At this week’s excellent conference hosted by the Zoological Society of London, there was considerable debate about how much space for nature was needed to stop species extinction, reverse declines and restore the services that nature gives us for free.  Estimates ranged from current targets of 17% of land and 10% of sea, through to 30%, 50% and even 100% of the planet sustainably managed.  The conservation community…

Today, I am taking part in a conference hosted by the Zoological Society of London to debate how much space is needed for nature.

The motivation is to reflect on progress made in meeting existing global targets for managing land and sea for nature (17% on land and 10% at sea by 2020: Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity) and to begin to scope what ambition is needed to guide conservation efforts…

Today, Defra published their consultation paper on future farming and land management policy. Given the importance of farming to wildlife, this policy area will be pivotal in shaping the future prospects for nature in England, as well as for farming itself.

I’ll come back to reflect in more detail later in the week, but for now, these are our first impressions…

…the principle of ‘public money for public…

While staying in the Kongba region in north-west Liberia to see our Golama project (which I described in my previous blog), we could walk into the forest to watch fabulous West African birds including the endemic Gola Malimbe (pictured).

But, while enjoying the huge variety of life that the rainforests offer it is impossible to ignore the connections to home when you see swifts flying above the canopy while sitting…

In 2009, a vision was conceived to create a transboundary peace park covering Gola forest across the Sierra Leone-Liberia border: protecting nearly 250,000 hectares of one of the most important biodiversity hotspots on the planet.

For this vision to be realised, both countries needed to designate areas of their best forest as national parks.  Sierra Leone reached this milestone in 2011 with the designation of the Gola…

My pre-dawn walk through Gola Rainforest in Sierra Leone was rewarded with a perfect view of the elusive White-necked Picathartes sitting on its nest.    I say ‘elusive’ as this was how Sir David Attenborough branded the bird for his famous 1952 Zoo Quest programme.  Today, the Gola Rainforest National Park team know all the Picathartes colonies so for us it was simply a case of getting to the right place at the…

“When Gola came here, I didn’t want it because the forest was my livelihood.  Now, I want Gola to stay because it taught us cocoa farming.” [quote][/quote]

During my brief stay in Sierra Leone, I was overwhelmed by the warmth of the welcome we received from the local communities living in and around Gola Rainforest.  It is clear that the work we are doing with our…

Guest blog from my colleague, Chris Corrigan, the RSPB’s England Director.

Headlines are important. They’re the first things we see and in many cases are often the only thing we read. But of course, they aren’t the whole story. Achieving positive change takes a lot more than a catchy headline, it requires real commitment to turn a positive headline into reality.

Take Defra’s 25 year plan. It contains…

One hundred years ago today, women first won the right to vote in the UK. Today, we will be celebrating this milestone, as my colleague, Alison Enticknap, looks back at the RSPB’s own female pioneers and their relationship with the suffrage movement.

The Representation of the People Act of 1918 enabled women to vote for the first time. It wasn’t all women at first, but it was a start. The more militant “suffragettes…

This Valentine’s Day, as part of the Climate Coalition, the RSPB shall once again be calling for action to tackle climate change to protect the people and places we love.

To support their #showthelove campaign I’ll be wearing a green heart on my sleeve as I head off this week to see the work that we are doing to protect a place lived in and loved by many: Gola Rainforest.

I have previously written about…

To mark World Wetlands Day, I have asked my colleague Nicola Crockford (who leads our policy work on migratory species) to share this great news for Spoon-billed Sandpipers and wetlands in East Asia...

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Extraordinarily good progress has been made in ensuring the conservation of the Yellow Sea, and therefore the future of the Spoon-billed Sandpipers and the many other species of threatened waterbirds…

There is currently a petition initiated by Ed Hutchings to establish a system of licensing of driven grouse shooting in England.  While the case for reform is being made down south, I thought it would be timely to provide an update on what is happening north of the border. I have therefore asked my colleague, Duncan Orr-Ewing who is Head of Species and Land Management for RSPB Scotland, to provide an overview of what is…

It is 8.20am on Sunday morning.

My daughter and I are sitting at our kitchen table.  I have had my porridge, she is eating marmite on bread.

We are about to take part in Big Garden Bird Watch.  My wife and son are not.

My daughter is in charge of the technology and the bird watching.  I am just here.

This year, we have a new feeder (identical to our old one) for our small and very messy suburban garden.  I have a theory…

It was deeply disappointing that the first deed since the publication of the 25 year environment plan was Natural England’s announcement that it had consented a license to trial brood management scheme for hen harriers. 

Regular readers of this blog will be aware of the serious reservations that we have with brood management (for example see here).  This will do nothing to address the primary threat to hen harriers…

If, like me, you believe that politics can change things for the better, then the first environment speech from a Prime Minister in a generation is not immaterial.  It is a sign of personal commitment and that matters when there is 24/7 scrutiny of government performance.

So I was delighted to be able to listen the Prime Minister’s speech at the London Wetlands Centre today.  This accompanied the publication of the…

Tomorrow is an important day for the environment.  The Prime Minister will be launching the Government’s 25 year plan for the environment.  Regular readers of this blog will be aware that this has been a long time coming, its gestation stemming from the Conservative 2015 election manifesto commitment to produce a plan to restore biodiversity in 25 years.  I have written about it on several occasions - Oct 2015, Apr…

During the first week of the new year, I try to get to RSPB reserves that I haven't yet visited.  Shockingly, until last week, I hadn't been to our sites on the Ribble (Marshside and Hesketh Out Marsh) or the Dee (Burton Mere and Parkgate) estuaries.  These are remarkable places and I was lucky to witness the wildlife spectacles provided at high tide last week.  On the Dee, I was one of hundreds of people lining…

I have talked quite a lot on this blog recently about Brexit, farming and the importance of well-designed domestic agriculture policy to effectively support farmers and nature in the future. A growing number of farmers are indicating that they wish to see this too. Today I am very pleased to host a guest blog from Martin Lines, Chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, which launches at the Oxford Real Farming Co…

Above the fireplace in the main meeting room at the RSPB's Headquarters hangs a portrait of one of our founders, William Henry Hudson.  I knew little about his backstory until my colleague, Conor Jameson, explained how Hudson grew up in Argentina and fell in love with the wildlife of Patagonia before moving to England in his 30s.  Here, he continued his passion for natural history but also for writing novels (for which…

This is my last working week of the year so I thought I’d reflect on the impact that we have had over the past twelve months.

For me, the defining images of 2017 were of the British Virgin Islands before and after the devastation of Hurricane Irma. The fact that Irma struck UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) in the Caribbean and affected the partners with whom we work made it all the more distressing.  While it is…

Unless you’ve been out of the country for the past few months, you’ve probably noticed Environment Secretary Michael Gove has been actively setting out his case for a 'Green Brexit'.  Central to his vision is fundamental reform of agriculture policy and payments, and the direction of travel Mr Gove sets out for those reforms is very positive.  

As a contribution to this debate, the RSPB, The Wildlife…

In a week of guest blogs, here is a special one from the UK and Ireland Curlew Action Group (who have joined forces to reverse the decline of our curlew population.  The RSPB is represented on this group through our Curlew Programme Manager, Sarah Sanders, and I am delighted that both statutory and charitable organisations have come together to have impact for this most evocative of species.

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Following the UK Government’s recent decision to support a complete ban on neonicotinoids, my colleague Dr David Gibbons, Head of RSPB’s Centre for Conservation Science, provides a personal perspective on these insecticides.

The recent decision by the Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, to support a complete ban on the use of neonicotinoid insecticides came as a delightful surprise to me. After all, it was…

This week, my colleague, Mark Robins, leaves the RSPB after more than a quarter of a century.  Mark has been a fantastic colleague and an inspiration to many.  As he leaves us, he leaves South West England too. Here he shares his thoughts on a region rich in potential for much more nature.

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After 30 years working for nature and mostly for the RSPB and almost all in South West…

The focus of this week’s launch of the fabulous State of UK's Birds report* was the impact of climate change on birds.

The headlines were that…

…climate change is happening: average UK temperatures have increased by nearly 1 °C since the 1980s; in the 20th century, UK sea levels rose by 14cm and the rate is increasing; rainfall has increased slightly across the UK, mostly during winter – with heavy…