First day in a new job

Hello,

I've started my new job as Conservation Director of the RSPB today. 

I feel lucky to be doing a job that I love with a bunch of brilliant people around me. 

My challenge is simple: to try to protect and build on Mark Avery's legacy and do more to look after the millions of species with with we share this planet.   Mark has made an enormous contribution to the RSPB and nature conservation over the past quarter of a century.  Having worked with him closely for more than a decade - he was my boss for the last seven - I, and I know many others, will miss his passion, insight and plain-speaking.

One thing I won't thank Mark for is the in-tray that I have inherited.  Those of you who have enjoyed reading his top twenty sticky issues will appreciate that the environment movement, and the RSPB in particular, has its work cut out to help and cajole governments to meet their ambitious commitment to halt biodiversity loss and begin its recovery by the end of the decade.  The political climate is not easy - there is currently little money to go around, successive governments have pursued a deregulatory agenda and pressures on modern life mean that there is less time for  people to stop, think and appreciate the wonders of the natural world.  But I am an optimist: most of the problems facing wildlife - from non-native species to climate change - are fixable.  We know what needs to be done, but often leadership and political will are lacking.

I will work with my new boss, Mike Clarke, to ensure that the RSPB does whatever it needs with political intelligence, creativity and courage.  I am sure that any of you reading this will tell me when we fall short.