The sun continues to shine in rural Bedfordshire, bathing our UK HQ in glorious golden rays.

Many of the hundreds of staff that work here, including me, enjoy our lunch hour by lazing out in the beautiful gardens we're luckily enough to have here. One place that's always busy though is the wildlife pond.

Back when The Lodge was a stately home, this was a swimming pool! However, the only lengths you'll see these…

Bit hot that weekend, wasn't it? Did you take a dip in the sea?

Now it wasn't really good weather for ducks this weekend (unless you were at Lord's!), but this female eider was joining thousands of Brits and cooling off in the sea.

But you'd expect that from the UK's heaviest and fastest flying duck. They live exclusively on the coast - so maybe a warm spell is good weather for this duck at least!…

If I close my eyes I can just about hear the lap of the ocean gently washing the beach. I can imagine my feet sinking in the sand and the wind blowing through my hair....

Sadly, the illusion shatters as soon as I open my eyes and realise it's just my office fan whooshing from side to side that's ruffling my hair!

If like me, you're stuck indoors looking out on what promises to be another beautiful day, escape…

The low drone of bumblebees busy collecting pollen was the soundtrack to my lazy Sunday afternoon enjoying the sun. And had I been inclined to open my eyes and watch this busy to-ing and fro-ing, I'm sure I'd have seen a scence very much like this one captured by Richard Bedford.

You can help bugs (plus lots of other garden wildlife) by taking part in Giving nature a home - simply sign up to get simple, fun…

I had a wonderful surprise visitor to my garden at the weekend - a kingfisher!

You can tell from its grubby-looking breast and brownish feet that it's a young bird, probably from a nest in the river valley that's not far away. But what a wonderful treat to see one from my kitchen window.

I thought it would have gone away hungry, but I watched it hover and snatch something from the surface - probably a backswimmer…

In the spirit of Giving Nature a Home, this wood mouse has made great use of a broken pipe as accommodation; that bed of moss looks like a very nice place for a snooze.

I hope this picture gives you some inspiration to provide a few nooks and crannies for wildlife in in your garden.

This one was taken in Scotland by Dean Bricknell and you can see more great work like this at rspb-images.com 

The Yorkshire three peaks consist of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough and the circuit is based over 25 miles. The aim is to make it round in less than twelve hours which is pretty doable if you can just keep going!

The Yorkshire dales are stunning even with the inevitable downpour every now and then and I spotted some notable bits of wildlife along the way.

By the time Pen-y-ghent had been conquered I’d seen…

Do you have elephants in the neighbourhood? There's a good chance that you do.

This beautiful, exotic-looking creature is an elephant hawkmoth, photographed by Richard Revels and part of our RSPB Images library.

Many hawkmoths spend the day snoozing, coming out at dusk to feed. As the photo shows, honeysuckle is an excellent plant for insects like moths and bees, and also produces beautiful red berries in autumn…

Hot on the heels of Monday’s post about a British institution, today it’s the turn of another...

It’s late June and the rain is sluicing down outside my window. It can only mean one thing: Glastonbury is back! Yep, the festival of music, mayhem and mud is here again.

It got me thinking. Is there any West Country wildlife that enjoys life wet and muddy? Cranes, I thought.

As well making lots of noise…

I hear there's something going on down in London this week?

Something to do with strawberries and cream maybe? Anyway, here's a photo of a wild strawberry plant - can't imagine that the punters will be scoffing too many of these on Henman Hill this week.

But they do look a lot nicer than the supermarket variety, don't you think? Wild strawberries are actually edible, and are part of our natural heritage…

We've launched our brand new campaign, Giving Nature a Home today. Did you catch Linda Barker on Daybreak? If not, you can watch it back by clicking here: http://itv.co/121viIn

So, what can you do to give nature a home? Put up a bat box? Create pond? Update your garden with some wildlife-friendly plants? Or maybe the whole family will pitch in and build a wildlife stack like the one below... It's dead easy and lots…

Have you ever been in a situation where things feel like they just don't make sense? That things are pouring down on you and you can't wade through them to a place of safety and reason?

I must admit to having felt a bit like that recently. But after a great weekend, I definitely feel recharged and like things are getting clearer.

As an image that paints a thousand words, I don't think this brilliant image by…

The tracks crossed exactly where my feet had been the evening before, the sand giving me the only clue about who'd been out for a walk that night.

One of my favourite things is to follow the tracks of a badger - me on my way to work, the badger on its way back to its sett. The sandy soil of our reserve at The Lodge (in Sandy, naturally) is pretty good for spotting animal tracks, especially after rain. But I wasn…

Not too long ago, you'd have needed to head to the coast or bleak uplands to stand a chance of seeing a peregrine in full flight. These days, they're breeding in many of the UK's biggest towns and cities. If you've yet to see one, head to one of our Dates with Nature for a really good look - you don't even need binoculars.

The beautiful photo above was taken by Ben Hall and is part of our fabulous…

Happy Monday everyone. After a lovely weekend it seems that lots of people are a bit chirpier today. Is that the same for you?

On my travels through the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire countryside over the weekend I noticed just a spot of yellow - OK, a lot of yellow! The Oil Seed Rape is most definitely on full display. Now I know that it's planted as crop, but the countryside, certainly around where I live, wouldn't look…

Over the bank holiday weekend I was back home and as the pond sat dilapidated in my parents' garden, swamped with duckweed I was commanded to address the situation; my brother was quick point out I work for a charity that does ‘nature and stuff’. That I work mostly behind a desk didn’t seem to matter.

While not much to look at this pond turned out to be full of life including water hog-lice, caddisfly…

It doesn't take much imagination to view this exposed wood grain as an aerial image of Arizona. 

However these "craters and mountains" don't chronicle rock formation but the slow and uneven growth of the common oak (Quercus robur)

Malcolm Hunt brought us this unusual perspective for our photo archive www.rspb-images.com 

Dawn in spring is a cacophony of noise. Our resident birds tune up for the day ahead, proclaiming their territories and warning off rivals.

It’s well worth getting up early out of your warm, cosy bed. But can you tell your blackbird from your blackcap? If not, to get you started in the wonderful world of birdsong, here’s a few common species you might hear, including links to our website so you can listen to them before…

Hairy snails, spiny seahorses and ocean quahogs; who knew these creatures lived here, in the UK?

As well as charting the fortunes of the familiar ladybirds, golden eagles and otters, the groundbreaking State of Nature report features a whopping 3,148 species. However, only the hardcore enthusiasts know many of these. So, I decided it was time to give these unknown species their chance in the limelight. I’ve looked through…

It felt almost like May yesterday.

So in true British style myself and a few friends tried to make the most of a little bit of sun, and headed to a newly opened beer garden in the town we live in. The beer was great, but the star attractions were above our heads.

Swooping, scything and screaming through the sky were swifts. Finally, they have returned!

I've seen dribs and drabs over the last few weeks, but at last there…

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I don't know why, but whenever I see a starling I end the encounter with a big grin on my face.

Maybe it's because they remind me of a childhood spent listening to their scrabbling around in the loft above my bedroom, attempting to raise a family.

Or, maybe it's because of their beautiful feathers that iridesce as they catch the summer sunlight.

Whatever the reason, I hope these two put a smile on your…

Brownfield land refers to those places that humans have developed but then left to ruin. While they might look far from ideal habitat, many species thrive here in people’s absence.

There are examples everywhere and I’m sure you can think of a derelict building nearby with weeds and fast-growing trees sprouting up around it, providing cover for all kinds of creatures.

Examples can be found in such extreme…

I was reminded by a soft splash in my garden pond that the spring is here for our aquatic wildlife too.

Frogs, toads and fish like these minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) are all using our fresh water habitats to breed, although probably not in the same places, frog spawn tends to get eaten when there are fish around.

Graham Eaton has provided us with this great shot from an alternative perspective. See more wildlife images…

Perhaps the very epitome of spring birdsong, the humble nightingale has been inspiring poets, writers and anyone who hears its sweet, uplifting song for centuries.

Including me.

Related to the robin, nightingales lack the red breast of its cousin, but makes up for it with lovely rufousy back, head and wings. But its song is what really sets it apart.

Go on, listen in...

I find it hard to describe the song’s qualities…