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The energy of the wind harnessed by well planned, correctly located windfarms, is an essential part of the response to the threat of climate change. But badly located wind turbines are a real threat to wildlife. We’ve been working closely with our Bulgarian BirdLife partner BSPB for seven years...

This blog has been following the story of many special places for wildlife and the people who work tirelessly to save them, nurture them and make them accessible for others to enjoy. It’s 100 years since Charles Rothschild’s idea that the best places for wildlife should be protected led...

I was reminded the other day that in 1941, in the darkest hours of World War II and with Churchill’s backing, planning for post-war nature conservation was underway. Our countryside and wild places, our wildlife in towns and rural parishes and its role in our lives is part of what defines us. ...

It’s been good to be at work today. It usually is but today was a bit special. For the last six months we’ve been planning (with a bit of plotting and scheming) developing our evidence, engaging, advocating and campaigning to set out argument that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was fundamentally...

The time and commitment my colleagues put into developing our case to protect nature at public inquires is considerable – but time is only part of it. Stepping up for nature in the crucible of a public inquiry is often tough, as it is by its nature, adversarial. Then there’s the wait for...

A couple of years ago, just before he retired, Alistair Gammell shared his perspectives on the development of the most effective, and progressive, wildlife legislation in the world. Alistair’s long career with the RSPB took him to the post of Director of International Operations, but he was there...

It’s different in Scotland. True in so many ways. The RSPB works throughout the UK and this means respecting and working within the devolved structure of Government. During a year that has seen unprecedented grass roots activism around forestry and planning in England, I’ve detected a certain...

This blog has just turned two! Some 330 posts later and what have been the big themes? I had a look at the same question a year ago – and here’s how the top ten topics have changed Dungeness – holds on to top spot with 53 posts Special Protection Areas – up one place...

In November 2009 I made a promise that we would update you on the campaign mounted by the Romanian Ornithological Society (SOR – BirdLife Romania) to establish proper protection for the world-famous Danube Delta. The news, then , was that the Romanian parliament had chucked out a draft law that...

The RSPB is the UK partner within BirdLife International and we’ve been supporting our colleagues in the Bulgarian partner organisation – BSPB (the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds). In particular, we’ve been supporting their campaign to get key sites designated and protected...

Saving nature is what we do – and one of the most pressing challenges has always been to ‘protect the best’. By accident of location or history or careful stewardship or just plain luck – some places stand out as being special for nature. Once much more would have been, but we...

It’s the Saving Special Places blog’s first birthday. We’ve covered a lot of ground in the last year – both from the UK and further afield, from the Severn to the Serengeti. Last September Lydd and Hunterston were already prominent cases, one post was entitled ‘Lydd Airport...

For months we’ve known that the target to halt the loss of the world’s biodiversity by 2010 wouldn’t be met. This was confirmed last week in a paper in the journal Science – so now it’s official and the losses will continue unless we start to tackle the problem in a different...

The spring issue of the RSPB publication Conservation Planner is just out and here is a link to the document. As the editor has kindly included a link to this blog, it was the least I could do! Here is the link to the loads of other newsletters that we produce. This issue highlights the challenges...

Lots of posts on this blog have featured wetlands and, in particular, the UK’s coast and estuaries. This is no coincidence – this country’s coastal heritage really puts us on the world map of conservation issues. As we look forward to the end of winter hundreds of thousands of wildfowl...

One theme that should stand out from this blog is that protected areas are extremely important places! In the European Union, wildlife legislation – in the form of the Birds and Habitats Directives – has enabled real gains to be made for wildlife. Yet wildlife in these protected areas...

This year, 2010, was to have been the year when the decline in the biological diversity of the EU had been halted. The target won’t be met. But – 2010 is also the year in which Governments across the European Union and around the world will come together in Nagoya in Japan in October at...

The International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) has got a hard act to follow. It is true to say that the global climate crisis is but one side of the coin shared with the parallel biodiversity crisis but following the climate bun-fight that was Copenhagen, the devastation of our natural world has some ground...

We were dismayed this week to hear that the Romanian Senate of Parliament has thrown out a draft law that would have protected the irreplaceable natural environment of the Danube Delta. The Danube Delta is one of the world’s largest wetlands, with over 100,000 ha of mires, lagoons, reedbeds, dunes...

Back on 28 September I promised that you would be amongst the first to know the outcome of our negotiations aimed at getting agreement on how the Highways Agency will safeguard stone curlews as part of their proposal to dual the A11. Here's a link to the web page that tells you some of the background...

BirdLife International (the RSPB is the BirdLife Partner in the UK) has just published a handy round-up of news covering the Important Bird Area (IBA) programme. One of the cornerstones of bird conservation world-wide is the identification of (IBAs). The programme has already identified 11,000 areas...

The RSPB is the UK partner of BirdLife International . One of the greatest contributions that the partnership continues to make to global efforts to conserve birds is the identification of the most important places for them. We have a 'just what it says on the tin' name for them - Important Bird...

It’s forty years since proposals to create London’s (then) third airport in the Thames stimulated the conservation movement to get its act together and start to gather the data that has become the bedrock of campaigns to protect some of our best places for wildlife from damage. The Birds...

I have a bit of a reputation amongst colleagues for going on about the Birds Directive. ‘Yes, we know its important, but it’s a bit, well, dull’. And at one level, the inner workings of the legal foundation for so much modern success for nature conservation is not, perhaps, where you...

I spent yesterday evening surrounded by the best of the latest crop of wildlife art at the Mall Galleries - but just as stimulating was the company. The reception at the Society of Wildlife Artists annual exhibition was an enjoyable chance to catch up with friends. I met Joan and Gill, as I often do...