I've been thinking about migrants.
It might have had something to do with bumping into quite a few sand martins, swallows, chiff chaffs and willow warblers while with the family in sunny Northumberland this weekend or...
...following Chris Packham's excellent video diary about the continued spring hunting on Malta (here) and supporting the Birdlife Malta fundraising push for a publicity campaign to encourage people to vote 'yes' in a referendum to end the appalling slaughter (here) or...
...anticipating the return of cuckoos* courtesy of the BTO's tracking (here) or...
...hearing about and signing Chris Rose's petition to urge the BBC to restart the 18 May outdoor broadcast of nightingales (here) or...
...receiving reports that 438 people have already to objected to the proposed development by Ministry of Defence at Lodge Hill nightingale SSSI while just 5 have written in support** or...
...wondering when the UK Government will end bird trapping on military bases in Cyprus (here) or
...reflecting on the prospects for this year's breeding season for our most threatened bird - the turtle dove (here) or
...simply because explaining the wonder of migration to my kids still makes their jaws drop.
Given the parlous state of our migrants and the pressures they face in their breeding grounds, on passage and in their wintering grounds, our Bird without Borders project is probably the RSPB's most important. You can read more about it and take part here.
'Our' migrants need all the help they can get. Please enjoy their return this spring and help them in any way you can.
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*The grapevine tells me that one was seen/heard at the Lodge this weekend.
**Regular readers of this blog will be aware of the battle of Lodge Hill (see here). We are calling on Medway Council to refuse outline planning permission, for a development proposal that would constitute one of the largest single losses of SSSI since the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 came in to force. If the Medway Council is minded either to grant permission itself or pass it to the Secretary of State for determination, we strongly support this application to being called-in and determined through the rigour of a public inquiry, given the scale of proposed damage to a nationally important nature conservation site and the implications of this proposal for national planning policy in relation to the protection of SSSIs, our finest wildlife sites.