This season's highlights

Living the life of an urban peregrine has its ups - copious amounts of their favourite food and lots of lovely tall buildings to perch and nest on and watch the somewhat crazy world go on beneath them, as well as its downs - lots of people in cities which can lead to a certain amount of disturbance.

This is exactly what happened to London's most famous peregrines, Misty and Bert, when their favourite roosting spot on the Chimney of the Tate Modern was found to need emergency building work. The steeple jacks moved in and Misty and Bert seemingly moved out, causing a certain amount of worry amongst the London team. However, we were reassured to find that when the builders were not there you had a good chance of finding the peregrines there instead!

For the first few weeks of the project bird sightings were sporadic and a stretch of eight days passed where we saw nothing at all, giving the event a whole new dynamic. But even with no peregrines around we were still getting a lot of interest thanks in part to some wonderful footage from the Chichester peregrine Abb! and the unfaltering enthusiasm of our fantastic volunteers and staff.

As the weeks went on we saw more and more of the peregrines and their chicks. All four of this year's chicks fledged, although unfortunately the sole female had to be put down after being found badly injured after flying into a glass building.

The chicks had no fear and would happily sit at the top of the Tate Chimney as the builders were working with angle grinders and drills just around the corner, with sparks and smoke flying about no more than 2 metres away!!

Highlights of the peregrine watch this year included regular visits from a local sparrowhawk, buzzards flying overhead and getting mobbed by Misty and Bert, Misty flying in and eating a duck at the top of the Chimney, and three peregrines flying around St Paul's Cathedral. So, despite the disturbance of the building work we were spoilt for peregrine action.

This is a fantastic event that has a real impact, creating a spark and connection with wildlife that many people in urban environments do not have. London is wild and the Tate peregrines definitely prove it!

Martin Abrams, London Aren't birds brilliant! Officer

Links to other things on the RSPB website

• Peregrine (from our A to Z of UK birds)
• Pledge your support for birds of prey

London

Monday, 1 December 2008 15.26

Greenwash the white noise of protest

Posted by Tim Webb

Once upon a time, canaries used to save coal miners by giving an early warning of gas. When the bird fell from its perch, the miners dropped tools and ran for their lives.

Oh, how times have changed! Coal-fired power stations are pumping out greenhouse gases and bird populations are changing and moving. The natural world is reacting to climate change. In response to this early warning, what do we do? Government and Industry move inexorably towards more coal-fired power stations.

Help us give nature a louder voice by signing our e-petition, which we'll hand in to Ed Milliband. Hopefully the response will be so high that he'll need to wear earplugs, cover his head in cushions and lock himself into a soundproofed room in order to block-out the din.

Which reminds me of the tap, tap, tapping noise that had me puzzled for a good few minutes this morning, until I noticed a cold and hungry song thrush bashing a snail on the ground. It had found an old plant pot that had somehow tipped over. Inside were dozens of the pesky critters. This time of year is always great for de-snailing your garden. They're slow, reluctant to move and easy to find. Make a game of it with the kids. A sort of snail easter-egg hunt. You then have four choices:

1. gather them together somwhere conspicuous and leave them for the birds to eat (the snails, not the kids)
2. fry the snails with some garlic and wine and eat them
3. do the deed in the dead of night when such things are always done
4. collect the snails in a plastic bag and take them on a long journey to a place far, far away (not near my garden please).

I know what you're thinking. That's why I have so many snails in my garden. I'm a soft touch and can only just bring myself to commit to option one. The snails mostly all slip away, back to where I'd found them.

You see, we all revert to type. Snails will eat my plants. I'm too soft to kill snails. Government and Industry will back the safe option or the most income/least expenditure. Birds and other wildlife will react to changes in their environment and we humans will consider ourselves separate from nature, leaving it to cry out in anguished silence.

 Go on, join us and make some green-noise!

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