Tomorrow is April the first - April fools' day.
Government is running out of time to make any significant announcements before the General Election campaign starts, and so tomorrow may (or may not!) see an announcement on the future of the Chagos archipelago (see here, here and here).
But if an announcement is made before noon how will we know that they aren't pulling our legs?
As we await a government announcement on open habitat policy two birds have arrived at The Lodge which, one might think, would be seeking different outcomes - but it's not that simple.
Here at the RSPB's Headquarters we have been recreating heathland from some rather ghastly, wildlife-poor and not very useful conifer plantations. There is a long way to go with the heathland recreation but we have removed trees from part of our land here (don't worry - there are plenty of trees left and plenty of woodland walks and woodland wildlife to enjoy). But our aim is to recreate some of the heathland that used to be here and which will be so necessary if heathland wildlife species are to move north in response to climate change (yes, I know it's snowing in Scotland and Northern Ireland!).
Last weekend, in a party of common crossbills, an observant birdwatcher spotted a rare two-barred crossbill - it's been seen every day since including today. I haven't seen it - maintaining my almost unimpeachable record of missing any rare birds seen at my workplace. But lots of people have enjoyed this rare bird.
Maybe because of the increase in birdwatchers at the site, yesterday, a singing woodlark was seen on the heathland area. This isn't the first to have a look at this area (and last year a nightjar took a peek too, regular readers will remember) but it is a very encouraging sign. The true test of habitat restoration and recreation is whether the right species turn up - and they are!
Both the crossbills and the woodlark are using the area of scattered trees on the new open heathland - maybe a good sign that with targetted removal of non-native conifer plantations at the end of a commercial rotation the resulting mix of habitats can be great for a whole range of wildlife. That's certainly what we would expect to happen - and have seen many times with our own eyes.
PS As I write this blog a hen harrier has just been seen over the same area of open ground habitat
As well as being a staff member of the RSPB, I am an RSPB member too! And proud of it!
But it does occasionally mean that I write to myself! I recently got a nice letter from me asking me whether I will write the RSPB into my will - I have!
If my Mum gets the same letter from me - which is entirely possible - I hope she doesn't take it the wrong way!
In International Year of Biodiversity we would hope that governments would put behind them their poor performance in meeting the biodiversity targets set for this year and gird their loins (a strange expression!) and renew their efforts to make the world a safer place for our species and the millions of others with which we share this crowded planet.
And the EU has taken a good first step in this direction - Friday's European Council's conclusions agreed that:
14. There is an urgent need to reverse continuing trends of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. The European Council is committed to the long term 2050 vision and the 2020 target set out in the Council's conclusions of 15 March 2010.
Pretty dull, well-hidden and uninspiring stuff you might think (well spotted!) but important nonetheless when you realise that this means that the EU is committed to conserving and restoring wildlife in the next decade. And it means that the EU will be taking a leading position in the talks that run up to an international meeting in Japan before the end of the year.
We know that this outcome was not always certain - the realists argued that it was too difficult a task even to contemplate. Why?, they argued, sign up to something we can't achieve? Well, such a goal is certainly achievable if we put our minds to it but I'd have to admit it is likely that the world will fall some way short of complete success. But my argument would be that falling short of an ambitious (and eminently sensible) goal is better than falling short of an unambitious goal - so let's aim high.
We know that the UK was helpful and influential in these negotiations - though we did have some doubts a few months ago whether that would be the case. A group of us met the Biodiversity Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies, to discuss this very matter in January. I just have a feeling that meeting did have an impact on the UK position - and we are grateful to the Minister for his efforts over the last few weeks.
The 2010 Big Garden Birdwatch was hugely well supported - nearly 530,000 participants! Thank you!
That army of citizen scientists recorded over 8.5m birds of 73 species!
Following a severe spell of cold weather we were expecting the populations of many small birds to have been hit - some were and some weren't! I was rash enough to stick my neck out on 26 January and say that I thought that species such as long-tailed tit and wren would definitely be down in numbers, maybe dunnock and robin would be down too, but perhaps fieldfare and redwing would be up because they were flocking into gardens to find food. Well - how did I do?
Long-tailed tits were one of the species most affected, apparently, by the cold weather - their numbers were down by a whopping 27%. Wrens were less common - but not by very much! Robins and dunnocks were very slightly more numerous - I got those wrong! And fieldfares and redwings were a lot commoner. So not too bad - I guess I know a little about birds after all! But your observations are the acid test - anyone can guess, but the real test is what observing nature actually tells us.
Other species which apparently suffered were coal tits (down 20%) and goldcrests - our smallest European bird - (down 75% in numbers).
We'll have to wait a long time before we know whether the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey numbers for the coming season mirror the BGBW findings.