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My daughters laugh at me. Openly. I've checked my flies and they're closed; there's no spinach stuck between my teeth and no one drew a moustache on me whilst I dozed in my chair. So, I was forced to ask, 'what's so funny?' It's when I start to talk about nature and...

The successful development of the Thames Estuary is our birthright. That was the assertion of the Rt Hon Eric Pickles, above, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The Banner behind him reads 'Greater Thames' and he was speaking at the official launch of our Futurescape...

Weekdays, my commute to and from work runs alongside the Thames and every time I’m alongside the river, the pedals turn more slowly. It’s an inspiring way to top and tail the day. The colours of the water constantly change, covering a range somewhere between a greenish-yellow broccoli...

If you're going out with mates this evening and everyone's having a great time, stop it dead by saying the following out loud: "Today marks the fifth anniversary of laws preventing people from paving over front gardens without planning permission". Life and soul of the party you...

Walking along one of the boardwalks at Rainham with the sun washing your face and nothing demanding your attention is, in my book, one of the greatest luxuries in the world. If you ever get the chance to experience this level of bliss, then treasure it. There's something primal about the wide...

It's a bit like Sleeping Beauty rousing from her slumber .. I was so captivated by the Olympics (and will soon be an armchair expert in Paralympic sports too) that I had failed to notice, time had passed. Our garden birds, flitting busily around feeding their young, have completed their short...

Lobbyists have been working hard cajoling reporters and editors this past week or two. What they must have spent pushing their pimped plans for a glossy airport they claim will solve all our ills could probably write off the national debt. Yes, I agree they could reclaim land from the Thames Estuary...

Role reversal is something we should play with. This week, in my family's eyes, I have been the evil developer laying waste to nature, spluttering a defence of: "Honest, it's for the best, you'll understand once I've finished this development..." The words sounded hollow...

The weird weather's still around but nature's soldiering on and is alight with action. The lawn I laid earlier this year is now thriving and has brought in a much wider range of birds to my garden. I've more thrushes, a wren, more finches and even a new blackbird challenging the resident...

What started as a failed £100 bet with my good friend last year,  turned into a bird challenge that I will never forget. Last May my cousin, my friend Joe and I attempted to prove that we could see 100 birds within the M25 in just 48 hours. Despite our best efforts, and because of events...

Cold, hard rain hit my face on the cycle ride in to work this morning, but the clear and loud song of a blackbird from a garden square in Bloomsbury is my over-riding memory of the commute. It's clarity and volume stood out from the rumble of London, adding a touch of magic to the usual soundtrack...

I apologise. I give in. I didn't mean it. SORRY! When I said there are no starling murmurations in London anymore in an interview about the Big Garden Birdwatch on BBC London, what I meant was that you don't see those huge, dense clouds of starlings that London once enjoyed. Yes. I know there...

How was it for you? I gave up smoking years ago but even I wince at the notion of £7.50 for a pack of twenty. £5 for your average bottle of wine may help me drink less and I rarely buy beer in London pubs 'cause I can't then afford the bus fare home. On the plus side for London...

What a whirlwind couple of weeks. Won Government funding to protect and improve the Thames Estuary thanks to support from Defra. Introduced South Hackney and Shoreditch MP Meg Hillier to our Wild Place Your Space project. Launched a million-pound fundraiser with Tesco's for our tropical rainforest...

Two new reports have shed new light on life on earth. The first claims to have found the world's oldest living organism and the second writes off that old phrase... 'there are plenty more fish in the sea'. The Mediteranean Sea is home to a organism that DNA testing dates as being 200,000...

Coots, moorhens, mallard, swans, geese, pigeons, crows, grey herons and even a couple of smew dotted the ice covering Regent's Park's lakes yesterday morning. They all seemed happy enough and some poked their heads under water through holes in the ice. Sometimes I wish I was a bird. That I...

it's childish. Dropping sticks off the side of a bridge and seeing which one passes beneath the fastest. A kids game . Yet it has an innocent charm that Xbox can't match. Sadly, after visiting the Putney Bridge combined sewer overflow (CSO) the other day, I can honestly say the vision of pooh...

Taking a Star Trek approach to development is not a good idea, but before the newly announced Thames Airport review even gets started, Mayor Johnson's on the Today programme asserting his belief that it can and will be built. The very real danger to planes and human lives of bird strike posed...

Two of the many great things about London are the River Thames and the large number of open spaces you can escape to, spaces where you can cycle, fish, run, play, walk your dog, watch the world go by or simply rage against the machine. Much of London's infrastructure, from its sewers right through...

I whole-heartedly congratulate London Mayor Boris Johnson on his latest inflammatory comments . In a letter to Chancellor George Osborne, the Conservative Mayor of London, has attacked the Government over its cuts to solar subsidies ; warning that halving the “feed-in tariff” would “slowly...

A silvery thread of sparkly water is the current focus of my life. It's a mental stream that bubbles and gurggles, carrying hope and energy as it gathers strength to become a swift flowing surge and then a powerful current out into the magnificent ocean of the world's conscience. Fancy words...

Conservation is not about setting things in aspic, it's about natural balance ; getting the best outcome for wildlife, people and our economy. The Thames Tunnel , which should prevent raw sewage spewing into the Thames as it passes through our Capital City in the 21st Century, is a typical example...

If you commute in and out of London, at some point in your life you'll no doubt feel stuck in a rut; the same old, same old. But 'tis the rutting season, so Bushy Park and other open spaces are echoing to the bellow of frisky deer . The warm weather of late has helped stir the deep emotions...

It's awesome. Standing on Southwark Bridge as I was the other day, looking over the edge in to the river. The sheer volume and movement of water is astounding and mesmerizing. Is the Thames London's greatest but most ignored asset? It's a muddy emerald of a river that used to be the Capital's...

The sun was shining, the traffic rumbled distantly over Kew Bridge and only the screech of ring necked parakeets disturbed the squeaky-wheel call of great tits . I was standing on the banks of the Thames near Kew Gardens and had to strain to see the cluster of heron's nests in the trees on the opposite...