Well, like half a million other households across the UK, I am gearing up for this weekend’s Big Garden Birdwatch. It’s going to be mega. I seem to have a pretty good variety of bird species visiting my back garden during winter.... but will they all turn up during our chosen one-hour slot? 

Sit back and enjoy the show... it's Big Garden Birdwatch weekend at last! (Photo: David Tipling, rspb-images.com)…

The world’s biggest wildlife survey is just two days away. The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch takes place from 27 – 29 January, and there’s still plenty of time to sign up. 

But if you still need convincing…

House sparrow topped the chart last year - have you seen one in your garden? (Ben Hall, rspb-images.com)

1. It’s a whole hour to yourself!

Time. That ever-elusive commodity. You don…

I always look forward to Big Garden Birdwatch with a certain smugness, confident of a decent count of sparrows, starlings and all those other declining, and common, garden birds the RSPB love to hear about every January. This year, I have a bit of a problem and I need your help.

Gone is that near-certain feeling I'll be reporting 12+ species on my count in the Big Garden Birdwatch hour. In a year when I've been quick…

Many of you reading this blog will have heard us mention how many stunning reader photos we receive in the Nature's Home magazine inbox every day. The only slightly disappointing aspect to receiving so many beautiful photos is that there is never enough room to fit them all in a single issue, even if we dedicated the entire magazine to it. Celebrating the wildlife and other nature you’ve seen and captured on camera…

What's your favourite nature spectacle? A peregrine on the hunt? The autumn red deer rut? Flights of wild geese overhead on a winter afternoon?

We've got our "must sees" here at Nature's Home and today we present one of  the very best of all them thanks to a guest blog from Jacqueline Hitt who is studying for an MA in Nature and Travel Writing at Bath Spa University. This is a sight you can see  

…

My family had a very busy festive season, despite spending all of it at home. I am only just catching up with all the festive TV movies now. We spent many hours standing up and cooking, and many more devouring the fruits of our labour. 

But we didn’t forget our feathered friends outside. Although not a flake of snow settled in our part of the world (much to the kids' disappointment), there was some pretty inclement weather…

This blog comes to you from the newest member of the Nature's Home team, Aisling Brady, who got up at 5am on New Year’s Day to participate in a birding race… 

Over to Aisling!

I’ve never been the biggest fan of New Year’s Eve to be honest. So this year I swapped the usual sore head and depleted savings for something rather more refreshing. When my housemate, birding guru Ben MacDonald, invited…

Happy New Year!

I hope you found plenty of time over the Christmas period to get out and about and  see some of winter’s special wildlife.

Now Christmas is over and the days have started to lengthen, the first signs of spring are very apparent. Coming back to work this morning and getting in my car, it was impossible to ignore the dawn chorus that is an everyday occurrence now. Robins and great tits are dominating…

Well, we’re pretty much wrapped up for Christmas – and about to collapse into a well-earned break! The next issue of Nature’s Home is being printed, and last week, on this very blog, we gave you a sneak preview of the front cover.

It’s a new year and a (slightly) new look! But it’s not just the cover we’ve tweaked. Near the front of the magazine you’ll find a whole new-look 'Wild About' section, showcasing…

I have always thought am one of the luckiest Editor-in-Chiefs around thanks to you, our brilliant Nature's Home readers and RSPB members.

There are lots of reasons for this: the fact you care about your magazine, you give us so many great things to put in Nature's Home and share with others, from your sightings, reports from reserve visits, wildlife gardening tips and the literally thousands of incredible photos…

This Christmas, give your self the gift of a nature wow moment . 

The pre-dusk skies of winter form a great backdrop for one of nature’s finest performances, a murmuration of starlings. Hundreds, thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of starlings take to the skies in a mesmeric swirl. They gather to confuse predators and exchange information, before snuggling up to roost. For us, it’s a seasonal spectacle we’re all…

We've had a super-busy couple of weeks at Nature’s Home, and we’re all looking forward to Christmas. On Tuesday, Mark Ward and I got together at The Lodge and went through Nature’s Home one last time before we send it to print. Which means…. drumroll…. we can show you a sneak peek of the cover of our upcoming Spring 2018 issue!

Ta-daaaah! Look out for the new issue of Nature…

Snow is a very lovely thing if, and it is a big if, you don’t have to travel. Fortunately for me, “Snow Sunday” couldn’t have come at a better time. I didn’t have anywhere to be and the January issue of Nature's Home magazine is all but finished, so I was able to watch what my local wildlife made of it all from the comfort of a warm house!

I did have a date with some showy otters an…

Once I’d finished my Christmas list at the weekend, I began to think about a list that is equally important in the countdown to Christmas – my wildlife targets for the next few weeks. Every winter in the UK is different, not just for the weather, but also which species have arrived in good numbers, which haven’t and of course what rarities are lurking among the flocks of commoner birds.

The winter of…

Our magazine team enjoyed a treat this week – and a respite from a deluge of pre-Christmas deadlines – kicking off the festive season by attending the Content Marketing Association Awards in Camden, London. 

It’s certainly not often we find ourselves dressed up to the nines and sipping free prosecco, but we had been shortlisted for the ‘Best Membership Award.

Many of us scrambled together new…

Feeling festive? Here are 12 ways to enjoy 12 days of Christmas countdown... Ready?

Holly, Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

1. The holly, the ivy and the mistletoe

Now’s the time to deck our halls with this triumvirate of festive foliage - but if you’re out gathering it, be sure to leave plenty behind for the wildlife. All of these evergreens play an important role in supporting birds in winter. Red holly berries…

It seems to sneak up earlier every year, but around here the fairy-lights are going up, the malls are piping out Christmas crooners, and even my family has started rummaging in the attic for wreaths and swags. We have plenty of festive feasts marked on the calendar, too - from work team lunch to festive family fun days at the kids’ schools. 

Although it’s a time for excess and gay abandon, as a nation we’re going…

If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise. A handsome finch, so secretive and scarce that even the keenest birders go years without catching a glimpse of one is invading the UK in numbers not seen in living memory. This big-beaked beauty is turning up literally everywhere, providing unprecedented opportunities to see one in the UK. My blog this week aims to help you do just that.

This classy…

No bird feeder? No problem. Try these easy homemade ways of feeding your local birds this winter.

1. Cardboard roll bird feeder

A simple cardboard tube feeder is easy to make and a quick tasty treat for birds. Photo: Emma Pocklington

You’ll need

- A cardboard tube (a kitchen roll is perfect)

- Two long sticks or skewers

- Some lard or suet

- Birdseed

- A piece of string

First, make four holes in one end…

Winter is the best time for small DIY projects. Sipping cups of tea in the shed while messing around with tools and wood is a welcome reprieve from the commercial madness of Christmas and the daily grind of house chores. I feel DIY projects, such as building a nestbox, can be successfully deployed as excuses to avoid mundane household tasks and thinking about what to get people for Christmas. After all, I’m giving nature…

With Halloween out of the way, my kids continue their exciting week with the prospect of a public firework display and possibly a bonfire. 

Sunday is the 5th of November, and backyards across Britain will be ablaze, the skies filled with popping, gurgling and fizzing sparkles. 

I can only imagine what our wild night flyers make of this... (Photo: RSPB-images.com)

Despite its gruesome origins, Bonfire Night is a high…

Nature spoils us with its late autumn treats, but for me the arrival of our wild geese is head and shoulders above the rest. I say “our” because for almost half of the year, wild geese are very much UK birds, having swapped their Arctic homes for our comparitively mild, food-rich shores.

These are not the boisterous bread thieves that frequent your local park: these travellers raised their young in the far…

As the nights draw in and the golden leaves flutter to the ground, one question regularly flies around the office where we make the RSPB magazines. Not “are you doing the pumpkin carving competition this year?” but “did you watch Autumnwatch last night?” And, of course, the answer is always “yes”, (to both).

The first episode of Autumnwatch 2017 featured some spectacular bee-eaters…

Guest blog by Jenny Shelton, RSPB Investigations

When you see a bee-eater for the first time, darting from a treetop to swipe a bee out of the blue sky, in a flash of rainbow wingbeats, it’s easy to see why these birds are a treasure worth seeking out.

This summer a Nottinghamshire quarry was unexpectedly brightened by the arrival of seven of these southern European stunners. We think around 10,000 people flocked…

Let’s face it - we’re entering the season of mud. For the next few months, any trips through the countryside (at least, here in the wetter west) will be accompanied by a fair amount of squelching, splashing and oozing, followed by boot scraping...