RSPB press release – Roseate Terns and Avian/Poultry Flu

Concern is mounting for seabirds on RSPB Coquet Island in Northumberland, the UK’s only roseate tern breeding colony, and across the UK, following confirmed cases of Avian Influenza. A new virulent form of bird flu that originated in poultry in east Asia has now killed tens of thousands of wild birds in the UK and…

RSPB press release – pesticides

Lack of research, weak regulation and a mix of over 150 pesticides – all the ingredients needed for a harmful cocktail of chemicals used in our countryside Every year over 150 different pesticides are used across the UK’s countryside in a combined quantity that could cover all UK farmland over ten times every year but there…

RSPB press release – Black-tailed Godwits

Today (28 June) sees the final release of hand-raised black-tailed godwits as part of an emergency intervention which has thrown the critically endangered wetland bird a lifeline and helped increase its chances of survival. Data collected by a five year partnership between the RSPB and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) called Project Godwit, shows the…

What you think of the new RSPB logo

I asked what you thought of the new RSPB logo and this is how you responded: Those figures ought to please the RSPB – a majority of people are positive and very few hate it. And let’s be clear, everyone will get used to it. This poll wasn’t a carefully selected representative sample of the…

Guest blog – HS2 and Jones Hill Wood by Dominic Woodfield

Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well-respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Regulations…

Press release – Flying kites: the UK’s most successful bird conservation project returns the favour – and chicks – to Spain

The UK’s most successful bird conservation project – for red kites – has come full circle and is now donating kite chicks to a similar project in Spain, the country that provided chicks for our red kite reintroduction project to England almost 35 years ago. In 1989, an ambitious project began to restore red kite…

RSPB press release – Turtle Doves

UK turtle dove survey warns of low numbers, but hope is on the horizon The first ever national turtle dove survey has estimated that just 2,100 pairs of turtle dove now breed in the UK This migratory bird is primarily at risk due to loss of habitat and unsustainable levels of hunting Although sobering results,…

Guest blog – How a suppressed BTO report became published as a ‘joint’ BTO/NE study by Dominic Woodfield

  Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well-respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats…

Press release – Trees for Life

UK and Scottish Governments recommend vast Affric Highlands rewilding project for global UN flagship status Britain’s largest rewilding initiative has been earmarked by the UK and Scottish Governments as a globally-prestigious showcase project to help nature, people and climate, as the United Nations (UN) Decade of Ecosystem Restoration steps up action to halt climate breakdown…