Blogs

As a wildlife conservation charity we are not usually concerned with the activities of beautiful, leggy film stars – but Disney’s latest cinematic offering may change all that.

The Crimson Wing opens in cinemas today and follows the amazing and often strange habits of the occupants of Lake Natron in Tanzania – a million and a half lesser flamingos. 

Flamingos are fascinating creatures. They survive on algae only found in alkaline lakes which contains the pigments that give the birds their pink feathers. They lay just one egg each breeding season and after the young have hatched they are gathered into large crèches of up to 100,000 chicks marshalled by a few adults.

The huge numbers of these birds on Lake Natron have created a stunning spectacle for the filmmakers behind The Crimson Wing, but this could fool you into thinking that this species is safe from impact of human interference.

However they have been under major threat from proposals in the past to build a soda ash extraction plant nearby. The impact of this development would have had a devastating effect on the sensitive natural balanced of the unique habitat provided by Lake Natron, and, in turn, a worrying knock on effect on the flamingos which live there and make up three quarters of the species’ world population. Conservationists remain constantly vigilant against the possibility of similar developments in the future.

We’re sure these amazing birds are set to become a hit with cinema goers – and let’s hope that the attention this film raises will ensure their story, like the best Hollywood tales, has a happy ending and plenty of sequels.

Rivers have been in the news today on our screens and in our newspapers because England and Wales are failing to meet European targets for water quality.

This is an issue that has been highlighted by the Our Rivers campaign which the RSPB is part of, along with the WWF, the Angling Trust and the Association of Rivers Trusts.

Pollution from chemicals like phosphates and nitrates is a major issue for wildlife – often because it means plants which grow in rivers can’t survive so other wildlife has nothing to eat or shelter in.

Another issue facing rivers is over abstraction – stretches of the Kennet in Wiltshire have dried up entirely on a number of occasions in recent years because of water companies abstracting water to supply nearby Swindon. You don’t need much imagination to figure out for yourself the devastation this wreaks on wildlife.

Anglers, boaters, wildlife lovers and walkers are all concerned about the pressures facing rivers and the wildlife that rely on them. But our waterways aren’t just there to provide the background for a weekend hobby – they are the veins and the lifeblood of our towns and countryside.

Much of our drinking water comes from rivers. Rivers feed wetlands which are rich habitats for all kinds of animals including wading birds like redshanks and black tailed godwits. And of course all rivers eventually flow into the sea which is vitally important in all sorts of ways.

So whether you’re stopping off on a country stroll for a game of pooh sticks or reeling in a tasty trout after a lazy day on the riverbank, remember that unless we make the effort to take care of our rivers now we may pay a much bigger price later on.

Anyone who cast a casual eye over last weekend's Observer may be wondering why the RSPB is being accused of environmental 'vandalism’.

The issue at stake is our drive to recreate threatened lowland heathland by not replanting commercial conifer plantations when they are harvested. This is something we are doing with a great deal of success at our Farnham Heath reserve in Surrey and it’s all helping towards the Government’s UK target for heathland recreation which the Forestry Commission is also signed up to. According to the Confederation of Forest Industries, however, this sort of conservation work is ‘absolutely crazy’.

It’s easy to get emotive when it comes to making large scale changes to the face of our countryside. It’s also easy to get emotive about the loss of heathland – a rugged and dramatic landscape which inspired Thomas Hardy’s Return of the Native - and heathland wildlife like the strange and beguiling nightjar, the secretive smooth snake and the colourful ladybird spider

But let’s not go there. Let’s just present some cold hard facts and you can make up your own mind.

Conifer plantations are planted with the specific intention of being harvested. They are not rare or endangered – nor is the wildlife you find in them. Heathland is rare – in fact lowland heathland is under greater threat of disappearing than rainforest. England has just one sixth of the heathland it had 100 years ago, while conifer woodland is a relatively recent addition to our landscape in southern England.

Threatened native species which rely on heathland include Dartford warblers, natterjack toads and grayling butterflies amongst others.  However there are no threatened native species which rely on commercial conifer plantations for their survival.

The RSPB is an active campaigner on climate change and we recognise the importance of trees for capturing carbon. Which is why we are not advocating an overall UK-wide reduction in forest cover. We just want it to be in the right place – and former heathland is not the right place.

We are planting more woodland across the UK than we are removing. In fact we estimate that for every tree we remove, we plant two more. At our Geltsdale reserve in Cumbria we have planted 100,000 trees over 200 hectares whilst at the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire the RSPB and United Utilities have planted a similar area with new woodland.

The Government is just about to publish its thoughts on whether we should remove conifer plantations to help recreate heathland while we still can. If ministers base their decision on facts rather than blinkered emotion and climate change misinformation then we’re confident it will be the right one.

We had some great news to tell about one of the oddest birds in Britain this week – the bittern.

The shy reed dwelling birds – whose instantly recognisable call lends them their nickname ‘boomer’ – were in serious trouble throughout the latter half of the 20^th century. In 1997 there were just 11 booming males recorded.

After a concerted conservation effort there are now 82 males – the highest recorded number for 120 years

To celebrate the revival of these curious and elusive creatures, here’s 10 fascinating facts about bitterns to impress your friends with.

* The bittern has had many different names over the years including bitter bum, bog blutter, bog-bull, bog bumper, bog drum, boom bird, bottle-bump, bull of the bog, bumpy cors, butter bump and heather blutter.

* The bittern’s booming call is lowest pitched song produced by any European bird and also carries over the furthest distance –up to three miles.

* Fenlanders once believed that the call was made by the birds blowing into reed stems.

* Bitterns have in the past been considered an evil omen and in the Bible a bittern's boom pronounced the doom of Babylon.

* Bitterns will seek out open water in hard winters and occasionally mistake roads for wetlands. They have been seen in some strange places including a bus stop at Stoke Newington in London, the central reservation of a motorway at Durham, and a shop window at Gravesend in Kent.

* Roast bittern was a fenland delicacy in the 19^th century and was known as fenman’s turkey. However skill and specialist knowledge was needed to prepare them in order to rid them of their natural unpleasant odour.

* 204 bitterns graced the table for a banquet to mark the investiture of George Neville as the Archbishop of York in 1465, alongside 400 swans, 2,000 geese and 1,000 capons.

* When alarmed a bittern often points its bill skywards and freezes. It will stay motionless in this position for up to 45 minutes.

* The railway line between Sheringham and Norwich was named the Bittern Line in honour of the birds which are heard booming from the reedbeds of the Norfolk broads.

* In the 1950s Lord Buxton, creator of the Anglia TV series Survival, offered a £1,000 prize to anyone who could capture a booming bittern on film. 

Have you ever bought a national lottery ticket? And did it make you a millionaire?

No, thought not. But don’t worry, it has helped bring people and nature together in one amazing little corner of England. 

An RSPB nature reserve that has revived the relationship between local people and wildlife in an industrial northern town has scooped the top environment prize in The National Lottery Awards.

Staff and volunteers at RSPB Old Moor, near Rotherham and Barnsley, are celebrating the £2,000 prize in the awards ‘Best Environment Project’ category.

Using £885,000 of Lottery funding, the RSPB has helped to regenerate the local landscape, which for years served the mining industry as a coal depot. This vital second chance has allowed the area to become a thriving wetland habitat for wildlife and birds, which now flourish in an area recovering from industrial decline.

The response from local people since its opening just five years ago has been overwhelming and its urban location puts it right on the doorstep for nature-lovers in Barnsley, Rotherham, Sheffield and Doncaster. 100,000 people now come through the doors each year.

And this is all indicative of a national trend that has seen a surge of people wanting to experience nature and wildlife on their doorsteps.

In 2007-08 there were 1.9 million visits to RSPB reserves:  the highest number ever.  With over 180 RSPB nature reserves offering public access, we have something for everybody, from the naturalist wanting to see a water vole to the A-Level students studying the remains of an Iron Age hill fort. 

We guarantee every visitor who comes to one of our reserves the opportunity to be inspired by and connect with nature. So next time you’re on your way through Yorkshire and you want to see what all the fuss is about then please pop in and pay Old Moor a visit. There’ll be a steaming hot cup of tea and the chance to discover something amazing waiting for you.

The ever controversial issue of GM food has reared its head again in the news this week.

The papers have responded to a report from the Food Standards Agency and Defra with stories about the supermarkets ending their GM ban and calls for a proper national debate on the issue.

The arguments for and against GM are often based on ethical or heath grounds. But we should also be considering the affect on wildlife both in the UK and across the globe.

Over to the RSPB’s head of countryside policy Sue Armstrong Brown with some food for thought…

“Supermarkets are concerned about the high cost of keeping GM off the shelves but what are the true costs of the GM already hidden in the food we eat? The FSA/Defra report on the issue was triggered by concerns about UK food security and supplies of GM soya imports needed to feed our farm animals. It said ‘the UK is reliant on imported protein for animal feed, significant amounts of which is derived from GM crops’.

Are we really sure that a system so heavily reliant on soya imported from Brazil and Argentina is secure, let alone environmentally sustainable, in the longer term? The destruction of natural habitats and clearance of land to grow soya (whether GM or not) is already threatening thousands of species, such as the giant anteater, in the wildlife-rich Cerrado savannahs of Brazil and Paraguay.

If the supermarkets want to educate us and re-open the GM debate, they should start by telling us about the GM already in our food and the long-term security of the livestock sector. We need to support the struggling extensive grazing systems around the UK that are so important for our wildlife and landscapes, but are at a competitive disadvantage to systems that make much more use of unsustainably cheap soya.”