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Any parents will know that mealtimes can be a trauma. You can never pick a menu that everyone likes, one child will have eaten too much chocolate and not be hungry while another will have been too busy playing and suddenly realise they are hungry enough to eat their own arm. Not to mention the MESS when you do all sit down for the family dinner-time.

But spare a thought for some birds who have massive broods to feed this summer, such as this busy little long-tailed tit pictured feeding her 11 young at the RSPB’s Fairburn Ings nature reserve. She has become something of a celebrity this week with the image being featured in the Telegraph, the Guardian and the Express.

Amazingly, despite the enormous amount of hungry mouths to feed, she appears to achieved what many parents strive for – an orderly queue, no squabbling and no mess! Quite what her secret is we’ll never know but surely she must be in the category of super-mum?!

The domestic scene was pictured by RSPB volunteer Gary Shilton, who works at Fairburn Ings two or three times a week. This long-tailed tit has her work cut out and the opportune snap proves just how helpful any additional food we provide could be.

Many people feed their garden birds religiously over the winter months and wrongly believe that it’s not as important in summer. It’s true that it’s important for different reasons – in winter its physically impossible for birds to find natural food because its iced over or covered in snow.

But in summer, whilst berries and insects are more abundant, adult birds are constantly on the hunt for food to sustain themselves and their young – and in some cases these could reach double figures as we’ve seen here! It’s an exhausting business so don’t forget to keep up the good work with your feeding. We might have stopped having Christmas cake and roast potatoes so much in the warmer but more refreshing leftover treats like fruit, the pasta you had with your summer salad and the biscuits you had with your cheeseboard would be ideal!

If you were anywhere near the Houses of Parliament yesterday, you may have found yourself questioning your sanity – you were sure an albatross, bumblebee and tiger had just strolled past you...

...Worry not, it wasn’t the onset of sun stroke, merely the RSPB taking its biggest ever campaign to the door of Number 10 Downing Street.

Over 213,000 people have now signed Letter to the Future and I had the pleasure of accompanying my furry friends to Westminster to help prove just how many people are calling in better investment in nature ahead of the emergency budget scheduled for next month.

The three species, representative of the broad spectrum of work the RSPB undertakes, were taking time out to be photographed with two young children, Cherry, 11 and Rosie, 13, collectively calling for better investment in nature.

The animals and children were then accompanied by Martin Harper, Head of Sustainable Development, and Karen Rothwell, Director of Marketing, to deliver a letter outlining the ongoing Letter to the Future campaign messages to Downing Street.

Martin said: “The severity of the economic crisis is clear and an emergency budget is less than a month away.  Yet this must be the parliament which takes decisive action to tackle the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

“We are calling for an Emergency Budget that invests in nature today, to create a bright future for wildlife, a more stable economy and a richer quality of life for us all.”

The RSPB isn’t arguing against the need to cut the economic deficit, we simply believe that the Government should be doing all it can to address the ecological debt.

We need more signatures to demonstrate the growing support for investment in nature, more people to recruit as members and more people to campaign with us.

It would be fantastic to be able to say, this autumn, that a quarter of a million people have signed the RSPB’s Letter to the Future. And, who knows 300 000 by the spring 2011 budget and devolved elections? Dare we dream for more?

Please, if you haven’t already, take the time to add your signature here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/letter

You don’t need me to tell you that we are having a rather severe impact on our planet. Climate change is something which threatens our future – but species are disappearing right now as a result of habitat loss, a much more immediate threat.

One of those species is the field cricket – down to just one colony in the 1990s and until last week still only present at four sites in the country. This flightless insect has suffered as a result of the loss of heathland and acid grassland in recent decades. So we are particularly proud to have been part of a project to reintroduce them to two more sites at our Farnham Heath reserve in Surrey and Pulborough Brooks reserve in Sussex.

Radio 4’s Today programme visited Farnham recently and featured the project on the show this morning – you can listen again here. Later on they continued discussing the wider story as part of their coverage of the launch of the UN’s latest Global Biodiversity report. You can hear our Director of Conservation Mark Avery being interviewed here. On the show Mark predicted that the number of signatures to our Letter to the Future campaign would top 200,000 today – and he was quickly proved right!

The field crickets now have a growing fanbase and you can follow their exploits again on Radio 4 tomorrow (Tuesday) on Saving Species which is on at 11am. If you miss it then visit the show’s homepage afterwards where you can listen again.

The ‘polyospreys,’ as the RSPB’s model birds of prey in Poole Harbour are now affectionately known, are still in the media today with a great video on the Guardian website showing them in all their splendour.

The two polystyrene birds are shown in their new homes – one perched on a large branch by the nest and one safely tucked away in the nest itself. As Mark Singleton at RSPB Arne says in the video, almost as soon as the birds were secured in position a herring gull threw a bit of a tantrum so that could be a good an early sign that the birds are life-like as hoped!

How amazing would it be if some roughly thrown together sticks, a splash of paint and a polystyrene model could help further reverse the fortunes of some of our most charismatic birds of prey?

Well that’s exactly what we’ve been hoping to achieve with our latest experiment in Dorset. And it’s caught the attention of BBC Breakfast as well as the Independent, the Daily Mail and others.

In case you missed the story, we are attempting to encourage real ospreys to nest at our Arne nature reserve and wider Poole Harbour by putting some life-sized polystyrene ospreys in man–made nests.

We’re leaving no stone unturned with the added ‘decoration’ of some white paint to imitate that they can feel relaxed enough to do everything at the site...

Ospreys regularly visit Arne in the spring and autumn on their way back to their wintering grounds south of the Sahara.

Thousands of visitors enjoy incredible views of them perching on posts and in trees in Dorset, but if they stop to breed people soon be able to witness the adults hunting, feeding and raising their families.

The low cost experiment is aimed at encouraging young male ospreys that are less than three years old and older females that may have lost their partners to stay at the site.

Experts believe that by placing plastic versions in the trees, the real ospreys, which are extremely faithful to their previous nest site, might be tempted to go one step further and raise a family there.

And after harnessing up, much shimmying up trees and carefully balancing and securing the models, everyone must now wait with baited breath to see if the model birds will fool the visiting birds into thinking that ospreys have bred on the site before.

Our polar bear April Fool certainly captured a lot of attention and fooled quite a few people in the process.

It was reported in April Fools' roundups in the Mail, Guardian, Telegraph on CNN, STV and Radio 4's PM. Some regional newspapers also joined in, reporting it as a 'real' story, as did Country Life.  

The Independent reports today that it had one environment correspondent hotfooting it to the newsdesk until the date was pointed out. Dave Sexton, the man at the centre of the story, had a couple of well-known tv wildlife presenters contact him to check whether it might actually be true.

And thousands of people around the world followed the unfolding saga via updates on our twitter and facebook pages.

Of course, there's a serious side to all the fun. Lots of rare wildlife, including polar bears, are threatened with extinction. We aim to stop extinctions through our Letter to the Future campaign. 166,195 people have signed the letter to help save our wildlife and the environment.

If you have signed thank you. If you haven't, please sign it now .

Just taken a phone call from Dave Sexton on Mull.

After a morning of searching, he's re-discovered the polar bear back at its original location.

A very excited Dave told me: 'The bear was so pleased to see me again, it rolled over and let me tickle its tummy. I feel incredibly privileged to have struck up such a relationship with such an amazing animal.'

Our Mull Officer, Dave Sexton, got the shock of his life while out on a routine wildlife survey yesterday, Wednesday 31 March.

“We rounded a headland on the west coast of the island and saw a large, white shape lying by some rocks in the distance. As we got closer, I was staggered to see that it was a polar bear. At first I felt sure it was dead, but then I realised it was still breathing. Scarily, it opened its eyes as we got next to it, but didn't show any other signs of moving. We grabbed a few photos and went off to get help.”

On his return an hour later, Dave was amazed to find that the bear had disappeared. “We couldn't find any trace of it. Luckily we have the photos, or I doubt that anyone would believe us. Having spent many years protecting threatened wildlife, I just hope this polar bear is going to be ok.”

Islanders are now searching for the missing bear, which is thought to have drifted across to the island on an ice floe. The nearest polar bear populations are found on Greenland and on the Svalbard archipelago, midway between Norway and the North Pole. In recent years other visitors to Mull from the high Arctic have included a bearded seal and two northern bottle-nosed whales.

Scientists believe the colder winter and lower than average sea temperatures this year may have allowed the ice floe to remain frozen for longer, thereby assisting the polar bear's passage.

This is believed to be the first time a live wild polar bear has been observed in UK territorial waters since before the last Ice Age. However, bear bones found in the famous prehistoric caves at Inchnadamph in Sutherland are believed to be from a polar bear.

The coastguard, police and Arctic marine mammal experts are now searching for the animal. The public have been warned not to approach the bear if they see it, as it may be hungry after its long journey.

Every year in January thousands of householders across the UK take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch, spending an hour in their garden recording what they see and sending us their results.

This year more than half a million people took part, counting more than 8 million birds. So collating the results is a big job, but once it’s done the newspapers, TV and radio are always keen to get their hands on the final figures to report on the ups and downs in the garden bird world.

This year the big story is the fact that small songbirds have suffered in the recent unprecedented cold weather. The BBC pointed out that the weather resulted in more sightings of less frequent visitors such as fieldfares, yellowhammers and bullfinches which were forced to feed in gardens due to a lack of available food in the wider countryside.

The Telegraph reported that there were 20 cent fewer small birds like coal tits and the long tailed tit dropped out of the top ten list. As well as covering the survey results the Guardian has also been collating its photographs taken by readers during the event on Flickr – take a look here. Our personal favourite has to be a great image of two goldfinches scrapping over who gets the prime spot on the feeder.

And if you’re a fan of figures, tables and stats then the Guardian has also covered the story on its data blog. And if you want to look at the results from a different angle then head on over to the Beaky Birdsearch website where some clever person has used the results to create a search programme which produces a map – just type in your favourite bird and you can see where its strongholds are across the UK.

Amazing news about one of Britain’s most incredible birds hit headlines this week.

Scotland’s oldest known breeding female Osprey returned to her nesting site again this week for the 20^th consecutive year.

Having reached 25 years old – around three times the average lifespan of an osprey – and raised 46 chicks she’s probably done more for the conservation of this species than anyone, or anything, else.

The story was covered by the BBC, Times and the Independent amongst others so make sure you get clicking to read more about this remarkable bird.

The nation was called upon to help the RSPB safeguard the future of our exciting summer visitor, the swift, and as usual, you all delivered.

A nationwide plea for swift sightings resulted in data being gathered on a scale never seen before and revealed the critical role that Britain’s householders play in the future of this declining species. The story struck a real chord and was covered in the Independent, on the BBC and elsewhere – we are clearly a nation of swift lovers!

Thousands of people reported the unmistakable screams of swifts around their roofs last summer to the RSPB, or told us where they were actually nesting. We wanted to develop a detailed ‘inventory’ of specific locations that swifts are using to raise their families so it can focus efforts to help the species.

Almost all swifts recorded were found nesting on buildings and over three quarters of them (77%), found nesting in houses. The results from the first year of data collection show that the swift strongholds are in older parts of our cities, towns and villages, although they will use new buildings too.

Swift numbers have declined significantly in recent years. It’s not yet clear why, but we think that many suffer as a result of the loss of nest sites through building improvement or demolition.

Of course home renovations and maintenance often need to be carried out, but hopefully a heightened awareness of the possibility of nesting swifts means we can all improve our homes without destroying those of the swift.

Tweeting, chirping and warbling mark the start of the day outside - and it seems that many of us are opting for it to kickstart our day inside too.

As reported in Daily Telegraph today, a poll of PURE digital radio users has shown that birdsong is the most popular alarm tone after the traditional beep and I for one can think of no better sound to ease me into the day!

Numbers of people choosing birdsong to wake up to were more than double those of any of the other 365 sounds you could choose on a PURE Siest Flow digial and internet-connected bedside radio.

Second to birdsong were church bells, followed by balloon squeaking, alarm tunes, chimes, World War II sirens and dogs bakring.

Violin screeching and kettle whistling were among the least selected sounds. I can't imagine why...

The RSPB is delighted that more people choose to rise each morning to the gentle dawn chorus of birdsong and not at all surprised.

The charity uses birdsong as its own hold music for callers to its Headquarters in Sandy, Bedfordshire, and is complimented on the calming tones as opposed to the rock music and annoying talking that many organisations go for!

Birdsong is a cheerful, positive and relaxing start to the day, although be sure not to let it relax you too much in case you nod off to sleep again...

The accidental or deliberate movement of plants or animals around the world by man has been responsible for the global extinction of many species.

The British countryside hasn't escaped as many species from overseas are now on the rampage creating havoc for wildlife and their habitats. And the news today suggests that our ponds are in the front line of this battle.

Today's launch of the Be Plant Wise campaign, with the support of celebrity gardener Charlie Dimmock, is a welcome start in the control of the non-native pond plants that are choking many wetlands, including several notable RSPB reserves across the UK.

One of the worst offenders is the innocuous-sounding New Zealand pigmyweed, which has escaped from the confines of garden ponds and is now affecting many sites across the UK, altering the environment of wetlands and excluding native plants. Individually, the plants may be pigmies, but en masse these, and other non-native plants, are creating yet another conservation headache we have to deal with while managing over 200 nature reserves for birds and other wildlife.

The main aim of the campaign, which has received widespread press attention, is to urge gardeners to be careful when disposing of these plants or when clearing out ponds.

There are some dishes I couldn't even contemplate eating without seasoning - who would want egg and soldiers without a sprinkle of salt on the runny yolk for example? Ooooh I'm salivating at the thought...

But salt could kill some garden birds and the RSPB is urging people not to use it as a de-icer in bird baths as the weather gets chilly again.

Salt is toxic to garden birds, even in tiny amounts, as their bodies can't process it and it affects their nervous systems. If they ingest salt they get very dehydrated and thirsty which simply makes them take in more, potentially making the problem worse. Salt also causes kidney disfunction so its imperative that we leave it out of our feeding efforts.

Keeping bird baths unfrozen in this sort of weather could be a full-time job and try as you might you can almost guarantee that when you nip outside in the morning in your dressing gown to check it will be solid! There is no scientific answer to this and when temperatures really plummet is a case of patience! But you can take measures to keep the water moving for as long as possible, such as placing a small floating item like a cork or twig in it. Alternatively, when you do fill your bath, try using tepid water to keep it unfrozen that bit longer.

Please also avoid food that contains lots of salt. Salted crisps and peanuts, processed cheese and leftover frozen meals are all likely to contain dangerous levels , even if soaked. More suitable leftovers include garted mild cheese, porridge oats, cooked rice, unslated bacon, cooked potatoes and pastry.

Farmland birds have not had the smoothest ride in recent decades. Populations of skylarks, yellowhammers, lapwings and grey partridges have all been declining for several years.

But the fight back may be starting in a tiny far flung corner of the country where a small brown and yellow bird is clawing its way back from the brink.

The diminutive cirl bunting has hit the headlines in the Guardian, the Telegraph and on the BBC this week after a survey showed its number have increased by 25 per cent since 2003.

Now that may sound like a lot but in fact there are still just 862 breeding pairs, and they are restricted to small strips of Devon and Cornwall. If you live anywhere else then your chances of seeing them darting from a hedgerow on country walk are pretty miniscule I’m afraid. In fact despite their recent success they still enjoy the dubious honour of being Britain’s rarest farmland bird.

I travelled down to the Devon coast to our reserve at Labrador Bay which is a haven for cirl buntings not too long ago. It’s a spectacular place if you’re ever in that part of the country. And while they may be a little tricky to identify they are friendly creatures and will reward a patient birdwatcher.

Whilst there I met a nearby farmer who is doing lots of work on his land to provide a habitat for the birds. He was delighted to be doing his bit to save a species that once clung precariously onto survival in the UK by a thread. It is part of the job of a farmer, he told me, to look after the countryside and everything in it.

I went away with a renewed sense of optimism. If we can achieve this kind of success with a bird as close to the edge as the cirl bunting, then surely with dedication and hard work conservationists and farmers working together can halt the declines in our beleaguered farmland bird species across the UK.