A big smiley welcome to one female and two male peregrine chicks, now ringed and very visible on our re-aligned and cleaned webcam [Thank you Lyndon].
They are so fluffy and cute.
I defy anyone seeing them not to want to feel their fluffiness pressed up against your cheek - or maybe I'm just sad. It's hard to imagine these fragile looking balls of bounciness becoming the feared and fast predator that sends other birds darting for the undergrowth. That's nature.
I wionder if Harry, Luke and Joe will see a peregrine on their weekend race to record a hundred different bird species within the M25 this weekend. Follow Harry on Twitter @earlybirders to find out how they're doing and cheer them on by donating; all money raised is being donated to the RSPB. If our website doesn't tell you enough about our work, visit the gull van on the southbank outside the Festival Hall and ask our staff, who'll be happy to tell you more.
This weekend, Harry Boorman, his cousin Luke and mate (not in the biblical sense) Joe, are scouring the windy streets of London looking for birds. That sentence somehow feels a bit seedy but their endeavour is all above board and in a good cause.
Harry's girlfriend, Hara [pictured right], challenged him to spot 100 different bird species within the M25 over 48 hours. It's more than possible, especially at the moment with so many migrant species here for the summer.
[Saturday Update: They're two thirds of the way there as of midday Saturday - it gets tougher from here on. Cheer them on via Harry's @earlybirder Twitter page]
I wish them luck but also thank them for making so much noise about their escapades. Anyone can have a go and there is so much wildlife to see in London. Once you start looking, you'll find it hard not to stop.
The great thing about looking for birds and other critters is that you suddenly start noticing other wonderful things in the Capital. Our streets, our historic and modern buildings are full of amazing detail and interest, but we rarely find time to actually look at it as we go about the daily business of our lives.
Open your eyes and see what you can discover this weekend.
I'd like to talk to you about footballer Rxxx Xxxxx, but that's old news now.
I want an injunction on sustainability, then maybe we'd see some interest from our news media in the shocking state (and decline) of our wildlife. I admit we're not talking sexy species like tigers and elephants, but vanishing grasses, bugs and yes even some birds is pretty bad news.
In London, we're losing house sparrows, tree sparrows, swifts, black redstarts and many other common species. We know from research that there are some basic things that can be done quickly and cheaply, but our sense of urgency when talking to the media is dismissed as, "oh, that's just another bird ringing story (a BBC TV producer's comment on our tree sparrow project). Or. "I can't see the news angle in that," ( the opinion of an editor working for a well known London freesheet on our partnership project to support and track swifts).
I appreciate that there's a global economic crisis, big foreign stories, visiting presidents and debates on privacy, but isn't there also room for stories on the way we're losing bits of our natural world? Bits of the natural world that, in one way or another, form part of the cycle of life that keeps us alive!
Slapping an injunction on the word sustainability would highlight next months National Ecosystems Assessment by the UK Government. We're trying to encourage Chancellor Osbourne to build sustainability in to policy and gagging the media would be a sure-fire way to get the S word on everyone's lips. It's a simple enough ask, ensuring that Government policy and spending put equal emphasis on economic, social and environmental outcomes.
That way, the Olympic Park, High Speed Rail Two and other big projects would have to deliver benefits on all three areas.
That surely is something we'd all like to shout about.
I'm confused, what season are we in? Is it spring or summer now.
Yesterday (3.5.11) the first of four central London peregrine chicks hatched live on our webcam. This morning, I heard swifts screaming over my house and the tree at the end of my garden is now in full leaf. I'm even contemplating harvesting some elderflowers to make some syrup. Now, the weather forecast is for rain, after a prolonged hot and dry spell. It's hard to know what season we're in.
On the other hand. I don't really care what the season is. It's just great to see lots of green, feel the warm sun on my face and hear the summer migrants adding their voices to the dawn chorus. One sound I'm missing is that of the cuckoo. I was in France last week and their two-tone song echoed over the hills through-out the day. Cuckoos, swifts and other migrants are generally declining.
It would be easy to blame climate change for the confusing seasons and declining migrants and other species, but as usual, the facts are more complicated. Certainly climate change is part of the problem, but there are other factors at play, not least the way we manage our environment. History is littered with the remains of ancient civilisations that crumbled because they expanded beyond their ability to sustain themselves - just look to the ruins dotted around India and South America if you need evidence of these failed cultures. Are we now in danger of repeating history?
The UK Government had the foresight to include birds among the indicators that help us monitor the state of our environment, alongside other measureable elements such as air and water quality. Legislation was in place to safeguard these "indicators", but it's now all in danger thanks to the Red Tape Challenge, a drive to chuck cumbersome bureacracy onto the bonfire. I'm all for efficiency, but not the wholesale and reckless abandonment, or even contemplative abandonment, of crucial laws protecting the natural world. Without this protection, we stand in danger of destroying the very fabric of nature that sustains us and all other wildlife.
It's taken years to campaign for much of this legislation, such as the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Blood, sweat and tears have been shed to safeguard and protect our natural environment and the wildlife that keeps it all ticking over. Forget spring and summer. Now is the season of our discontent and we must show it by logging our comments on the importance of safeguarding nature - which in turn safeguards us.