In recent years, I have established a holiday tradition of getting up an hour or so earlier than the rest of the family and then sitting outside to read.  At our hut on the Northumberland coast, I position my chair facing the rising sun, sheltered from the wind and enjoy coffee and peace for as long as family sleep allows.

As I sit on the cliff, the world seems to come to me.  Gulls, linnets, pipits, swallows and starlings…

August is traditionally a quiet time for policy developments.  With Parliament in recess, most years we hear very little from governments as we all enjoy the late summer sun/cloud/rain (delete as appropriate). This August however, Westminster decided to buck the usual trend, and the UK Government released a series of position papers on some of the big issues relating to the UK vote to leave the EU.  So while many of us…

Following Stuart Housden's series of blogs in the run up to BirdFair, Steph Winnard of the RSPB/Birdlife Marine team reports back on the work carried out by the Albatross Task Force, since the receipt of BirdFair funding seventeen years ago.

Much has happened in the birding world since the BirdFair focussed its efforts on raising money for Global Seabirds.  In 2000, vast numbers of seabirds were dying in…

Today’s guest blog is from Andrew Callender, who leads the RSPB’s international policy programme work.

Vultures used to be a very common sight in the early 1990’s across the Indian sub-continent. A decade and a half later, 99.9% of white-rumped vultures  and 96.8% of the combined populations of long-billed  and slender-billed vultures in India – well over 40 million birds – were dead. The absence of vultures…

A guest blog by Michael Copleston, RSPB's Regional Development Manager for the Midlands

The anticipation is now palpable as the days and months creep forward to RSPB opening a brand new visitor centre and take on the management of the Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve.

I’ve just been at another superb Robin Hood Festival with my 2 year old daughter, along with thousands of other families, and how brilliant it…

Every year the UK Government publishes a set of biodiversity indicators.  These provide the official position on the state of the nation’s species, the pressures they face but also how well we are responding to these changes. These reports are of a very high quality and are by necessity incredibly detailed. If like me you are so inclined, they also invite healthy scrutiny and commentary.

The indicators themselves…

Ten thousand people have now visited the bee-eaters that have made their home in a Cemex quarry in Nottinghamshire.  Seven birds (three pairs and an additional helper) have set up three nests and chicks are beginning to hatch.  This morning, I spent a delightful hour watching the birds flit over one of the quarry ponds doing what they do best - eat bees (by catching them, rearranging them by tossing their prey in the air…

 RSPB England Director Chris Corrigan discusses why we should get along to Hen Harrier Day this year.

 Over the weekend of 5-6 August (and today for anyone lucky enough to be visiting Mull), Hen Harrier Day events will be happening around the country.

In my new role as RSPB Director for England, the desperate plight of this magnificent moorland bird of prey is of great concern but I take great heart that a growing number…

The future of farming policy outside of the European Union is rightly attracting a lot of attention and some themes are beginning to emerge.

First, it is clear that the UK Government wants reform.  The new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove said on Friday that “the CAP... encourages patterns of land use which are wasteful of natural resources and often intrinsically poor value rather than…

I am, by chance, a creature of the East of England and many of my recent memorable wildlife experiences have taken place next to the North Sea.  These include a January 2014 dawn visit to see the Snettisham wader roost.  My godson, son and I were joined by about 100 others who braved the biting cold to witness the incredible spectacle of thousands of birds feeding on the mudflats and flying overhead. 

My visit was made…

Earlier this year, the RSPB's best known reserve in England, Minsmere, celebrated its 70th birthday.  It first became famous because avocets started nesting there a week after we took on management responsibility in 1947, then because wetland creation techniques pioneered by Bert Axell helped breeding waders and terns and most recently as the foundation for the remarkable rise in the bittern population. Today, 100,000…

What should we expect from a first speech from a new Environment Secretary of State? We’d hope for personal commitment, a clear analysis as to why nature is in trouble, and an ambition to restore nature. And I think today, Michael Gove gave us that. But we also got a sense of where he will be investing his reformist energy – on the future of farming.

Michael Gove delivering his first major environment speech…

It feels like a nature conservation marketing dream, but we are getting closer to the day when we can ask people to eat a chocolate bar to help save a rainforest.

Let me explain...

The RSPB is developing a chocolate bar, made from cocoa grown by local farmers living around the Gola Rainforest National Park in Sierra Leone -  home to endangered pygmy hippos and chimpanzees, as well as more than 300 bird and 600 butterfly…

Last week, the UN World Heritage Committee condemned the logging in Bialowieza Forest which is a part of a World Heritage Site.  Yesterday, it was confirmed that the case is being referred to the European Court of Justice.  These interventions offer hope to everyone involved in the campaign to protect the site.  My colleague, Dan Pullan (International Casework Manager), was at the meeting and below offers his thoughts on…

The publication of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill (aka the Repeal Bill) today was the first real test of what leaving the EU will mean for the future of environmental protection in the UK.  

While we are still digesting the implications of the proposed legislation, on first reading our conclusion is that, as currently drafted, it is inadequate.  

If the UK Government’s wants to be a world leader in environmental…

The Repeal Bill has had a makeover: published tomorrow it has now dropped its less-than-humble adjective. But whether or not the Bill is indeed great, its importance for the environment is as monumental as it was three months ago, when the Government published its plans for the Bill alongside the triggering of Article 50. A report by the House of Commons library predicts that this Bill will be “one of the largest legislative…

Today is the start of the Island Invasives Conference in Dundee, Scotland, hosted by the South Georgia Heritage Trust and the University of Dundee. This is a week-long affair, attended by conservationists working on saving, protecting and understanding island ecosystems from across the world. The conference is an international event occurring only once every seven years, this being the first time it is being held in the…

As promised in my blog on Monday, here are thoughts on how fisheries policy will need to evolve now that the UK has voted to leave the European Union.  Below, I explain why the proposed new Fisheries Bill (announced in last month's Queen's Speech) offers us an opportunity to build on recent fisheries reforms to help revitalise our seas for both people and marine wildlife.

A new vision

The clear message in the…

Last Friday, I spoke at an event on the future of wildlife law and the implications of Brexit.  Below, I have shared a longhand version of what I said.  As this is an emerging agenda and we are still developing our ideas, let me know what you think.  It would be great to hear your views. And, if you like to help protect our environment laws, please visit our campaign pages here.

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Legislation can…

The year after the UK vote to leave the European Union has been dominated by a lot of words but not a great deal of substantive action.  This side of the election, it’s hard to escape the feeling that action to shape our future outside of the EU is about to kick into gear.

Lots of people ask me what I see as the main risks and opportunities associated with Brexit, and my consistent answer to the latter has been…

The latest results from the 2016 hen harrier breeding survey make sobering reading. There are now just 545 breeding pairs left in the UK, down by 88 pairs from the last UK survey in 2010. Scotland remains the species’ stronghold with 460 pairs but even here there has been a drop from the 505 pairs recorded in 2010.

In England, the hen harrier has almost disappeared as a breeding species. In 2010 there were 12 pairs…

It was no surprise that Brexit dominated the Queen's Speech. Following the UK vote to leave the EU and the Government decision to leave the Single Market, work to "unravel 43 years of patiently-built relations" (as Michel Barnier described it this week) was always going to take a lot of parliamentary time and energy.

The Repeal Bill will come first and will be the principle way in which the whole body of…

The much anticipated Brexit negotiations are due to start tomorrow.

I assume that the first item to discuss will be the order with which issues will be addressed.  The EU laid out its stall in late March and proposed a phased approach.  If it goes according to the EU’s plan, the island of Ireland will be a high priority (along with Gibraltar and the Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus where the UK also has land borders with…

Our Rainham Marshes reserve was at its best yesterday - hooching with waders (lawings and redshanks are having another good year) and children (enjoying some much needed out of classroom learning). It provided a great backdrop for a great conversation with the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove.

Rainham is one of eleven RSPB nature reserves on either side of the Thames and is…

Yesterday, the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove said on the Today programme that his brief was to “enhance the environment”, that he wants to “exercise humility” and “to listen and to learn”.

I am sure that he will be keen to hear about what the RSPB has learnt through its 128 years of saving nature and why we attract support from 1.2 million…