This Wednesday, European Commissioners (including UK Commissioner Sir Julian King) will decide whether to save the EU’s flagship environment laws - the Birds and Habitats & Species Directives.  This decision follows a public consultation with a record 520,000 respondents and an 18 month campaign run by BirdLife International and other environmental NGOs across Europe. 

Just last week, I was reminded of the importance…

Last week, two colleagues traveled south to West Africa – following the route of some of the UK’s fastest declining migratory species. West Africa is a critical stop-over and wintering area for species like wood warbler and pied flycatcher, and we believe that unsustainable land use in the region may be driving some of the declines we’re seeing here in their UK-breeding populations.  Below, Kate Hand…

I was delighted to be able to make a small contribution to the IUCN Peatland conference today.  Twenty years ago (with the help of some people at today’s conference) I compiled a report called “The Great SAC Race” – which included a shadow list of sites (especially peatlands) which we believed were worthy of protection under the EU Habitats and Species Directive - many of which were subsequently designated.…

On a day when the Financial Times leads with a Climate Change story on an Arctic November heatwave, one might have hoped for a political response commensurate with the scale of the threat.   The autumn statement delivered by Chancellor Philip Hammond did not provide that but it was very different from the kind of statements we have become used to.

Last week the Environmental Audit Committee released a new report on the…

I am delighted to welcome back my colleague, Jonathan Hall (who heads our work in the UK Overseas Territories), to report on a new expedition designed to improve the protection of the marine environment around Tristan da Cunha.  

-----------------------------------------

We are very excited to announce that in January next year, the RSPB, Tristan da Cunha Government and the National Geographic Pristine Seas team will…

Yesterday, the UK Government took the historic step of ratifying the global climate deal agreed in Paris one year ago. This announcement comes as countries are meeting in Morocco for this year’s round of talks. Ratification of the deal sends a strong signal that the Paris deal has ongoing momentum behind it and that the UK is intent on maintaining its global ambition on climate change regardless of anything else that…

I heard two bits of news from Natural England today.

First the good news: Natural England has confirmed that it will protect the West Pennine Moors by making this important upland area a Site of Special Scientific Interest.  I am delighted.  This is the right decision and Natural England deserve huge credit.  Conservation starts with saving the best places for wildlife and it is at the heart of Professor Sir John Lawton's…

Tomorrow, in deepest Devon there will be a celebration of 25 years of work to save the ‘bird we nearly lost’ – the cirl bunting.  RSPB staff, who have led the recovery project for this species will be there alongside Sarah Wollaston MP (the bird's parliamentary champion), Natural England staff, project sponsors and most importantly, the farmers who have been at the heart of this work. They should be proud…

One of the developments of this year’s State of Nature report was the inclusion of commentaries on the UK’s Crown Dependencies – the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. They are part of 'our' archipelago and it seemed right to profile the conservation challenges and opportunities on these islands. 

So, I was delighted to visit the Isle of Man with my children for the first time this weekend…

It is now over a week since the Westminster Hall parliamentary debate on the future of driven grouse shooting. I thought it would be appropriate to offer a further perspective on what the RSPB plans to do next to improve the environmental conditions of the uplands.

As many others have written, it was a deeply frustrating debate – especially to the 123,000 that called for a ban and of course those seeking reform. …

Part of our democratic tradition is the right to protest and the freedom of expression.  Charities have a rich and long history of influencing change in policy, law, attitudes and behaviour - the RSPB's own campaigning roots date back to our origins in 1889 and the ultimately successful campaign against the use of feathers in the hat trade while we also fought a decade long battle to ban the use of DDTs - a class of pesticides…

Earlier this year, a colleague was ferreting among the RSPB archives and stumbled across a crest made to mark the RSPB's centenary with the words "Respicite aves coeli" written underneath.  My Latin is not great and I had assumed that it meant respect the birds of the air, but in fact it means "look at the birds of the air" and is taken from the Bible, Matthew 6 verse 26.  This phrase was also incorporated…

I am on holiday this week and so I have arranged one or two guest blogs.  Today, I have asked my colleague Pip Goodwin to provide an update of our parliamentary species champions project.

Last month we were reminded that many species are still in trouble; the State of Nature report  showed that over the last 50 years, 56% of species have declined, while more than one in ten are at risk of disappearing from our shores altogether…

This time last week, I was making my first trip to the Isles of Scilly for 43 years.  I was there to see the impact of our joint Seabird Recovery Project.  

This project matters because the UK hosts a significant proportion of the world and European populations of two species: the European storm petrel and the Manx shearwater.  Scilly’s population of storm petrel is the only colony in England while the islands are also…

The much anticipated debate on the future of driven grouse shooting will take place on 31 October.

To inform this debate, called for by over 123,000 people who signed Mark Avery’s petition to ban driven grouse shooting, MPs have invited people to submit evidence about the impact of the industry.  Our evidence will be made public later this week and my colleague, Jeff Knott, will be giving oral evidence tomorrow…

For nearly twenty years, the RSPB has worked with the politicians in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to benefit wildlife and the environment by influencing those areas of public policy that have been devolved to Stormont, Holyrood and the Sennedd.

Yet the profile and prominence of SNP has clearly grown and the party has a significant stake in the work of the Westminster Parliament.

That’s why our Westminster parliamentary…

To continue the marine theme this week I've asked my colleague Rory Crawford to provide an update on seaduck conservation.

Image courtesy of Julius Morkūnas.

There are many things that famously herald the arrival of autumn: golden leaves, shortening days, cooler mornings, the explosion of fungi, the departure of swallows, the arrival of honking geese overhead, and the arrival of our marvellous wintering seaducks…

I am heading off to Cornwall later today to visit our south west team today to catch up on the work we are doing at the coast to recover the chough population and am then popping across to the Scilly Isles to catch up on our seabird recovery programme.  So, it seems a good time to put a spotlight on coastal and marine conservation issues.  

Getting away from the landlocked counties of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire will…

This morning, I was part of a panel giving oral evidence* to the Environmental Audit Committee on the subject of “the Future of the Natural Environment after the EU Referendum”.  Since we submitted our written evidence, the Brexit process has become a little bit clearer and I was not surprised that we were asked about the implications of the Great Repeal Bill.

The Great Repeal Bill needs to set us on the…

A few hundred RSPB members and staff met in Birmingham on Saturday for the 125^th AGM* of the RSPB. 

As ever, it was a great opportunity to hear RSPB highlights from the past year, to meet up with some old friends and to learn something new.

My highlights were...

...celebrating the outstanding contribution to nature conservation of this year’s RSPB Medal winner, Professor Dame Georgina Mace.  From assessing species…

A highlight for me this week was emerging from my sick-bed to attend an event at the Zoological Society of London.  The RSPB had joined forces with ZSL, WWF, Christian Aid and CAFOD to profile and discuss how we can integrate human development and environment ambitions.  

It was inspirational to hear examples of how partnerships with business, local communities and governments were transforming lives and landscapes in some…

A heavy cold has slowed me down this week, so it has taken me a little time to respond to all the news emerging from the Conservative Party Conference.

As the legislative process for Brexit became clearer, more certainty emerged regarding the future funding for wildlife friendly farming (provided by agri environment schemes).  Thanks to an announcement this week by the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, we now know that that agreements…

Having attended the Liberal Democrat and Labour Party Conferences, I’m handing over to my boss, Mike Clarke, who will speak at our fringe event in Birmingham for the Conservative Party Conference alongside some good friends from the Wildlife Trusts and WWF.

Although I won't be in Birmingham this week, I shall be interested to hear how Andrea Leadsom, the new Secretary of State at Defra, will follow up her speech…

Listening to the news this week, I’m beginning to wonder whether we will ever run out of words to prefix ‘Brexit’ with – hard Brexit, messy Brexit, soft Brexit, clean Brexit.  I know that Brexit is meant to mean Brexit, but after a while, given the complexities associated with leaving the EU, the word begins to lose all meaning.

At the risk of adding to the prefix pile though, I would argue that…

In response to the news of the arrival of the Asian Hornet, my colleague Paul Walton, who leads our work on invasive non-native species, offers this reaction.

Surely the social insects – bees, ants, wasps and termites – are among the most astounding of all species. In these animals we have socially cooperative rearing of young, the ordered division of labour within a colony, and reproduction restricted to a small number…