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Every few years, for decades, proposals to build a tidal power generating barrage across the Severn Estuary have achieved prominence. The idea of capturing some of the massive energy of the tide (the second highest in the world – behind North America’s Bay of Fundy) has proved beguiling....

One day I will become a WeBs surveyor and join a band of dedicated (and in some cases intrepid) volunteers who chart the fortunes of the waterbirds that throng our wetlands. Although WeBs is one survey I haven’t helped with – I have had many reasons to use the results and be grateful to the...

It’s a hundred years since we started working in Wales – by that stage the fledgling RSPB was 21 years old and on the brink of seeing it’s first campaigning success – the legal probation of the importation of feathers and the end of the massive fashion trade in bird plumes that...

Sandsculpture marking the campaign to stop Hunterston power station (picture courtesy of blueriverstudios ) Looking back through the year’s posts it’s clear that there’s been a focus on estuaries and coastal wetlands. While I’m happy to admit a personal bias towards these particular...

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...

Here’s a post-summer holiday trot through developments on some of the stories we’ve been following. Dungeness . The purple heron family has taken to the wing and has now left the reserve. Time will tell if this was a one off event or if these elegant birds return next year. If they do...

I recently wrote an article for Life Fellows News updating the story of our work to protect the Severn estuary from damaging barrage proposals while at the same time supporting the search for more sustainable options for harnessing the power of the tides. The newsletter has just been mailed –...

My colleagues in Wales were delighted to host a visit by MEP Derek Vaughan (pictured on the right with RSPB Conservation Manager Sean Christian) to the Newport Wetlands national nature reserve. Mr Vaughan was impressed with the reserve’s centre – thronged with half term families –...

The Severn estuary (with help from it’s surfing community) has been covering the media with stunning images of one of its biggest tidal bores for years - getting a five star rating. The Severn bore is but one of the wonders of this special place – you can read more about them here. The...

I’m just back from a briefing we organised in London. The audience got to hear the details behind this story . We’ve had a bit of a blog-fest on this topic today so you can read more by visiting Mark Avery’s blog and our News blog . The pursuit of tidal power by the construction...

Like Mr Toad unable to resist squandering his inheritance on the latest must-have motor-car, poop poop – the siren-voices of massive tidal power generating barrage proposals dominate the thinking around how to harness the power of the tides. Philip Stafford, writing in the Financial Times ,...

Lets hope it’s going to be different this time around. You may remember the film when Bill Murray repeats the same day over and over again – well nature conservation can feel like a bit like that. A couple of days ago I joined some colleagues to discuss emerging plans to harness tidal...

For the first time, since this blog started, the RSPB will be involved in a public inquiry. The case revolves around a planning permission issued by Newport City Council in the late 1990s allowing the use of a grass landing strip for aircraft flown by the family and friends of the applicant. The land...

Waiting to catch the Eurostar back from Brussels (I’ll come back to why I was there later), I caught up with this news item that highlights the importance of vegetated coastlines from mangroves to saltmarshes as part of the solution to tackling global warming. This UN Environment Programme, Food...

The latest edition of the RSPB's regular award winning podcast 'Nature's Voice' has just been released - you can find it here , and this is the blurb to tempt you to listen: The Severn and the Tana are two of the world's great rivers. This episode of Nature's Voice looks at...