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I recently returned from a routine Albatross Task Force at-sea trip onboard a conventional wet fish trawl vessel in Argentina (fish are stored on ice, but not frozen like on the larger freezer vessels). The trip lasted a total of 16 days and fishing was concentrated around 300 km east of the Valdéz...

Every afternoon at around 3.00 large flocks of seabirds go over my house heading in a southerly direction,I live in Sandwell in the West Midlands, I am studying my maps to try to figure out where they may be heading,I cant see any large areas of water until Bartley Green Reservoir or do you think they...

Photo: Grahame Madge (rspb-images.com) Black browed albatrosses (like those above) are stunning birds. A pure white head with a black eye line that any 60's model would have been proud of, and an impressive wingspan of up to 2.5m (around 8 feet in old money). Like other albatrosses they mature...

In series of blog articles guest blogger Jim Densham – Senior Land Use Policy Officer at RSPB Scotland – outlines the Climate issues affecting Scotland. Have you noticed the weather? We live in Scotland – who hasn’t noticed the weather! But, it does seem to be more...

In my most recent trip to sea, we set off for a period of eleven days from the port of La Paloma, located on the east coast of Uruguay. We had already partaken in various trips on this vessel, and so the crew already knew us well and they were happy to collaborate with our work again. We now have a much...

Without doubt, the albatross are one of the groups of seabirds that need our greatest conservation effort. Commercial fisheries, through incidental capture, have generated a huge impact in many populations and almost all the species are currently in danger of extinction. As they spend the main part of...

By contrast to the well-studied trawl fisheries, the level of interaction between seabirds and purse-seine fleets remains to be unknown. This type of fishery in Chile uses nets with a small mesh size and targets pelagic fish species at the surface of the water. The nets are set in a circle, forming the...

Today sees the publication of The state of the UK’s birds 2011 . As ever, this aims to serve as a one-stop shop for the latest news on our bird populations. This year’s report has a particular focus on our waterbirds and the sites they use, noting that this year is the 40th anniversary...

Nick Upton (rspb-images.com) We're adjacent to the river Yare, which leads to THE SEA! Many of us eat fish, many of which come from THE SEA! Many of us go to the beach on holiday, which is next to THE SEA! Most Importantly: We love Nature, and huge proportions of the natural world are...

This week is European Shark Week , an annual event devoted to raising awareness about shark conservation. And a very good cause it is too! As a keen SCUBA diver, I have been lucky enough to see a good number of sharks. It is always an exhilarating experience. Apex predators produce a tingly rush of adrenaline...

hungry seagull at Bournemouth Beach (West Cliff)

There are of course so many birds whose song is so evocative of beautiful places. I should include the skylark, the curlew and the black backed gull amongst these. Some birds just provoke amusement. Eider ducks sound like a flock of Frankie Howards

Hi Tom I must confess that my knowledge of seabirds isn't as good as my knowledge of other birds (and that couldn't be called expert by any means). However, I think puffins are great little birds, so I voted for them despite the fact that I have never seen one in the wild.

Hi Crowlady, Just to clarify a few points you need to be aware of first. Assuming the bird remains you require have died of natural causes, you can have possession of wild bird “parts” so long as you can explain their origin (i.e. the onus is on you to show that they come from a legitimate...

Hello all. This is a long-shot, but I wonder if anyone can help me track down a powerful television film I saw several years ago. The film, a full-length (1 hour) TV film, possibly for the BBC's Natural World though I can't be sure of that, was by an artist who had considered and presented...

Taken from a boat trip with Albatross Encounters, Kaikoura, New Zealand. These beautiful birds could be extinct in a few years. Is that ok with you? If not, go to www.savethealbatross.net and find out how you can help. Now. Thank you.

Photo taken at Waterhead on Windermere towards the end of June this year.

I love visiting the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire. It smells a bit fishy but the sight of thousands of gannets, guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes - and puffins! - means you soon forget the smell...

On a trip to the Farne Islands to hopefully see the puffins, it was amazing to see nesting shags just inches away and obviously untroubled by our presence - what a fantastic day!

Having only ever seen one solitary puffin from far away, we went on a boat trip to the Farne Islands this summer - amazing!! You couldn't move for puffins - there were hundreds, along with many terns, shags and guillemots. What a spectacle!