Good news for a Friday: a round up of this week’s news

Here are few things you may have missed if you have been a bit busy or distracted this week…

…the new “Sector Deal” partnership announced yesterday between the UK Government and the offshore wind sector is a big deal.  It signals the latest steps towards a low carbon future with the promise of a tripling of the amount of energy generated by offshore wind farms by 2030.  For nearly two decades, the RSPB has called for an energy revolution to tackle the threats posed by climate change, but we have always wanted this to take place in harmony with nature.  That’s why we have called for more action to reduce impacts of offshore wind on seabirds and other marine wildlife.  We haven't managed to get this right yet and balancing the ambitions of the offshore wind sector with the needs of marine wildlife is essential if the sector is to be truly successful as a green industry.  With the Wildlife Trusts, we therefore welcomed the UK Government and the sector‘s acknowledgement of these issues within the Deal and the promise that it has made to take action to address and overcome these challenges, particularly the cumulative environmental impacts.   We look forward to working with government and industry to deliver this commitment.

…staying with the salty theme, I was pleased that the seabirds of the Isles of Scilly could be given greater protection under proposals to extend the existing Special Protection Area by almost 13,000ha over open sea. The consultation opened this week and will run until 21 May.  You can have your say here. 

…the brilliant Tony Juniper survived his grilling by two parliamentary select committees and MPs have approved his appointment as Chair of Natural England. This still needs to be confirmed by DEFRA (which I am sure will now happen) but I remain excited to see what his new leadership will mean for England’s nature.

…a sandwich tern, hatched in Cumbria last year (and like the one shown in Chris Gomersall's photo above), has been photographed recently in South Africa.  A timely reminder of the incredible migrations that ‘our’ wildlife make. The tern in question was ringed at the RSPB Hodbarrow nature reserve last year as part of a study into their movements. Several young terns at Hodbarrow and Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Foulney Island Nature Reserve were ringed last breeding season with coded, coloured rings. These birds spend the winter in Africa, returning to Europe to breed, so the rings provide important information about where they go.   Bart Donato, Lead Advisor for Natural England in Cumbria, who ringed some of the tern chicks said: “When I opened an email to find out that one of our Sandwich terns, ring number C66, was in South Africa, 45km East of Cape Town, I was blown away. It is a stretch of coast more often associated with right whales, great white sharks and penguins! This bird was ringed right here in Cumbria on 28 June 2018 - it amazes me that the vulnerable little chicks we see at Hodbarrow go on to make these incredible journeys.”

...later today, we shall find out how much Birdfair raised in 2018 for creating a haven for flamingos at Mar Chiquita in Argentina. Mar Chiquita is the biggest salt lake in South America and the fifth largest in the world: 45 miles long and 15 miles wide. As well as three species of Flamingo, many other birds depend on the lake and the money raised by Birdfair will go towards protecting this crucial site. BirdLife International, working with Argentinian BirdLife partner Aves Argentinas, will create Argentina’s newest and largest national park here.

And finally, it’s International Women’s Day and so it's the time to celebrate…

…the RSPB’s founders, Emily Williamson, Etta Lemon and Eliza Phillips (shown from left to right in the images below) who channelled the anger about the use of wild birds and their feathers in the hat trade into a passionate, creative and ultimately successful campaign to ban the importation of plumage 

and...

…all trailblazing women - from Jane Goodall to Greta Thunberg - who, like the Victorian pioneers before them, are standing up for Mother Earth today.