Last month, as part of a package to reduce the negative environmental impacts of driven grouse shooting, the Scottish Government announced that it would license all moorland vegetation burning and would introduce a statutory ban on burning on peatland soils. 

This week, the Committee on Climate Change (in its advice about the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget) said that the UK Government should “ban damaging practices…

If you thought the Chancellor’s Spending Review was a bit grim, here are three things from this week to bring you cheer.

First, you may have noted that following the postponement of the Gough Island Restoration operation this year due to Covid-19, the RSPB’s Council trustees met this week and have now given the go-ahead for the mouse eradication operation to take place in the Southern winter of 2021.  This…

Earlier this month, we set out three priorities for the single year spending review. It was always going to be a delicate balance for the Chancellor Rishi Sunak to deliver any kind of economic statement in such uncertain times - we all appreciate the need to focus on people’s lives and livelihoods right now. That said, our message was clear – if we need to invest in tackling the nature and climate emergency now or we…

Last week, I wrote an assessment of how well the UK Government was doing against the ten commitments in the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature but I waited to give my verdict on point 5 designed to “align our climate policies with the Paris Agreement”. 

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced his plan for a green industrial revolution which means we now have a much better idea of how the UK Government plans…

The Prime Minister is due to make a major intervention this week outlining a ten-point plan to tackle climate change and create new green jobs.   Some of the content was trailed at the weekend and this included £40m new money for habitat restoration, new national parks and ten new landscape plans (all in England) recognising the growing importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from land. 

This new plan follows…

Here is some excellent news to bring you cheer.

Today, the Government and people of Tristan da Cunha have announced a new 700,000 km² Marine Protection Zone which will be the biggest no-take area in the Atlantic.  The Tristan islanders will become guardians of one of the world’s most pristine marine environments where no fishing or extractive activities will be permitted. 

It is a phenomenal achievement and builds on…

There has been a lot going on and I am late to post this blog the from my colleagues Jamie Audsley, Dylan Underhill and Matt Rayment about last month’s decision from the Chancellor about future of public spending.  It’s a good read and includes our top three priorities for the forthcoming Spending Review. 

The context of course is that there is growing acceptance that investment in nature is vital as it underpins…

Last month, I reported the good news that the French Council of State had suspended the turtle dove hunting season in France with immediate effect, following a legal challenge from our colleagues at the French BirdLife partner, LPO.

There has been more good news in relation to hunting/shooting that you may have missed. For many years, many organisations including the RSPB have urged action to be taken to halt the pollution…

For the UK Government to have a chance to meet the Prime Minister’s pledge for 30% of the UK land to be protected by 2030 not only will it need the buy in and support from the devolved administrations (who have responsibility for environmental issues outside of England), it will also have to fix the uplands.

For the purpose of this blog and indeed any further comment that I make on the subject, I shall assume that…

At today's AGM, Kevin Cox, the RSPB's Chair of Council, reported back the outcomes of our review of gamebird shooting and associated land management and gave the following statement:

"A year ago, I announced the RSPB’s intention to review our policy on gamebird shooting and associated land management. 

As part of our conservation strategy, the RSPB seeks to improve many types of land and marine management,…

If there is a correlation between nature conservation impact and media profile/political speeches, this would be an excellent week.  Of course, life is not that simple, but it would be wrong to simply dismiss the political interventions around the UN Biodiversity Summit or indeed the increased media attention that the nature crisis is getting.  Raised profile raises the stakes and the public demand for action grows as a…

Ever since the UK voted to leave the European Union, the RSPB has worked hard with other environmental groups to ensure Brexit would help rather than hinder our efforts to tackle the climate and ecological emergency. 

We set six challenges which guided our engagement and, earlier this year, we reported the progress that had been made by the time the UK formally left the EU.  The punchline at the time was while huge progress…

Earlier this week, I returned to our Headquarters at the Lodge.  I needed to pick up my office chair and a few other things.  It was only my second visit in six months and because the sun was shining, I took time to enjoy the Lodge gardens before taking a few calls while walking on the reserve.

It was a bit discombobulating as everywhere I went there were signals of the normality that we have lost: empty offices, empty…

The scale of the climate and ecological crisis requires action from all: from businesses, civil society and, of course governments at all levels. 

Last month, the Edinburgh Declaration was published by the Scottish Government and partners to emphasise the role and responsibility of sub-national authorities in contributing to the post 2020 agenda for biodiversity to be established in Kunming, China (Covid permitting) next…

Autumn is promising to be just as wonderful as this year’s spring and I have been grabbing any opportunity to get out.  While we continue to live in a time of corona with all the associated uncertainty and anxiety, once again nature is providing solace as we can be restored by the sight of trees turning, fungi flourishing and bird migration in full swing as our summer visitors pour south and we welcome those from…

It seems that David Attenborough’s programme Extinction: the facts moved many people to tears.  To me, that is an entirely rational response to the ongoing destruction to the natural world.  This relentless loss of the beauty and wonder of our planet not only corrodes the soul, it compromises our own species’ prosperity.

But, as I wrote on Friday, grief needs to be matched with a determination to change, bolstered…

Yesterday we heard the latest, if expected, grim news from WWF’s Living Planet Report - that global wildlife populations have plummeted by an average of 68% since 1970.  WWF’s report precedes the UN’s own Global Biodiversity Outlook which will be published next week, no doubt with a similar punchline that we have failed to stem the tide of loss.  This is even though we have had global commitments to halt…

Readers of this blog will be aware of the Gough Island Restoration Programme, but for those unfamiliar with the story I want to give a quick recap.  As Patrick Barkham wrote in the Observer earlier this year, it is a good example of the tough choices that conservationists have to face when managing wildlife populations and it is the hook to provide my annual update of vertebrate control that the RSPB undertakes on our…

This is a longhand and fully referenced version of a talk that I have recorded for virtual Birdfair.  Do watch or have a read and let me know what you think.

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At the turn of the millennium, my wife and I went to see the incredible Namaqualand daisies in South Africa.   We’d timed our trip to coincide with the moment when the vast dry area transforms into a sea of orange.  It was…

I returned to work this week after an excellent holiday in our family’s hut on the Northumberland coast.  We were lucky with the weather and although we didn’t quite get the heatwave, we spent most of the fortnight outside.  Yes, I did see the Pacific golden plover which had turned up near Boulmer, but the wildlife highlight of the week was probably watching the gannets diving for their evening meal incredibly…

A few weeks ago, there was an aggressive and deeply personal online attack on one of my team. The colleague in question, a young and talented staff member, was singled out for simply doing their role as required at the RSPB: a job that they enjoy very much and do very well. Specifically, they were coordinating a letter to Alok Sharma (Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) on behalf of 35 NGOs…

It's increasingly felt like a lost year for conservation, but we have, where government restrictions have allowed, tried to maintain our essential activity including for some of our most threatened species.  Today, I am pleased to report good progress in restoring our fastest declining migratory programme both for here in the UK and also along their migration flyway.  But at the end of this blog, I also share some worrying…

This morning, the Environment Secretary George Eustice will give a major speech outlining his plans for how nature will be at the centre of the green recovery.  This is an important moment for the UK Government to offer a clear vision for how they will restore nature in a generation. 

To date, there have been mixed messages emerging from the UK government especially after the Prime Minister’s “build, build, build…

At the RSPB’s AGM in 2019, our Chair of Council, Kevin Cox, announced that the RSPB was reviewing its policy on the most intensive forms of gamebird shooting especially driven grouse moor management (which involves shooting our native red grouse) and large-scale release of non-native game birds, primarily pheasants and red-legged partridges, now in excess of 57 million birds annually.

We are very keen to provide…

2020 was branded a Super Year with major global agreements due to be struck on climate and nature but the Covid-19 pandemic arrived and changed our world. 

While the political stakes have increased as a result of the economic crisis, there are some things that have not changed: the parlous state of nature and the urgent need for action.

If anything, the pandemic has heightened the sense of challenge, opportunity and jeopardy…