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In case you’ve missed it the RSPB are asking everyone to get involved and build nature a home where you live. Here in South Essex we are lucky enough to have an amazing team of wildlife volunteers who have built some fantastic homes for wildlife in the RSPB South Essex Wildlife Garden. We have...

“Oh Heck, it’s the Grim Reaper!”… Just one of many comments I received today whilst trimming the paths around the reserve. To be fair, the rather mean looking long handled sickle I was using is quite reaper-ish – It does a cracking job though! Essentially, all I was...

“Oh Heck, it’s the Grim Reaper!”… Just one of many comments I received today whilst trimming the paths around the reserve. To be fair, the rather mean looking long handled sickle I was using is quite reaper-ish – It does a cracking job though! Essentially, all I was...

Lucy Quinn and Nick Richardson give us an update on seabird monitoring on Rathlin Island! Kittiwakes, fulmars, razorbills and much more... Seabird monitoring on Rathlin Island Hello from Team Rathlin! (*previously known as Team Great Saltee…) We are continuing from Team Colonsay’s...

Chris Knowles, RSPB Nature Counts Trainee Ecologist, has been out and about at our Baron's Haugh nature reserve near Motherwell... A hidden gem A ‘hidden gem’, an ‘overlooked treasure’, perhaps even a ‘best kept secret’, these metaphors might be clichés...

Conservation Manager, Stuart Benn is back with a new blog... Cathedral Thinking Have you ever sent one of your mates a text or email and then got really annoyed because they didn’t reply immediately ? Or skipped a track on your playlist because you couldn’t wait the three minutes it...

Davide Scridel, Research Assistant with RSPB Scotland, gives us an update on his research work in the Outer Hebrides. Look what the wind blew in... It is nearly a month since I started here and I have now completed the first round of visits to each of my 1x1km 2 survey sites surveying for twite...

The first wader chicks of the year have started to appear, on Pitsea Scrape avocet and lapwing chicks can now be seen out on the islands, very cute indeed! Also keep a look out for marsh harrier and cuckoo, they can regularly be seen flying over the scrape. Avocet on nest with chick - Uncredited...

Over the bank holiday weekend I was back home and as the pond sat dilapidated in my parents' garden, swamped with duckweed I was commanded to address the situation; my brother was quick point out I work for a charity that does ‘nature and stuff’. That I work mostly behind a desk didn’t...

Hi folks, hope you all had a good weekend. I am pleased to report, the female G S W I mentioned a few weeks back, with the injured leg, appears to be using the leg to some extent now. I also observed her flying off with a beak full of pastry. (her preferred nibbles) Perhaps I misjudged her in saying...

What are your first memories of nature? What was the first thing you remember that got you inspired and caring about the natural world? Are your first memories here in Essex or elsewhere? We'd love to know....

Also a great place for dragonflies and other wildlife, lived not too far from here for many years and never knew it existed, quite suprising what is on your own doorstep, I think I will be spending many a day here when (if) the weather improves.

I always regarded blackcaps as a bit of a rarity, largely as they are fast moving and tend to stay deep in bushes and difficult to spot. Until a couple of years ago, I had never actually seen one! So, you can imagine my surprise when a male bird (photo) turned up in our garden in Darfield just before...

The appreciation of language depends upon the usage of music in a particular language.. The more musical the language, the more pleasant it is.. A receptionist’s handling of language cannot make her a successful lecturer and a lecturer’s handling of language cannot make the lecturer become...

I thought you might like to see this article on the BBC website today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19991550 (For some reason, I could not insert a hyperlink so, if this does not turn out right, just copy and paste the link into your web browser)

Hi guys, just wanted to gently point people in the direction of my latest blog post displaying some of my phgotography and a written account of a day spent at Bempton focusing on Gannets! Hope you like it! http://www.insearchofnature.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/glorious-gannets.html Enjoy! Ben

My brother is camping down at Oxwich Bay. Whilst I was on my jolly in the North Sea, one of the RSPB bods told me about the new hide down there. I say new, it's been there about 18 months apparently. We went and visited my bro yesterday and had a wander around the nature reserve. It's a stunner...

I found these two canoodling on a buddleia in my garden just this evening. This is the first time I've seen 14 spot ladybirds, my only encounters with the wee beasties have been of the traditional 7 spot variety, not that I'm complaining.

The location for this photo opportunity was Blashford Lakes, near Ringwood, Hants. I had visited these lakes several times previously without any luck, then one morning," hey presto" there it was, a wonderful and rare Bittern, my luck had changed and this picture is the result. I was so pleased...

Taken at the Fen Hide on Monday, it was wiith a pied wagtail and never seemed bothered by me snapping away at them.

Taken at the River Ugie Peterhead.

Kung Fu Sparrows.Two sparrows in the next doors garden fighting over peanut feeder. Great to watch all these litte birds in your garden as lets all the worries slip away for a while. Amazing site to watch if you take the time.

My Wife and I were walking along our local canal tow path when we noticed an adult Robin perched on the branch of a tree less than 4 feet away. That beautiful little bird enthralled us for a good twenty minutes with it's lovely song and it's company.

A gorgeous red breasted robin in full song. It was a glorious way to start our nature ramble.

Red kites everywhere! As these fork-tailed master flyers soared above my head I was completely lost in their world. It made me remember the power that nature has, and how it makes everything else seem insiginificant. Breath taking!

Deep in Mid-Wales I remembered how simple a pleasure just being in nature is. It was the look on my son's face that summed it up.