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Hello from a very sunny and warm Skinflats (I have worked in this office for nine months now and that is the first time I have been able to say that!). The good weather means it is the perfect time to get out and about, and what better way to spend a morning than experiencing some of the fantastic wildlife...

Chris Mason has been protecting and enhancing his local swift habitat in a truly inspirational fashion. This is the story was sent to us this summer, 2012: Some years ago a friend told me about a nesting colony of 7 or 8 pairs of swifts that was at risk. The old barn where the birds had nested for...

Sue Lees may have most recently been involved in the campaign to Save Kiln Meadow , but before that she was helping create a wildlife-friendly space in north London. 'My heart used to sink when I thought about Archway Cuttings South East (one of the wooded slopes around the Archway Bridge in...

As I write we’re waiting to hear what the 2012 budget holds for us all – and what it will mean for the future of the natural environment. Over 19,000 of you stepped up and told the Chancellor of the Exchequer that the environment does not have to be sacrificed in the pursuit of economic...

A year ago we launched Stepping Up for Nature in London ... with launches later in the year in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. Since then people like you (and probably you too) have taken nearly three million steps – thank you, they most certainly all add up! Last March I wrote this at the...

Even small steps can make a big difference. As Sue Lees found out when she stepped up for the wildlife of Kiln Meadow. 'It all started when I heard about Ipswich Borough Council's disgraceful 2010 plan to cover the well-loved local nature area - Kiln Meadow - with 170 new houses. Even though...

Quite often over the past six months I’ve asked you to Step Up for Nature . It may have passed you by (I hope not) but I know many of you have taken steps to help save the special places that are a vital part of our natural world. This blog helped launch Stepping Up for Nature back in March...

From the Welsh boarder to the Black Country, from the Mersey to the West Midlands lies a landscape sculpted by ice and shaped human use. Spend time in this inviting landscape and its character emerges – it is a wet-landscape, at every turn a mere or peaty moss, some small others extensive. This...

Since I blogged earlier this week, the National Planning Policy Framework has hit the headlines in quite a big way. The National Trust campaign has created quite a stir (“National Trust warns planning changes could tear up countryside” in the Guardian ), with a “bewildered” reaction...

Yesterday, the Westminster government launched its long-awaited draft of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), and a full public consultation that will run until 17 th October. Whilst this type of Whitehall paper-pushing can seem irrelevant to day-to-day life, it will have the potential to...

In 1997 there were just 11 booming bitterns in Britain. Bitterns, once memorably likened to a toasted heron by a young visitor to one of our reedbed nature reserves, have had a tough time. Driven to Victorian extinction, the fortunes of this secretive wetland dweller during the twentieth century were...

Today is Mark Avery’s last day at the RSPB – and I hope you will join me in wishing him all the very best for the future. He’ll be a hard act to follow – he has that enviable ability to take complex arguments, and summarise them in a way that brings clarity and makes a conclusion...

I spent an enjoyable day at our Leighton Moss nature reserve in north Lancashire. It’s a place I know well it’s over thirty years since I first visited this special corner of the world – on a coach trip organised by the Leeds RSPB local group. I was there to host a roadshow for colleagues...

I'm off out for the evening. I'm looking forward to a do in Ely at which we will be launching our vision for the Fens. The RSPB Fens project is part of our Futurescapes programme. At the beginning of March we launched Stepping Up for Nature – our biggest campaign yet - and Futurescapes...

The Serengeti Shall Not Die Earlier in the week I brought you the wonderful news that the Gola Forest in Sierra Leone has been given National Park status. On the other side of Africa, in Tanzania, one of the most iconic National Parks is facing worrying times. A proposed road across the northern...

At last I’ve got a few moments to reflect on yesterday’s hectic activities in London as we launched our new campaign – Stepping Up for Nature You can see pictures from yesterday by looking at the earlier posts – it was fun getting impressions of the day out as it happened,...

Organised campaigning by passionate people is an unstoppable force - this was a key message put over by Mike Clarke opening our evening launch of our new campaign - Stepping Up for Nature. Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman responded - and she is stressing the benefits of partnerships. The benefits...

This afternoon we celebrated our hand in of 355,773 Letters to the Future - Dominik Reynolds helped hand them in to No10 - and he spoke to the audiience this afternoon. This evening, here he is talking to RSPB president Kate Humble, on the right of the picture is Secretary of State for the Environment...

I've just spent and inspiring afternoon at the Commonwealth Club in London with dozens of people who know all about stepping up for nature - we've just finished the event and their is a buzz of conversation behind me as I write. Here are some pictures from the day (earlier posts have some...

Joan and Gill are speaking at the launch of Stepping up for Nature - telling us about the work of Friends of North Kent Marshes - bringing communities and conservation to life, And here's Gary Prescott (who visited all RSPB reserves by bike in 2010 - and we managed to add four while he was...

I signed our Letter to the Future – if you did too, thank you, it’s been a successful campaign at a challenging time for the environment in the face of significant budget cuts, we were delighted that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced an 83% increase in the High...