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  • A reflection on the RSPB AGM

    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…

  • Europe and the UN Sustainable Development Goals: a case for renewal?

    I had one of my increasingly infrequent visits to Brussels today to participate in a very diverse group that is trying to help the European Union (of which the UK remains a member for at least another six months) get to grips with the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were agreed in 2015.

    During the meeting, we were shown research that suggested that not a single country has achieved a high level…

  • Helping farmers in Northern Ireland to help nature

    Northern Ireland has featured heavily in the Brexit negotiations and has proved to be one of the main sticking points for both the EU and the UK in defining our future relationship. As a charity that operates in all four corners of the UK, we believe that Brexit has to work for nature across all of its constituent parts. That is why I was delighted to sign up to the NI E-action which is aimed at ensuring DAERA put the…

  • Stay cool: keep the temperature down for nature

    Today, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its conclusions on what is needed to avoid the worst impacts climate change.  The report reflects the latest climate science from experts around the world.  It was commissioned by the 2015 Paris Agreement which concluded that all countries should work together to “hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above…

  • Good news for a Friday: things can only get bigger, better and more connected

    For a number of years, Professor Sir John Lawton has been on the road with a slideshow about how to provide more space for nature through landscape scale conservation.  As the champion for more, bigger, better and connected protected areas, he often showed this slide (below) comparing the size of conservation projects and the level of management required in the UK with others around the world.  In his own inimitable style…