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Guest blog by David Hirst, Natural England A farming duo is giving wildlife in Essex a vital helping hand by creating their own version of ‘Noah’s Ark’ on their farm. Thanks to their conservation work, lapwings, lizards, snakes, bumblebees, corn buntings and turtle doves are now...

Read the latest about our views on CAP reform on Martin's blog here

Hywel Maggs, Conservation Officer for North East Scotland, tells us about one of the fabulous farmers he has been working with to help corn buntings John Moir has recently been nominated for the Species Champion category in the Nature of Scotland Awards by Scottish Agricultural College Consulting...

Increases in food prices have raised consumer concerns around the affordability of food and our future food security. In today's blog, RSPB Environmental Economist Donal McCarthy tells us what recent trends in food prices might mean for food security and wildlife, both in the UK and more widely....

We've heard a lot this week about growing food in the UK and how British farmers can do their bit for wildlife. But what difference do our food choices make to the wider world? Today we hear from Laura Stevens about the effect our buying habits can have on rainforests and it's very special wildlife...

I walked in to my office this morning and found a cake tin sitting on my desk. I haven't seen the results of what came out of it yet, but apparently the polar bear it was used for made a little boy very happy on his 4th birthday! Funny really, as last night I was in a baking mood myself and made...

While researching my article for Birds magazine, I had lots of suggestions for farms to use as case studies from RSPB staff all over the UK. One suggestion that particularly inspired me was the work that Amanda, Chris and Denise are doing on Peelhams Farm. So much so that I’ve just placed my first...

If you’ve received the latest issue of Birds, you’ll know that I’ve challenged myself to shop in a way that means my cupboards are filled not only with tasty food that’s good for me, but also grown in a way that’s good for wildlife. I’ve always been conscious of what...

Sorry, hardly an original pun I know! I was lucky enough to be a part of the March of the Beekeepers event in London today. We got a great turnout - beekeepers, gardeners and others, many in fantastically creative costumes. I'm not going to try to guess numbers but we certainly made a big impact...

Last month EU agriculture ministers failed our pollinators – and therefore failed food producers and food eaters. That’s a pretty comprehensive failure. They failed us because they blocked the commission’s proposal to restrict the use of neonicotinoids for a two-year moratorium....

The weather dictates everything in farming whether you are an arable or livestock farmer. For us as an arable farm cultivations, spraying operations and harvesting are all at the mercy of the weather. Crop growth is also very much affected by the weather. © Andy Hay, RSPB Images When wheat...

Yesterday I recommended reading Martin's blog for our views on predation. Check it out again today for more news about predation and the fortunes of some of our wonderful - but waning - waders, and the impact of agrienvironment schemes. Redshank: Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

Turtle doves are just embarking on their long flight to return to our shores – but in far fewer numbers than even 5 years ago. We are working hard to understand the causes of these declines. Jenny Bright , one of our dedicated Conservation Scientists, shares her experiences of working on this project...

By Derek Gruar, Senior Research Assistant, Hope Farm After one of the wettest summer for years, winter continued the theme of damp and dull weather conditions; with the ground still saturated we like many farmers across the UK have struggled to get crops in for the 2013 harvest. This also made...

... To find out our views on the Environmental Audit Committee report on ‘Pollinators and Pesticides’ which was published this morning – and to share your views with us too.

By Christina Taylor, Conservation Monitoring Officer I have been very privileged to have worked as a project officer for the RSPB’s Volunteer and Farmer Alliance (V&FA) for the past two and a half years, initially based in Scotland and latterly in North East England. Not least because...

Doesn't this picture make you smile? This is 6 year old Alice Stavert-Dobson, winner of the Operation Turtle Dove competition to name the doves on the logo , receiving her yummy prize. Alice came up with the winning names of Heart and Hope . Alice told us “I chose ‘Heart’...

I want to know what you think. I need to know what you think. "What about?", you may ask. Its one of my favourite subjects - the RSPB Telegraph Nature of Farming Award . This year I want it to be BIGGER and BETTER than ever. So when voting opens in the hopefully sunny summer days...

By Bruce Fowkes, Corporate Partnerships Farm Adviser It is now a year since the RSPB joined forces with Tesco in the Together for Trees project, which has been raising funds to help save threatened rainforests around the world. As a spin off from this, we have also been working a bit closer to...

To hear our latest views on neonicotinoids - and our reasons - check out Martin Harper's blog today . Photo credit: Bumble bee Bombus terrestris, pollenating oil seed rape flowers - Richard Revels (rspb-images.com)

Think of a wild place in the UK. It doesn’t matter where, just a place you think of as ‘wilderness.' It might be rolling moorlands and mountains, deep forest, fields stretching as far as the eye can see, upland bogs, or a network of waterways glinting in the sun. Many of you may...

Did you take part in the Operation Turtle Dove naming competition? Want to know which names won? Find out here .......................... (in a nod to the traditional bit of secrecy on Valentine's, I'm not telling you!) Thanks again to Chocally for the yummy chocolaty prize :o)

I’m sure you remember Henry Edmunds (above, with Adam Henson), overall UK winner of the 2012 RSPB Telegraph Nature of Farming Award . Now the hunt is on for this year's Henry (or Henrietta!). The Nature of Farming Award does three big things: Gives all farmers doing their bit for wildlife...

It's a million dollar question, or rather a trillion euro question, because the deal that might get done at next week's EU Budget summit (7-8 Feb) will have huge implications for how much funding is available for nature conservation and wildlife friendly farming schemes from 2014 onwards. ...

By Deborah Deveney, HNV Campaign Leader The concept of ‘High Nature Value’ (HNV) farming has been around for some time, but poor understanding of the terminology has meant little use of the phrase. In a UK context, HNV farming is mainly associated with extensive beef cattle and sheep...