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 even to my ears.

I condemned that invasive buddleja bush when we moved into our house some five years ago, and have been scheming to engineer its removal ever since. It was an epic struggle. That butterfly bush and I fought a mental battle for some time before the final confrontation. I came away with a scratched face, the bush lies beaten, its roots brutally hacked and sawed and exposed to the sun. In its place is a new raised bed where I can finally get my polytunnel out and grow some salad and veg.

But. The look in my children's eyes and the cries of .. "what about the butterflies?" echo around my head and haunt my thoughts. "Move on!" I yell. It was just a bush. I didn't plant it. It was in the way of progress and now we can grow and eat our own food. A huge leap forward for the environment and our dietary health.

I have to face reality. I have removed an established natural resource. In my defence, the old paved area has been replaced by a lawn, There's a mixed hedge of blackthorn, beech and hawthorn and four new fruit trees. The flower beds are full of nectar rich flowers and a wildflower area too. I know what I have done and I can live with it. What I've created is better than what went before. There's more space and more variety for wildlife and for me and my family. We all win, but the old buddleja has gone. 

I'm still opposed to an airport in the Thames estuary.

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 pair. But I've still got no house sparrows or starlings. One day soon, they'll appear. I have faith.

Ten years ago, Londoners helped us survey house sparrows and this coming June, we'll be asking for them to rise to the challenge once agai for our Cockney Sparrow Count 2012. More details on that in later blogs. House sparrows were one of the many species recorded by Harry Boorman and his cousin Luke in their Big London Bird Race. Over the course of the weekend they visited nine different London locations and recorded 107 different bird species. Well done Harry & Luke and thank you for the donation.

London and the south of England has suffered from heavy rain ... had you noticed? Staff and volunteers at our Rainham reserve have worked hard to create new habitat to help lapwing breed and they've been rewarded with the first chick hatching (pictured right, with thanks to RSPB volunteer Richard Duhrsen) last week. On another part of the reserve they weren't able to prevent flood water washing away another lapwing's nest and egg.

It highlights the struggle between life and death experienced by nature every day, and that small bundle of fluff seen in Richard's lapwing photo isn't out of the woods yet. Its parents have defended it a couple of times from predators. It's growing fast so is beyond the most dangerous period. This threat of sudden death was experienced by another species last week. London's big beasts slogged it out for the position of Mayor. Green policies were not at the forefront of the election, but they do underpin many of the areas hotly debated by the candidates, such as transport, housing and education. NOW is the time to implement change to improve London's environment for people, nature and business. Boris Johnson can lead the conservative party down a new and profitable path by embracing smart development.

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 out of our control, we had to pick a weekend which was just 'after' the key migration period, I unfortunately lost the bet.

Well this year the prize money has doubled to £200!  Part of the aim (outside of my desire to prove my friend wrong) is to make people aware that it doesn't matter where you are or what environment you live in, you can always find interesting wildlife if you just take the time to look. We will also be submitting house sparrow sightings along the way for the RSPB cockney sparrow project. As you may be aware these birds are suffering in London and we aim to use this race as a good opportunity to raise awareness of the great work the RSPB are doing for our cockney sparrows.

The 2012 race will be happening on 5-6 May and you can follow my progress on twitter, @earlybirders, as I will be tweeting regular updates on the race days to keep you up to date with my progress.

To find out more about the race and how you can get involved check out our blog.

To give me any sightings that may be useful for the race or ask me any questions about the challenge please tweet me @earlybirders.(Please make sure that any rare breeding sightings are tweeted privately for the birds protection and not disclosed to the public.)

Many thanks Harry and Luke

Tim Webb's blog reumes next week with an update on Harry's challenge.

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.  It's these unexpected exposures to nature that make urban living so great. We must all have memories of lazy Sunday mornings, waking up to bright sunshine and birdsong ... don't we?

Feeding the ducks on the local pond or coming face to face with a fox in your garden or next to the bins, like  I did recently passing through Hackney's Pembury Estate, are all part and parcel of the hidden natural life of the Capital. It needn't be birds or animals. Nature surprises us in other ways too. I was recently drawn to a railway siding by the unusual sounds coming from some track laying work, I was bowled over the colour and number of bluebells covering the embankment.

All of this is very encouraging and positive. It could be far better. There should be more bluebells, more blackbirds, more nature and it would make life for all Londoners much better.  But, working for the RSPB, I would say that, wouldn't I. We're often accused of being anti-development and blind to the needs of business and the economy. As if we don't live in the same world as everyone else and don't have bills or taxes to pay.

Nature is not good at short-term returns like those in the economic and political sectors reflected in our media. Nature takes a long view and rewards those who follow suit, so we should learn to take notice. One quick thing you can do that will reap excellent long-term results is emailing David Cameron urging him to tell International leaders to be pro-active in addressing climate change.

If you haven't got a lingering memory of nature in London, scoot along to Regent's Park this weekend to see our team, where they'll point out the ancient dinosaur-like grey herons in their tree-top nests. Alternatively, hop on a train from Fenchurch Street to Purfleet and visit our Rainham Marsh reserve. Once declared the wildest place Londoner's can reach on an Oyster card.

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 are still starlings and some of them do swirl about like a dervish at a drum and bass party, but not in the same numbers as pictured here on the right.

I know there's a small colony of starlings about two streets away from my house, but I have never yet seen nor knowingly heard a starling in my garden. I love them, I wish had some.

If I'm wrong, please let me know, cause I'd love to be able to share it with more people. I remember watching a mini-display at Chichester Rail Station as I waited on the platform for my train home. You can see them over the pier in Brighton and at our Ham Wall reserrve as pictured above.

What's amazed me about the Big Garden Birdwatch [BGBW] is the decline of the blackbird. These territorial and quiet garden dwellers are slipping away and we'd not really noticed. They're another species that rely on insects for food, Surely we can't have degraded London so much that it's now now bug-free?

This is why we must not crumble to the temptation of a quick economic fix to escape the financial crisis. We must make sure investment in development and jobs comes with the environment at its core, whether it's CAP reform for farmers producing our food or proposals for airports in the Thames Estuary. Protecting the soil, plants, bugs, birds and other wildlife that form the natural world is crucial to our survival.

I've been heartened by one result from your BGBW reports. Generaly speaking in  London, house sparrows appear to be on a level and maybe even a slight upwards incline after years of decline, It's far too early to celebrate. We can't say the species is saved yet. Sometime in mid-June we'll be asking for your help to count sparrows in London as part of a study updating research conducted ten years ago. 2012 could be the year we all saved the cockney sparrow.