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Welcome
Once part of the soundtrack of the summer across England and Wales, the purring song of the Turtle Dove is now missing from much of our countryside. In this issue of The RSPB Magazine, we take a look at how these dainty birds are faring and how, with your support, we’re working with partners to secure their future in the UK.
We hope you enjoyed the eye-catching envelope your magazine came in as much as we do. We’ve delved into the world of dinosaurs because there’s a fascinating new exhibition about birds at the Natural History Museum. Take this opportunity to explore the link between dinosaurs and their descendants on page 24, or even visit the exhibition in person with 20% off for RSPB members (p82).
And on page 71 you can find out how and why the RSPB works with businesses, from developers to retailers. See how landscapes and communities are being transformed thanks to some of these incredible partnerships.
You’ll also hear from other RSPB members, including a dedicated ecologist who helped create a nature reserve, a gardener giving Hedgehogs a home, and several supporters who’ve seen Blackbirds catching amphibians in their gardens!
We’d love to hear more about your wildlife-friendly gardens, balconies and even window boxes for future articles in Your Gardens. You can email us at rspbmagazine@rspb.org.uk, or post us a letter at the address on the left. And as always, your feedback on The RSPB Magazine, and your own wildlife news, is very welcome.
Sara Downes Head of Supporter Communications
Jamie Wyver Supporter Communications Manager
Protecting habitats, saving species and helping to end the nature and climate emergency.
Nature is in crisis. Together we can save it.
Beccy Speight
Unleashing the power of partnership
Beccy Speight has been the RSPB’s Chief Executive since 2019 and has led the organisation through some of nature’s most urgent challenges.
@beccyRSPB
Last year, I found myself on a Welsh hillside, falling into bogs alongside the Chief Executive of the Co-op. Whilst that may sound like the opening line of a bad joke, it was, in fact, an opportunity for the two of us to explore one of the RSPB’s nature reserves and discuss the importance of peat: how we best restore this important carbon store and how our two organisations could work together to do more for climate and nature than we could on our own. Each of us bringing a very different set of expertise to the table, or in this case, hillside. We tramped across the moorland, heard bubbling Curlews above the heather and even glimpsed a Hen Harrier. A restorative day of fresh air and new beginnings.
Our amazing nature reserves – of which there are over 220 – are a haven for all kinds of wildlife, and for many species a critical refuge. But despite their extent and diversity, these places, and others like them, won’t be able to save nature on their own. Recent studies from Germany have shown that, over time, even highly protected sites begin to lose their integrity, and the diversity of species that makes them special, if the wider landscape is not also managed in a way that is more nature friendly.
To turn round nature’s current downward trajectory, we need to help it return across the board and make it a feature of everyday life, to help it creep back into places that are used for other things. The normalisation of nature.
Of course, this requires systemic change, which is why our work on the policy agenda in
‘Our fields, farms, towns and gardens need help to let nature back in. And for the RSPB to do this we need to work with others’
areas such as mitigating and adapting to climate change and shifting the way in which we farm and grow our food to be more nature friendly is so important. But another way to help is as individuals and through the choices we make as consumers. Being thoughtful in what we choose to purchase; the clothes we buy, the food we eat all affect the market economy. We need to consider how these things are produced and their consequence for the environment. That is why we have developed the Fair to Nature certification scheme. Through this, we work with people across the supply chain to help protect and restore nature on farmland, whilst making it simpler for people to recognise sustainable products and support the producers committed to making a genuine difference.
Our fields, farms, towns and gardens need help to let nature back in. And for the RSPB to do this we need to work with others, to work in partnership. In the past this has often been with our fellow conservation organisations, but now we are increasingly looking to business to help effect the change we need for nature.
I sometimes get the question “why?”. It is true that business partnerships can bring in muchneeded funds for our conservation work, but the benefits can be so much greater than that. Many businesses see the existential threats of climate change, and increasingly nature loss too, and recognise the need to be part of the solution. Some are even making sure that nature and climate are taken into consideration for all core business decisions; others are giving nature a ‘seat’ on company boards. Businesses come to us for guidance on how to do this and where to focus their efforts.
In return, we can increase the scale and geography of our conservation work and help more nature thrive – often in places where once it didn’t. Solar farms, housing estates, golf courses, former quarries – all areas where we can now effect change due to our partnership work with businesses. You can read more about our partnerships with businesses across a range of industries on page 71.
Wildlife Breaks Wildlife Breaks In the Scottish Highlands In the Scottish Highlands
The Grant Arms Hotel
Grantown-on-Spey
The
As soon as you walk into the Grant Arms Hotel you realise it isn’t just any four star Hotel. In short the refurbished Grant Arms is the hotel for bird and wildlife watchers offering wonderful food, friendly staff and 50 high quality ensuite bedrooms. All bedrooms come with hairdryer, colour TV, toiletries and coffee making facilities.
Speyside and the Cairngorms are one of the best areas for wildlife watching in the UK. Perfect for beginner to expert, whether for a day or a fortnight. Depending on the season you could see: Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Pine Marten, Red Squirrel, Mountain Hare, Osprey, Ptarmigan, Otter, Red and Black Grouse, Red and Roe Deer, Slavonian Grebe, Crested Tit and Crossbill, as well as Dolphins, Waders, Sea Ducks and Sea Birds along the Moray Firth coast.
HOW TO GET THERE
By Road: Grantown is situated just offtheA9Edinburgh-Invernessroad. By Train: The nearest station is Aviemore (15 miles) on the Edinburgh-Inverness line. By Plane: Inverness Airport (30 miles) - Flights from most major UK airports: LOGANAIR from Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast City and Aberdeen; KLM from Amsterdam; EASYJET from Bristol, Gatwick, Luton and Belfast International; BA from Heathrow. Other destinations
from Aberdeen Airport (75 miles).
SPRING - Wildlife TV Presenter & Producer NIGEL MARVEN
Mon 20th to Sun 26th May 2024
Join us and NIGEL MARVEN for a late Spring week. Migration is almost over, and everything is settling down for the summer and some of the early arrivals will already have chicks and juveniles.
SUMMER - Urban Birder, Author & Presenter DAVID LINDO
Sat 8th to Fri 14th June 2024
Join us and DAVID LINDO to look for our Summer breeding birds and wildlife, plenty of chicks and juveniles now on the wing too.
SUMMER - Ecologist & TV Presenter MIKE DILGER
Sun 7th to Sat 13th July 2024
Join us and MIKE DILGER for a week of all things wild and natural, looking for everything from our summer breeding birds to our wonderful and rare insects and plants.
LATE SUMMER - MIKE DILGER
Sat 17th to Fri 23rd August 2024
Join us and MIKE DILGER to look for our late summer wildlife. With plenty of juveniles now on the wing and many getting ready for their autumn migration there will be plenty to see along with insects and plants.
AUTUMN - Wildlife TV Presenter & Producer NIGEL MARVEN
Sat 19th to Fri 25th October 2024
Join us and NIGEL MARVEN to look for our Autumn Wildlife now that migration is almost over and everything is settling down for the winter.
AUTUMN - Bird Expert, Author & Tour Guide DOMINIC COUZENS
Sat 2nd to Fri 8th November 2024
Join us and DOMINIC COUZENS to look for our autumn and winter wildlife now that migration is over and everything is settling down for the winter.
LATE AUTUMN - Naturalist, Author & TV Presenter NICK BAKER
Sat 23rd to Fri 29th November 2024
Join us and NICK BAKER to look for our Late Autumn and Winter wildlife including flocks of sea ducks, divers, waders, geese and so much more.
All Celebrity Wildlife Guided Holidays are £1,620pp DB&B (maximum of 12 guests) Included in the Price: 6 nights full board in a Superior Room, Guided trips every day with the celebrity and one of our own
Photo by: Laurrie Campbell
Photo by: John Betts
Photo by: Nigel Sprowell
TARIFF
This season
What to see in nature | Great days out | Ways to help wildlife
Species
Putting on a show
Great Crested Grebes now have their magnificent headgear ready for a courtship performance that’s one of spring’s highlights. The grebe pair will swim in parallel before facing one another, bobbing and dancing, and then diving. If both birds successfully collect a ‘gift’ of pondweed, they race towards each other and, on meeting, rise up out of the water and wipe each other’s beaks with their weedy courtship present!
The plumage of these birds once led to their near loss as people wanted the feathers as decoration. In response, Emily Williamson set up the Society for the Protection of Birds in 1889 to save the grebes and other species affected by the feather trade. This group would become the RSPB.
Words: Jamie Wyver. Photo: Nature Picture
(Alamy Stock Photo)
This season
What’s on Get out there
’
Join us online in April and May to hear from our avian experts on the story of birds’ survival, adaptation and migration. Scan the code to sign up for A Spotlight on Swifts, our first session, on 23 April at 12pm.
Visit RSPB Loch Lomond on 16 June, 1–4pm, for the Wild Food Foraging event. You’ll learn the art of identifying, harvesting and incorporating wild ingredients into your cooking. Cost: £24, £19.75 for RSPB members. Book at events.rspb.org.uk/ lochlomond
Mammal of the moment Water Shrew
Our largest shrews live high-metabolic, frenetic lives, in or near streams, ponds, ditches and wetlands (and many RSPB nature reserves). Dense, mole-like, velvety fur (contrasting with a white underside) traps air, lending them a buoyant silveriness. Dives for aquatic invertebrates are frequent and short, so once spotted, you’ve a chance of watching it hunt. Saliva poison from a venomous bite immobilises much larger prey, such as frogs and crayfish. Swimming is aided by spur-like hairs on unwebbed feet and a tail like a rudder, keel and foraging anchor. Fiercely solitary, they produce two to three litters of three to 15 young, now and throughout summer. They are vulnerable to waterborne pollutants and pesticides, ingested via their prey and in grooming.
Wildlife challenge Terns
There is nothing like the cacophony of a tern colony, but can you spot the differences between species?
Easy to find Common Tern
Also known as the ‘sea swallow’, Common Terns can be found both on the coast and inland waters. Males and females are identical with a black cap, black-tipped red bill and pale grey upper wings. Colonies are noisy with their short ‘kit’ call.
Tricky to find Little Tern
The Little Tern is our smallest tern. With a black cap, white forehead and bright yellow beak with a black tip, these chatty birds are exclusively coastal with the largest colonies found along England’s east coast and north Wales. Listen out for their ‘kr’riet’ calls.
Lucky to find Black Tern
Unlike the others, the Black Tern has a very dark, smoky grey body with grey wings and an all-black head. A rare passage migrant that can turn up anywhere from freshwater lakes, gravel pits and reservoirs. Look out for dark legs and white undertail.
Words: Nicola Chester, Katie Nethercoat. Photos: Helen Pugh Photography, Paul Sawer, David Tipling, Laurie Campbell (all rspb-images.com); Nature
Picture Library, Jenna Chamberlain, Patrick Joseph, Mauritius Images, Colin Varndell, ImageBROKER, Joe Blossom (all ßAlamy Stock Photo)
Photography
Ben Andrew
Wildlife in flight
Discover the techniques to get shots of winged wildlife doing what it does best – flying
Flock photography
Photographing flocks of birds can be challenging but fun. I’ve spent time photographing Starling murmurations, Rook roosts at dusk and large flocks of waders such as Knots swirling around in the sky and I never tire of seeing these spectacles. The good thing about flock photography is it usually allows you to try out different techniques. If you have a stunning sky for Starlings, be patient and wait for them to create the best shapes, or in low light at Rook roosts you can slow your shutter speed right down to highlight the birds’ movement.
Individual birds
Modern technology is really helping photographers to capture birds in flight, but you still need to be able to read the behaviour of birds, to understand when they are about to take off and where they will be going so you know how to frame your shot. Most of my bird-in-flight shots – such as this one of a White-tailed Eagle –are of relatively slow-flying species where you can lock on at a distance and track them as they get closer and pass by you. A higher shutter speed will make sure your shots are sharp. Consider your background too and play around with light.
JOINT EFFORT
Discover more about how the RSPB is working with farmers to achieve nature-friendly farming and food systems: rspb. org.uk/agriculturalland-use
Nature notes Nicola Chester
How farms are changing
Being a farmer is all I’ve ever wanted. From managing my toy Britain’s carpet farm a little too long into my teens, to applying to agricultural college, and bonding with my future husband over the same farming goals. Despite both working on farms at different points, we’ve yet to realise our dream. It’s challenging, hard work and complex.
I’ve always lived around the farmed landscape. I love it with a deep but desperate passion because there was always something missing. Something I couldn’t quite get a handle on – there were barely any women farming, and the wildlife that had evolved with our farming practices was vanishing. I could see it myself and am still watching it happen. We know how to stop and yet somehow, can’t.
Invertebrates in flight
I’ve dabbled in some insect photography, and one species I’ve always found to be good to start with is the Hummingbird Hawk-moth. This day-flying moth has quite an erratic flight pattern as it moves between flowers, but it’s quite reliable in returning to the same flowers and, once feeding, hovers in the same place. I tend to pick a certain flower I know it visits and wait for it to come back. I get eye level so my background is diffused, make sure I have good light behind me and use a fast shutter speed and take as many shots as I can in the hope some are sharp!
Studying conservation wasn’t an option when I applied (but never made it) to ag college – I went to Canada to become a cowgirl instead. Conservation was a side option in game and wildlife management – but I was told, in 1989, there were no subsequent jobs for girls, and no course in farming and wildlife. More’s the pity, because the 2023 State of Nature report shows farmland birds have suffered (and continue to suffer) the biggest decline overall since 1970.
But, as I said, farming is hard. It’s allconsuming and often a labour of love, land and family ties, all done under the duress of unexpected change: weather, policy, governments, disease, consumer and market demands.
‘Farmer bashing’ doesn’t get anybody anywhere; it’s horribly divisive and it’s
often unjust and deeply unkind. Frustrated and grief-struck with loss and a perception of ‘easy fixes’, I have been guilty of this. Especially when faced with an entire farm’s worth of field margins, buzzing with insect and bird life, mown pointlessly at the heady height of early summer; I’ve seen it all. But I’ve also seen change for good: ‘farmer clusters’ supporting each other on landscapescale conservation projects, sharing knowledge and passion and bringing incredible numbers of wild birds back; farmers opting to plant wild bird seed mixes, nectar strips, making ‘beetle banks’ and cutting hedges less often, and feeding birds from seed hoppers on a grand scale during the ‘hungry gap’. This sort of change is exciting, it’s exhilarating. It’s doable. Earlier this year, a gap in hedgerow protection legislation from the government was met with (in one X poll from conservationist @FavColourGreen) around 90% of farmers saying that of course they wouldn’t begin cutting hedges in spring, just because they could, because of the birds.
We demand so much of our farmers, but they are key to saving us, our precious wildlife, the soils, habitats and invertebrates that makes farming happen, too. It should be a joint contract of will between us, with policy and support (both financial and public) to do what’s right. It can be done. Perhaps I gave up too soon on my quest to be a farmer. But we mustn’t give up on supporting farmers and wildlife.
Nicola Chester lives in Wessex with her husband, three children and dog. nicolachester.wordpress. com or @nicolawriting
Photos: Ben Andrew (all
Ben Andrew is an award-winning wildlife photographer. @benandrewphotos
Flock of Yellowhammers
Knots and Oystercatchers
This season
Help migrating birds
Swift numbers have declined steadily in recent decades; they are on the UK’s Red list of Birds of Conservation Concern, and they need our help Hang this nest box (£45) beneath your roof eaves to provide a safe, welcoming home for Swifts Its entry hole measures 28x65mm and is designed to keep Starlings out, while its internal nest cup will encourage any Swift inspecting the box to take up residence
More ways to help nature RSPBshop.co.uk
l House Martin nest cup (£18). Mount this home for summer visitors high, beneath the eaves between north and east, to ensure birds have a safe launch.
l RSPB Spotlight Swifts and Swallows, Mike Unwin (£9.99), will help you to spot the differences between these two migratory species.
Out now Bookshelf
RSPB Birds of the British Isles
Rebecca Nason, £12.99
From the familiar and frequent to our rarer visitors, find out more about the birds of Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man. Suitable for all levels of birders, this book publishes April 2024.
RSPB Everyday Guide to British Birds (second edition)
Charlie Elder, £14.99
Featuring 80 common and widespread species, identify and learn more about the birds you encounter in your back garden and in the countryside.
A Year of Birdsong Dominic Couzens, illustrations by Madeleine Floyd, £20 Fascinating stories about birdsong around the world. Including stories and literary masterpieces inspired by birdsongs, the musicality of notes, and what different songs communicate.
Shopping with the RSPB Shop helps keep our world wild. Profits go to conservation, and all products are as nature-friendly as possible.
Botany for biodiversity
Liverworts
The 2023 State of Nature report revealed a shocking 62% of bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) have decreased since 1970. Liverworts are tiny, flowerless, mostly spore-producing plants, with flat, often livershaped lobes. They cloak our temperate rainforests, and many species also grow unnoticed in our gardens, towns and wall crevices. Some have cell-thin leaves not unlike lettuce, whilst others (thallose liverworts)
have green, fleshy plates. They can photosynthesise in low light and grow as epiphytes (on other plants). Most thrive in damp climates
How has the Saiga Antelope’s change from ‘Critically Endangered’ to ‘Near Threatened’ come about?
In 2006, when Saiga were facing extinction, the RSPB and international partners co-founded the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative with the Kazakhstan Government and the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan. Since then, we’ve developed satellite collars to track their migration patterns, pinpoint important calving and rutting sites, and identify barriers to their movement. This data is then used to advocate for protection of Saiga habitats.
Why is this species important?
and the UK supports a great diversity. Lacking proper roots, a vascular system and being small, their habitats can be easily lost or damaged. But they provide vital microhabitats for tiny insects. Bryophyte communities act as biological sponges, slowing and absorbing the flow of rain and helping to protect against flash floods. Help them by becoming a liverwort champion –britishbryologicalsociety.org. uk has tips on getting started.
The Saiga acts as a keystone species of the Kazakh steppe grasslands. They prevent undergrazing while creating niche habitats. Saiga also constitute an important food source for predators and scavengers.
What measures are in place to help secure their future?
RSPB staff and experts developed the ‘Strategy for the Conservation and Management of Saiga in Kazakhstan’, facilitated by the Convention on Migratory Species, in May 2023. This presents a road map for the species’ long-term survival, with an emphasis on supporting the communities living amongst Saiga.
Swift nest box
Thallose liverwort
Tiny & wild Dr Ross Piper
Climate confusion
Warm sunshine gently heats a south-facing wall. The previous year, a female Red Mason Bee made her nest in the wall, and now, her youngest offspring wakes, roused from diapause by the warmth. He breaks out of the cell, taking flight to look for food. Sadly, he has been duped. It’s only January, but a bout of freakishly warm conditions has brought him out of diapause too early and there is no nectar or pollen to feed on. This scenario is now increasingly common as climate change continues to wreak havoc in the natural world. Insects in particular are very vulnerable to the blurring of the seasons. In species that overwinter, rising temperatures are a signal that spring has arrived, indeed they’re superb at detecting these changes. The climate has been stable for thousands of years and the response of insects to environmental cues is hardwired. The cellular switches that wake them from diapause cannot tell the difference between a bout of freakishly warm weather in January or February and springtime proper. At the end of the year we see the flip side of this, where the cold that triggers diapause is arriving increasingly late and insects remain active. It’s becoming normal to see insects still active into November. Insects are the great survivors though, and they will adapt to a more unstable climate, but it is yet another challenge they must cope with.
Dr Ross Piper is an entomologist, zoologist and explorer. Visit rosspiper.net or @DrRossPiper
Insects that emerge at the start of the season are most vulnerable to the freakish weather brought about by climate change
The consequences of this loss of synchronisation are complex and many are unknown as the interactions between species are poorly understood What is diapause? Well, in response to environmental conditions, insects can stall their development, effectively pressing the pause button until conditions improve In contrast to hibernation, diapause is a much more extreme form of inactivity as the life of an insect in this state is effectively ‘paused’
Identification
Birds’ nests
Learn to recognise different birds’ nests
Long-tailed Tit
A large nest often found low down in trees, hedges, shrubs and creepers. The female weaves thin twigs, roots and plant stems together, before lining with mud and plant material and finally dry grasses.
Typically found high up in the forks of outer branches. The nest is built mostly by the female and is a neat, deep cup built from grass, roots, lichens and mosses, lined with plant down, wool, hair and feathers.
Found in trees and dense vegetation. A pair spend up to three weeks creating an elongated nest from moss, spider-webs and hair. The outside is covered with lichen, the inside is lined with feathers.
KEEP YOUR DISTANCE
Active wild bird nests are legally protected. Please do not disturb them.
Goldcrest
This species favours conifer trees, where nests are often found suspended in a fork of twigs. Their tiny nest cups are lined with feathers and built by both parents using lichens, moss and spider-webs.
Goldfinch
Blackbird
Red Mason Bee emerging from its nest
Water worlds Peatland
Forsinard Flows is one of the largest areas of blanket bog in the world. Layers of peat lock in and store over half of the UK’s carbon. In Scotland’s Flow Country, that equates to 400 million tonnes: more than three times that stored in Britain’s woodlands. As a nature-based solution, peatlands are a critical defence against climate change. Degraded and damaged peat bogs do the very opposite, releasing vast amounts of carbon dioxide.
Restoration work at Forsinard Flows is ongoing, and techniques learned at the site are being used in other countries. These include blocking drains and removing conifer plantations to aid the rewetting, revegetating and restoring of peatland, and utilising thick layers of peat to reduce fire and flood risk and improve water quality.
Curlew, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Greenshank and Hen Harrier represent just some of the area’s avian richness, as well as Red- and Black-throated Divers and Common Scoter.
Carnivorous plants, such as Sundew and Butterwort thrive alongside Sphagnum Moss, which can hold 20 times its weight in water.
Lizards, dragonflies and damselflies can be seen sunning themselves along Forsinard’s boardwalks.
Great days out
3 nature reserves to explore this season
Head to the coast to spot seabird spectacles – as a member you get free access!
Words: Nicola Chester.
Photos: Picasa, Nick Upton, Paul Turner, Kevin Sawford, Nathan Lowe (all rspb-images.com); Avalon.Red
(Alamy Stock
Photo)
Anglesey RSPB South Stack Cliffs
Summer is nesting season and here you’ll find Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes and Puffins, as well as the rare Chough.
County Antrim RSPB Rathlin Island
This remote retreat for breeding seabirds is home to Northern Ireland’s largest seabird colony.
Yorkshire RSPB Bempton Cliffs
Join an RSPB Seabird Cruise for an unforgettable trip and see Gannets, Razorbills, Kittiwakes and Puffins.
Sphagnum Moss
Common Sundew
Greenshank
Common Lizard
Operation Turtle Dove
The future looked bleak for Red-listed Turtle Doves. Joscelyne Ashpole reveals there is new hope for this special summer visitor
Photo: Tim Plowden (Alamy Stock Photo)
I’m standing at the edge of a small Cambridgeshire village in springtime. Through my binoculars, I spy what feels like gold dust, a Turtle Dove. The bird gently ‘purrs’ as he calls for a mate – to think he has navigated the Sahara Desert to reach this spot is nothing short of astounding.
This, my first encounter with a Turtle Dove, was around 10 years ago. Since then I’ve had the privilege of working with an incredible group of people who are doing their utmost to help the UK’s Turtle Dove population to recover. This important work spans counties and countries and in recent years has made some impressive leaps forward. With people pulling together to help this special bird, let’s reflect on the Turtle Dove’s journey so far.
A flurry of arrivals
As the days grow longer, and blossom and fresh green leaves spring into life here in the UK, a whole host of birds join us from more southern climes. Cuckoos, Swallows, Swifts and, of course, Turtle Doves are just a few of the many species that bring life and song to our summer skies and dawn choruses.
The Turtle Dove is a dainty bird with chestnut tortoiseshell-patterned wings and a zebra-striped neck. Flying thousands of miles from West Africa, Turtle Doves arrive in April and May to breed and raise the next generation of remarkable long-distance voyagers. They depart in August and September, flying south through western Europe to West Africa where they spend winter in the savannah.
Dramatic declines
In decades past, the Turtle Dove’s ‘turr-turr’ call (which features in its scientific name – Streptopelia turtur) would have been a familiar sound of summer. These birds used to be found across large parts of England and Wales, but their range has shrunk dramatically. Turtle Doves are on the UK’s Red list of Birds of Conservation Concern, and their UK population fell by 97% between 1995 and 2021. The 2021 national Turtle Dove survey estimated that around 2,100
Previous page: Turtle Doves are smaller than Collared Doves and Woodpigeons
1. Turtle Doves fly thousands of miles to reach us
2. Turtle Doves have chestnut tortoiseshellpatterned wings and zebra-striped necks
3. John Secker and Eliza Leat setting up a camera trap to monitor the wildlife using seed-rich margins created for Turtle Doves
4. Hoverflies and other pollinators also benefit from the flowers, such as Fumitory, in seedrich habitats
‘Knowing that we’ve helped provide the right conditions for these birds to return to is very rewarding and motivates us to continue’
breeding territories remained in the UK, down from an estimated 125,000 in 1970.
Their current strongholds are mainly limited to south-east and eastern England where they tend to be found on farmland. Open, seed-rich habitats provide good places to feed, while thorny scrub and wide, tall, dense hedgerows are perfect for nesting. They use farm ponds, ditches and other shallow water sources for drinking and bathing.
Why have Turtle Dove numbers declined so dramatically? Research has shown that a loss of feeding habitat in the UK has had a major part to play. Seeds are crucial – Turtle Doves eat them almost exclusively. But the plants that produce these seeds have become less plentiful over the years, due to changes in agriculture. Unsustainable hunting in France, Spain and Portugal represented an extra challenge until recently – the numbers being killed could have prevented the UK breeding population from ever recovering.
Taking action
Despite these losses, there is hope. And that hope comes in the form of Operation Turtle Dove, a partnership project between Natural England, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, Fair to Nature and the RSPB, which aims to help the UK’s Turtle Dove population to recover.
Years of research by the RSPB and other organisations have gone into understanding why Turtle Doves were declining and identifying the solutions. Operation Turtle Dove is now putting these solutions into action. Rick Bayne, Operation Turtle Dove’s Senior Project Manager, explains, “Our team of advisors works with hundreds of farmers and other land managers across south-east and eastern England, helping people to create the right habitats for Turtle Doves. This resulted in around 230ha of feeding habitat for the birds last year.”
What’s more, this work is helping other wildlife too. Seed-rich vegetation provides pollen and nectar for pollinators and seeds for birds and mammals. Dense scrub and hedgerows provide birds such as Nightingales with safe nesting spots, and water sources are used by all sorts of wildlife.
Building momentum
Nicole Khan, Operation Turtle Dove Advisor for Kent, has been involved with the project since 2017. She explains, “I’ve seen the number of people getting involved in helping Turtle Doves grow and grow. It is so rewarding to see this work paying off – farmers that I’ve worked with over the years now have Turtle Doves returning to their land. Knowing that we’ve helped provide the right conditions for these birds to return to is very rewarding and motivates us to continue.”
And it’s hard work and dedication from hundreds of farmers and land managers that is turning things around for Turtle Doves. Take John Secker, for example. John manages a wildlife stewardship scheme on a 210ha arable farm in Breckland on the Norfolk/ Suffolk border. He tells us, “We provide supplementary feed, consisting of a mix of small seeds from midApril, and have created a network of 6m-wide ‘cultivated margins’ around most of the fields on the
Photos: Robin Chittenden (Alamy Stock Photo); Sam Turley (rspb-images.com)
massive evolutionary pulse. By 50 million years ago, nearly all the orders from which today’s birds are derived were established. We can see evidence of this in the Messel Pit, a disused quarry near Frankfurt which is the site of many superb fossils from 47 million years ago. Many of the Messel bird fossils are visibly similar to modern birds, not least Scaniacypselus, an early Swift species whose swept-back wings will have lovers of those aerial masters sighing with recognition.
The development of flight had been invaluable to the early bird-like lineages, and now it helped birds conquer the world. With wings you could escape predators, travel quickly in search of food, disperse, radiate and generally thrive.
But it wasn’t easy. The elusive combination of lightness and strength necessary for flight required several adaptations. The bony tail gave way to a fatty clump – the pygostyle – which holds the tail feathers. Light keratin beaks replaced teeth. Internal organs shrank or disappeared. And they perfected feathers.
Feathers are superb. Light, strong and waterproof, they’re brilliant insulators and protectors, and were crucial in the transition from earthbound to aerial. They can be used to line nests, ingested and regurgitated to feed your young (if you’re a grebe), and coloured brightly to advertise you to potential mates.
If they’re indispensable for birds, they’ve proved irresistible to humans, too. We use them for many purposes, including body adornments, fish bait, medicines, writing implements and, of course, fashion accessories. It was the campaign against the rampant proliferation of feathers as decoration in the fashion industry that led to the founding of what became the RSPB. That struggle, fought so determinedly by Emily Williamson and her colleagues, exemplifies the many threats faced by birds in the human era, and the efforts undertaken to counter them.
A brighter future
A contemporary example of this can be found in the plight of those magnificent nomads of the sea, albatrosses, which feature in the forthcoming exhibition. They’re a natural choice as ambassadors for the glory of birds. Alex Bond, Principal Curator in Charge of Birds at the Natural History Museum, explains, “We have, bragging slightly, the best ornithological collection in the world. The exhibition is meant to showcase our bird collection and stories that resonate with a lot of people. Tubenoses are
Learn more… Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre
Discover the incredible story of birds, from surviving the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs to their diversification into over 11,000 distinct species at the Natural History Museum’s exhibition, Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre. Opening 24 May 2024, in affiliation with the RSPB. Tickets are available at nhm. ac.uk/birds – RSPB members will receive a 20% discount when booking online. Find the accompanying book at shopping.rspb.org.uk
‘50MYA, nearly all the orders from which today’s birds are derived were established’
absolutely incredible. They inhabit every ocean. They can smell their prey miles away. Seeing one soar effortlessly over the ocean is an incredible experience.”
Sadly, 100,000 of these majestic birds die every year as bycatch of the longline fishing industry. But there is hope. The RSPB and BirdLife International assembled the Albatross Task Force who work with policymakers and fishing crews on effective ways to save albatrosses. They created Hookpods, an ingenious solution to tackle the problem. The fishing hook’s point and barb are enclosed within a pod and cast into the water. The pod’s weight takes it down to 20m, below the diving depth of albatrosses. A pressure release system springs it open and fishing proceeds as normal without harming the birds. To eliminate bycatch while having no effect on catch rates is the silver bullet, and Hookpods have been welcomed by conservationists and fishermen alike.
Bond is enthusiastic: “Hookpods are brilliant from a technological perspective. But as soon as you win
5. Hesperornis’ wings were not usable for flight, but its powerful legs were developed for diving and swimming
6. The Messel Pit in Germany is so rich in history it has been certified a UNESCO World Heritage Site 7. Geoscientists working on slate in the Messel Pit
8. The Natural History Museum prepare the fossil of Fuzzy Raptor (Dromaeosaurus)
9. The Black-browed Albatross has a huge wingspan of 210–250cm (7–8ft)
‘We’ve never had such a good understanding of what drives conservation success’
over hearts and minds, when people start caring, that’s when you get lasting conservation benefits.”
It’s a view echoed by Professor Richard Gregory, Head of Monitoring Conservation Science at the RSPB. He acknowledges the difficulties, but strikes a note of cautious optimism, “We’ve never had such a good understanding of what drives change and conservation success. So we’re in a great position to move forward.” A recent study, published in RSPB Handbook of British Birds and co-authored by Gregory, outlines the challenges, and highlights some recent successes, particularly at a local level and with species such as Bittern, Cirl Bunting and Marsh Harrier. Reintroduction schemes – Common Crane, Whitetailed Eagle and particularly Red Kite – have also had notable success, and can be effective in increasing public awareness and engagement. The big challenge is to reverse downward trends on a national and global scale. Enlightened, nature-friendly land management and food production are key.
Data-driven conservation
Technological advances will only increase our knowledge of the lives of birds, helping us to help them. One example of this is in migration studies. Our understanding of bird migration has progressed enormously since the days it was thought Swallows overwintered at the bottom of ponds. The shooting of a White Stork near Klütz in Germany in 1822 was a pivotal moment. The bird had a 76cm metal-tipped wooden spear through its neck, examination of which showed that it was of African origin. It was the stork’s bad luck to be shot a second time, but from it we learned something of birds’ movements. Our study of bird migration has since advanced beyond all recognition. The practice of ringing underpins much of our understanding of this mysterious subject, but it has limitations. To yield meaningful results, you need to ring a lot of birds – approximately 2% of British ringed birds are refound. And a refound bird tells you only the start and end of its journey. The recent development of satellite and radio technology by the BTO, and in particular the advance in miniaturisation, is beginning to reveal the true extent of these astonishing journeys.
Hookpods and satellite tagging are obvious examples of how science has helped conservation efforts, but non-scientists can also help. By taking part in schemes such as the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, people can not just feel connected but make a tangible contribution. Luke Phillips, of the RSPB Campaigns team, extols its virtues: “It’s a key element of science these days. Participants are contributing a huge amount of data.”
Birds are magnificent. You know that, or you wouldn’t be reading this. Whilst we are undoubtedly responsible for many of the threats facing them today, we can also repair the damage. Our influence on the avian world can be not just benevolent but actively beneficial, and we can all make a difference to equip them for their next 150 million years.
Above: The RSPB undertaking fieldwork capturing, weighing, measuring, tagging and ringing adult Curlew
Lev Parikian is a writer, conductor and enthusiastic birder. His most recent book, Taking Flight, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Book Prize.
58 MYA: parrots diversify
50.6 MYA: Eocypselus, ancestor of Swifts
47 MYA: Scaniacypselus, early Swift species
35–30 MYA: Procellariiformes, tubenoses
28 MYA: common ancestor of waterfowl
17.5: MYA Corvids
4.5: MYA Barheaded Goose
Photos: Sam Turley (rspb-images.com)
Breaking barriers
For Nadeem Perera – RSPB Ambassador and co-founder of Flock
Together
– nature is a powerful force for change
FLOCK TOGETHER
Established in 2020 as a birdwatching club. For many, the club’s monthly walks were their first steps into nature.
It’s no secret that nature and the outdoors are fast becoming fundamental parts of people’s lives. For many in the UK, being able
to breathe air without exhaust fumes and to hear birdsong without it being on an instrumental tape have long served as
a
source of wholesomeness and, ultimately, a happier life. But for a few of us, the space is very new, though, just as beneficial but probably lots more fun!
At 15, I didn’t vibe with how education operated in this country and so took to the forests to find my own answers. Now, 15 years later, I can see that this was one of the best decisions I ever made, but back then it didn’t instantly feel like that. I was in the forest simply because there were few options left whilst all my friends were in school. But right away I noticed how quiet the green spaces always were. That silence, for me, was the golden platform for good thinking. Life can otherwise be so noisy that you find yourself without a place to be heard, which can eventually lead you to become without reason to properly think.
The more I came back from that silence, the more I noticed that I had been wrong. Everything that lived in that silence wasn’t silent at all. The birds would sing, the grass would shuffle in the wind and my feet would kick the dirt, but every noise had its place –every voice could be heard: including my own thoughts. Mother Nature was playing a backing soundtrack to my inner monologue which was trying to write the script for my life.
Natural remedy
It wasn’t until I met fellow bird enthusiast Ollie Olanipekun though that I realised that I had had my blinkers on. Yes, I had benefited from nature and could see tangible improvements in my life, but I had failed to see that this incredible space could benefit a whole community!
Ollie’s vision to create a birdwatching collective (now Flock Together) had proven, very quickly, to be a great one, and our community programming has brought about so many positive changes in the nearly four years since – from traditional organisations
Left: Flock Together’s ever-growing meetups encourage a stronger connection to the natural world
Above: Experienced birders and first timers are welcome at Flock Together
‘I noticed how quiet the green spaces always were. That silence is the golden platform for good thinking’
realising their lack of creative input to outdoor clothing brands reaching new audiences and new faces on natural history TV.
Flock Together members soon found themselves in awe at what they had been missing out on and just how much they had been withstanding without the healing powers of nature. One of our regulars, Derek, describes Flock as being like “a hug on a cold day. The warmth of the group radiates and is akin to extended family. Being in nature gives me a sense of freedom and liberation. A place where authenticity thrives and a chance to escape from life’s challenges.”
From mine and Ollie’s perspective, Flock serves as much more than an escape. At least now it does. At its conception, Flock represented new people finding their feet in nature, challenging perceptions on what nature is and who it belongs to, but what it has become is a creative force to be reckoned with.
Beyond the birds
Flock is about connections as much as it is birdwatching, probably more so for many. Connections are at the root of a healthy lifestyle. Sharing stories, embracing and applause are powerful components which are rife on every walk of ours. These things validate the existence of each individual, particularly if they have experienced being invalidated elsewhere.
Past this validation, however, lies an even greater treasure: the chance to create. Flock provides clear-cut and tangible opportunities into creative industries, particularly for the younger generations. These voices have long been shut out of industries related to outdoor spaces, but at Flock they are heard loud and clear without apology.
There are so many different types of outdoorfocused groups, whether that’s Flock Together or RSPB local groups, so be sure to get out with others to experience the benefits of nature. And remember, if there isn’t a group out there that suits you, you can always make your own!
Nadeem Perera is a Wildlife Director at Flock Together. Passionate about making nature accessible to all, he shares wildlife knowledge with Flock’s community.
Photos:
Sergio Lopez
HPB’s Tigh Mor Trossachs, beside Loch Achray in the Scottish Highlands
HPB has always strived to protect our natural heritage, looking after the environment and working closely with nature. Many of our properties in the UK are situated in National Parks or National Landscapes, with a number having achieved awards for their sympathetic architecture and natural landscaping. Both here and overseas, HPB always seeks to find the most beautiful and unspoilt locations.
You can holiday in any of more than 1,500 HPB-owned properties at 32 UK and European locations for the whole of your lifetime and then pass the benefits on to your children or grandchildren. An initial payment of as little as £5,000 means that you can look forward to truly memorable holidays in beautiful places, with top quality accommodation year after year after year.
You’re one step away from a lifetime of wonderful holidays
If you would like to know more about HPB, please read ‘Exclusive holidays for life’, below, and then request your free Information Pack today.
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hpb.co.uk/therspbmagazine
Scan the QR code
Exclusive holidays for life An initial payment from £5,000 and a quarterly fee of just over £37 (that is around £150 a year), which can increase in line with but not exceed the Retail Price Index Excluding Mortgage Interest (RPIX), gives you access to all HPB’s holiday homes. For each HPB holiday, you will pay a no-profit user charge covering only
St Brides Castle, Pembrokeshire
Buckland Court, Cotswolds
Merlewood; HPB’s beautifully restored Victorian country house in Cumbria
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Action for nature
How your support is helping wildlife
Species
Shore recipe for success
The RSPB’s work improving and creating coastal habitat around England through the LIFE on the Edge project (projectlote.life) is yielding rich returns for beach-nesting and wintering birds such as Ringed Plovers, Oystercatchers and terns.
The UK’s intertidal habitat is under pressure: over 15% has been lost since 1945. Climate change will continue to exacerbate this problem, impacting both people and wildlife.
To tackle this, the LOTE project began in October 2020, aiming to improve the habitat at key coastal sites and to build resilience. Led by the RSPB, in partnership with the National Trust and funded by the EU’s LIFE Programme, this project has involved diverse work.
With Harwich Haven Authority and the Environment Agency, we elevated the profile of a beach at Horsey Island in Essex (below) by adding 50,000 cubic metres of dredged sand and shingle. This improved nesting habitat for Little Terns and 42 chicks fledged in summer 2023 – their most successful breeding season in
17 years. In north-west England, we’ve worked with Cumbria Wildlife Trust and local communities, installing rafts and predator-proof fencing. At CWT’s South Walney Nature Reserve near Barrow-in-Furness, Little Terns had a successful 2023 breeding season – doubling the population – along with Ringed Plovers, Oystercatchers, and Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. And at RSPB Hodbarrow, two new islands totalling 1ha provide extra breeding habitat for Sandwich Terns, Ringed Plovers and Eiders.
In Norfolk, the work at RSPB Titchwell Marsh on the freshwater lagoon has benefited Bitterns, Little and Great White Egrets and Avocets. And on the south coast, a Beach Nesting Bird Project Officer, funded through LOTE, works with volunteers to survey and monitor nesting shorebirds, launch tern nesting rafts, construct predator-proof nest cages, and raise awareness of the risks of disturbance to wildlife among dog walkers and other visitors. Habitat creation and enhancement works are also under way.
Ringed Plover
Policy Nature Positive Wales
A white paper introduced in January outlines the Welsh Government’s proposed bill to establish legally binding nature recovery targets, enshrine core environmental principles, and create an independent environmental governance body. We’ve long campaigned for this Nature Positive bill, and we’re working to ensure it’s a priority for the new First Minister.
Support our calls for laws to drive nature recovery in Wales at: bit.ly/Naturepositive
Policy
Beef that’s better for nature
Farm Wilder, a wildlife-friendly meat provider, is the latest company to join RSPB Fair to Nature, our certification scheme aiming to arrest the precipitous decline in the UK’s native farmland species by restoring the balance of nature in farming.
Farm Wilder’s meat is produced on farms in Devon and Cornwall that manage their land to nurture biodiverse habitats relying on grazing animals. Partner farms work to restore and conserve habitat such
as rare wet culm grassland, rich in rushes, grasses and wildflowers that support endangered invertebrates as well as birds such as Snipe, Willow Tits and Barn Owls. They also introduce techniques such as silvopasture, in which pasture areas encompass trees and shrubs, and ensure grassland is managed to support populations of invertebrates and birds such as Yellowhammers, Whitethroats and Skylarks. farmwilder.co.uk
Species Avian flu update
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) remains a big threat to the UK’s birds. Targeted 2023 surveys assessing the impacts of HPAI on seabirds in 2021 and 2022 revealed worrying results, some of which are illustrated below – read more at: rspb.org.uk/seabird-surveysreport And the virus continues to spread, having recently reached South Georgia and the Falklands. To support the RSPB’s work, visit: rspb.org.uk/donate/wildlife-isdying-for-answers
Species
Flycatchers breaking reserve records
Numbers of breeding Pied Flycatchers boomed on RSPB nature reserves last year, thanks to targeted conservation work.
These insectivorous birds have declined in the UK, in part because of pressures encountered in their winter homes in West Africa and on migrations to and from spring breeding areas. Yet at Haweswater, the nature reserve in the Lake District managed by the RSPB in partnership with landowner United Utilities, 29 singing males were recorded in 2023, suggesting a total of 50–60 pairs – the highest number in 10 years. This follows dedicated habitat improvements including installing nest boxes and clearing dense growth from the woodland understorey to improve foraging for insect prey.
Records were also broken at RSPB Coombes Valley and Consall Woods in Staffordshire, where 66 birds occupied nest boxes. RSPB staff and volunteers also undertake Flycatcher habitat improvement work at sites such as Lake Vyrnwy in Wales (where 97 pairs were recorded) and Wood of Cree in Scotland.
Places
More canine conservationists
Following in the pawprints of our first (and largest) detection dog team working as part of the Orkney Native Wildlife Project, the RSPB is expanding its pack of highly trained conservation dogs!
From spring, detection dogs will be sniffing out invasive non-native mammalian predators on islands in all four UK nations. Already, Jinx is in action with handler Greg Morgan in Wales; Reid works with Rachel Cripps in Scotland; and Kuki partners Laura Bambini in England. Now another detection dog is in training to join the RSPB’s LIFE Raft team this spring,
helping locate ferrets on Rathlin Island. Most were captured before Christmas in the world’s first feral ferret eradication programme, aiming to remove these predators which, along with invasive nonnative rats, have catastrophic impacts on seabird populations.
“Each dog undergoes rigorous training to detect the odour of a specific target species, identify its source and communicate this to the handler,” explains Laura. “If invasive non-native mammalian predators are found, they are then removed by other means.”
Science
Big Garden Birdwatch results
In January, over 600,000 people across the UK counted the feathered friends in their garden, local green space or on their balcony for the Big Garden Birdwatch. The annual event is the UK’s largest citizen science wildlife survey and is important in helping us understand how garden birds are faring. This year, for the 21st year running, the number one spotted species was the Red-listed House Sparrow! In second place was the Blue Tit and in third was the Starling. Thank you for taking part. rspb.org.uk/birdwatch-results
Species Sandeels success
A huge victory for conservation! After 25 years of relentless advocacy, the RSPB has successfully led the campaign to end industrial sandeel fishing in the English North Sea and Scottish waters. Sandeels are a crucial food source for some of our most vulnerable seabirds and marine life, but overfishing has meant sandeel numbers have depleted, putting our seabird populations at risk. This historic moment could be a lifeline for our most threatened birds. Over 44,000 RSPB supporters responded to the UK and Scottish Government’s consultations, and we extend our heartfelt thanks to those who supported the c i
Jinx
Reid
H S
Illustrations: Mike Langman, Robin Carter
Female
Male
Laura and Kuki
Species
Corn Bunting recovery
Populations of the ‘fat bird of the barley’ are stabilising in eastern Scotland. Changes in farming practices caused Corn Bunting numbers to plummet here by 83% between 1989 and 2007. The RSPB works with farmers, landowners and communities to encourage delayed silage harvest and planting of a special seed mix providing nesting habitat and winter food. Male territories counted in Fife have soared 265% since 2014.
Species
Whinchat declines dissected
Over the last century, the Red-listed Whinchat have been lost as a breeding species from most of the UK lowlands due to agricultural intensification. Whinchat have continued to decline over recent decades, with a 57% decrease between 1995 and 2021. A new scientific paper, published in Bird Study, found that the rate of decline varies by habitat type, with the lowest rate of decline noted in unenclosed semi-natural habitats, particularly those that are grass-dominated.
Species Saving species in Wales
The RSPB has leapt into action on Pen Llŷn and Ynys Môn (the Llŷn Peninsula and the Isle of Anglesey) to safeguard the future of 17 threatened species. Starting last summer, it’s one of 11 national projects comprising the four-year Natur am Byth heritage and outreach partnership led by Natural Resources Wales, bringing together nine major conservation organisations. We’re working with existing networks across key habitats to empower local communities and land managers to save rare species living on their doorstep. We’ll be protecting Curlew nests from predation, managing heathland for Cladonia peziziformis lichen and Spotted Rock-rose as well as tackling invasive scrub on fens to help invertebrates such as Black Nightrunner ground beetle, Desmoulin’s Whorl Snail and Six-spotted Cranefly.
Chough
Words: Paul Bloomfield.
Photos: Chris Knights, Steve Round (both rspb-images.com); Ian Francis, Ellie Baggett
Cladonia peziziformis lichen at South Stack
Bioblitz at Llanbedrog
A Red Kite, found to have been shot and poisoned
Species Birdcrime in numbers
64%
of raptor persecution incidents were related to land associated with gamebird shooting in 2022
61 confirmed incidents of raptor persecution in the UK in 2022; 46 of these took place in England
12 confirmed incidents recorded in North Yorkshire in 2022, the worst county for raptor persecution
16 Buzzards fell victim to confirmed persecution in 2022
Species Raptors still being illegally persecuted across the UK
A worrying 61 confirmed incidents of raptor persecution were detected in the UK in 2022, the latest RSPB Birdcrime report reveals – although true numbers are likely to be much higher. Birds of prey, including Red Kites, Peregrines, Hen Harriers and Goshawks were illegally shot, trapped and poisoned, with at least 64% of incidents occurring on land associated with gamebird shooting. Read more at rspb.org. uk/birdcrime
2 individuals were convicted of raptor persecutionrelated offences in 2022. Both were gamekeepers
10
Red Kites were confirmed victims of raptor persecution in 2022
39
Hen Harriers confirmed to have been persecuted or have suspiciously disappeared since January 2022
Words: Paul Bloomfield.
Photo: RSPB Investigations.
Illustrations: Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)
Hen Harrier Red Kite
Peregrine Falcon
Buzzard
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Species
Working together for Willow Tits
Through our partnership with grounds maintenance contractor idverde, we’re collaborating with community green space groups to improve habitat and give our imperilled Willow Tits a fighting chance across the English midlands. Numbers of this Red-listed species in the UK have plummeted by 94% since the early 1970s. To address this decline, since 2019 we’ve worked with stakeholders, landowners, committees and groups across 1,000ha of green space managed by idverde on behalf of local authorities. For example, in Charnwood, a section of the Outwoods –SSSI semi-ancient woodland in Leicestershire – an enthusiastic group of Green Gym volunteers led by idverde’s Ranger Team and a dedicated RSPB advisor have created 0.5ha of enhanced Willow Tit habitat. This work can involve building natural dams in small watercourses to create wetter areas, increasing standing dead wood to provide nesting spaces or installing nest boxes. We’re aiming to expand efforts around Northampton and elsewhere. To join such projects, visit: volunteer.rspb.org.uk
Species
Vulture boosts
The decline of Endangered Egyptian Vultures in eastern Europe has been arrested by tackling threats along its migration route over three continents. Numbers fell from more than 600 pairs in the 1980s to around 50 pairs in 2016, but an ambitious collaborative project tackling poisoning, electrocution, collision, persecution and other dangers in 14 countries along the flyway has stabilised the population since 2018.
Policy Towards sustainable farming
The RSPB welcomed the Welsh Government’s final consultation on the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), the agricultural support system due to launch in 2025. This must help farmers tackle climate change, manage habitats and provide a foundation for nature’s recovery by 2050.
Places
Fence-free grazing
Nofence (virtual fencing) technology trialled at RSPB Lake Vyrnwy, Powys, could revolutionise controlling cattle movements. When a cow strays outside a virtual area, collars administer an audio cue followed by a non-harmful electric shock. Animals can be moved via app around the large expanse, allowing grazing hotspots to be rested and excluding cattle from sensitive areas such as Hen Harrier nest sites.
Words: Paul Bloomfield.
Photos: Ray Kennedy, Rosemary Despres, Richard Brooks (all
rspb-images.com);
Sam Sharpe
Wild days out
Lakenheath Fen
April showers send Anna Scrivenger on a thunderstorm safari through a timeless landscape that yields some incredible springtime surprises
Visitor guide RSPB Lakenheath Fen, Suffolk Scan for
Getting there
Trains run on Sundays to Lakenheath station which is about a 10-minute walk from the nature reserve. On weekdays, the closest station is Brandon, 4.7 miles away. You can also book an on-demand bus; walk the Hereward Way; or take the B1112 between Hockwold and Lakenheath Village.
Entry
Free for RSPB members; £4 for adult nonmembers; free for 16- to 24-year-olds.
Seasonal highlights
A trio of warblers – Reed, Cetti’s and Sedge – are in full voice, alongside the familiar call of the Cuckoo. Hobbies dash above pools, chasing insect prey. Butterflies are emerging
and it’s a good time to glimpse Cranes and Bitterns.
This season’s star species
Crane • Bittern • Hobby • Bearded Tit • Cuckoo
Accessibility
Parking: Blue Badge holders can park by New Fen in the nature reserve with a permit issued by a member of staff. There are also four Blue Badge spaces in the car park.
Wheelchairs: the Brandon Fen Family Trail is a flat, circular walk.
Dogs: welcome on the Washland Footpath, but must be kept on leads. More info rspb.org.uk/lakenheathfen
Photo: Our Media Studio
Our places RSPB Lakenheath Fen
Straight away, I can tell that this place is an oasis amid the surrounding flat farmland. But I’m soon to discover that it’s more than an oasis – it’s an ark. The air smells new; scents of nettle and hawthorn blossom mingle with peaty loam. Every breath is full of flavour. A female Mallard approaches me outside the visitor centre and looks up at me quizzically. “Hello!” I gush, feeling a bit like Snow White. A volunteer explains that the duck was raised by a local wildlife rehabilitator and released here as an adult. Although she lives wild, she still likes to visit the humans.
The feeling is mutual, as water birds draw people from far and wide. The welcoming visitor centre houses cheerful, enthusiastic staff including Visitor Experience Officer Heidi Jones, Site Manager David Rogers and several volunteers.
mosses creeping up its jagged flanks, so I stop to take a snap. My jaw drops when Heidi tells me that this tree took root 20,000 years ago. “It’s a bog oak. When the water levels rose at the end of the last ice age, a lot of big, tall trees just collapsed.
“Because the peat is starved of oxygen and so acidic, they were preserved where they fell, and only emerged when the RSPB started to sculpt the nature reserve into lagoons and pools. Now, it’s slowly breaking down, being exposed to the air. It’s all just carbon.”
I feel this should belong in a museum, not out in the elements, but Heidi tells me they’re common here; there are dozens more, some that we may never find. I bend down and touch the 20,000-year-old tree, trying to imagine its life, wondering whether it was ever seen alive by human eyes. What a great start to the day!
Watery savannah
1. The wetlands are perfect fishing grounds for visiting Grey Herons
2. Lakenheath Fen is made up of reedbeds, marshes and woodlands
3. This ancient bog oak stump is a rich part of the nature reserve’s history
4. A variety of wildlife thrives here, including the Redheaded Cardinal Beetle
5. The hides across the site offer fascinating viewings, such as this fight between a Great Crested Grebe and a Coot
6. Spot hunting Hobbies dashing above the reeds
Previous: Lakenheath’s tallest bog oak, helped to its feet after 20,000 years in the peat, is a popular perch for Cormorants
They tell me that all this was carrot fields not so long ago. Looking at what resembles soggy savannah outside the window, it’s almost unfathomable. But Roger has volunteered here for 28 years, and he remembers how different it was when he played here as a child. “We used to come down here, all us boys. In the early 1960s, Bryant & May planted the poplar trees here to make their Swan Vesta matches.
“Then the Golden Orioles came to nest. They last nested here in 2009 – we still get the odd individual here – but by then, the Cranes had turned up.”
Cranes?
“Yes, breeding Cranes.” Few breed in the UK, but this is one of their favourite sites, and a good time of year. They’re elusive, but hope swells in my heart.
The nature reserve was originally created for Bitterns, Roger tells me. The RSPB acquired the land in 1995 and the formerly flat farmland became a nature wonderland full of interest.
“We grew reeds in a polytunnel, dug out all the ponds and built 16 miles of trails connecting them. It was hard work, but it was the best thing that could have happened here. Without that, it could have been turned into industrial land.”
The Bitterns appreciated it. Roger likes to “go out and count them from the tower at 5.30 in the morning – a nice way to start the day!”
I’m keen to see it too and wander out onto the nature reserve with Heidi. A smooth trail takes us through thriving wet grassland towards a wood of poplars that survived the matchstick industry. We’re right on the Suffolk border, with Norfolk visible across the banks of the Little Ouse which traces a wiggly line to Ely, where it joins the Great Ouse.
I spot an unusual-looking tree stump poking out of the vegetation, oddly dark and hard with emerald
We stride along a flood bank, part of the 110-mile Hereward Way, the ancient east Anglian walking track that runs from Rutland Water through to Ely and Breckland. People have been throwing banks and ditches up here for thousands of years, to ease the transport of thatching reeds or the hunting of fish and water birds. The Victorians changed the course of the river, creating lodes (river ports, named for loading-up of goods there). Aerial photos betray where the river ‘wants’ to be, despite their centuries-long battle to control it. I’d love to see the water spreading and curling freely again as that prehistoric oak knew it, not contorted to suit commerce and land ownership.
We listen for the plop of resident Water Voles along shallow channels and pond-dipping pools and startle a Muntjac bounding through the vegetation. A pair of Great Crested Grebes drift along the river as a tern darts overhead.
A Sedge Warbler sings nearby, infused with grating, jazzy notes, different from the Reed Warblers, which also live here. Then a Cetti’s Warbler joins in with its little repeated motif.
Heidi tells me that insect season is beginning. “The first Large Red Damselflies are coming out. We’ve seen Hairy Dragonfly this week and Fourspotted Chaser, normally the two earliest. We’ve also got lots of Peacock, Brimstone, Comma, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White, Green-veined White, Orange-tip, a couple of Holly Blue butterflies, and next will come Common Blue, Brown Argus and Green Hairstreak in the gorse bushes around the car park. There’s a huge diversity.”
I have a real sense that life is crammed into every nook of what looks like a primeval landscape.
Thunderstorm safari
As we head out past lagoons fringed with more poplars, the sky looks ominous. A bruised mauve blanket draws overhead, infusing the world with a strange light that shifts the colours into unfamiliar hues. Greens become brighter and shadows clearer.
After a few loud thunderclaps the heavens open. We race to the Joist Fen Viewpoint, squeezing in with other visitors like Starlings on a perch and watch the
Photos: Our Media Studio; Andrew Carruth, Claire Haskins, David
Tipling
Photo Library (all Alamy Stock Photo)
‘This glorious landscape truly is an ark for some of our wow-factor wildlife’
raindrops splash into the lagoon. Beneath the surface, Whirligig Beetles dance around sprigs of Water Mint. In the distance, the site’s tallest bog oak rises 20 feet into the air, resurrected after 20 millennia in the ground. As the rain eases, a Grey Heron slides perfectly into the scene and alights on its summit, while half a dozen Hobbies emerge to hunt above the water. Magic.
We bump into volunteer Mark who’s been checking the fences. “The hide also has a couple of perches for Kingfishers,” he tells me. “It’s constant Kingfishers in the summer so people come to get up-close photos.”
When trees fall in the poplar woods along the shore, the Kingfishers are among the winners. He tells me that “fallen trees leave a big root plate that Kingfishers can nest in, because finding vertical space for a burrow around here is hard.” The root plate also leaves a depression in the ground that “floods and attracts Gadwall and Garganey, who like their own private little pool to nest in”. Everything is left to develop back into a natural forest structure.
No Kingfishers today, but we watch three young Coots on the water. “We have had a Bittern recently along the reed edge,” Heidi tells me, but everyone knows you don’t see them often. Or so they say.
The thunderstorm was good news, as it turns out – it’s coaxing out all the wildlife. Suddenly, not one but two Bitterns flap nonchalantly right across our path, shining bright copper against the impossibly green landscape. I’ve never seen Bitterns so close up! It’s almost like they don’t know we’re here.
Heidi points out the steel skeleton of an old polytunnel poking out of a reedbed. This, she tells me,
is where it all began – the reed nursery that Roger had told me about, where volunteers raised and planted reeds to create the nature reserve. Now abandoned, it’s testament to its own success, with self-sustaining reedbeds rippling around it in every direction.
The landscape looks to me like it’s always been this way. In fact, part of the nature reserve has. The primeval swamps of ‘Botany Bay’ down one end have SSSI designation and remain totally untouched by human development – an extremely rare thing in Britain. Named for its incredible plant life, Hemp Agrimony, Purple and Yellow Loosestrife bloom there in summer, and rare Marsh Pea climbs up the reeds, tumbling riotously through a truly virgin wilderness.
Two by two
Boasting both untouched and restored landscapes, this nature reserve also has big plans for the future. On the far side of the river, the RSPB has acquired another 54 hectares of adjacent arable land thanks to a donation from construction firm Morgan Sindall, and plans are under way to bring it back to life.
“We can raise the water levels here without affecting adjacent farmland,” Heidi explains, as we take a look. “If we flood it, Lapwing and Redshank can breed here, and it also provides grazing habitat for Bitterns and Cranes who prefer wetland.”
Hopefully it will become rough, savannah-like grassland, allowing the riot of life here to expand. Red Kites are also starting to spread – one flies over our heads, and as if offering a tantalising projection of things to come, two Brown Hares lope across the bare, soon-to-be verdant ground. Another wild thrill – they seem to be coming in two by two.
I’ve seen the ancient, the current and the future knitting together to create a landscape bursting with life, just as nature intended. It’s almost time to head home, but Lakenheath Fen has one more surprise up her sleeve. Roger had mentioned Cranes. They arrive in February, and their breeding area is closed off yearround to protect them. Being one of only 20 or 30 breeding grounds in the UK draws a lot of visitors here, but Heidi tells me the Cranes remain hard to see. Your best chance is in July when they’re out and about with their chicks. But it’s spring, and if I’m not very much mistaken, there are two huge, graceful Cranes flying across the river right in front of our eyes, grey wings beating through the sky, long necks outstretched towards what we hope becomes their new home. I’m momentarily stunned.
Two Hares, two Bitterns, two Cranes – all in one morning! Not to mention prehistoric trees, friendly ducks and hunting Hobbies. This glorious landscape truly is an ark for some of our wow-factor wildlife.
Anna Scrivenger was Editor of The RSPB Magazine
Photo: Andrew Carruth (Alamy Stock Photo)
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David Lindo
The song of spring
David Lindo is The Urban Birder and founder of The Urban Birder World, theurbanbirder world.com
David’s latest book for younger readers, Fly, is out on 9 May. It’s a fully illustrated collection of more than 150 birds from around the world.
It’s 4am and I am pulling up outside the entrance to Wormwood Scrubs, my west London local patch. It is late April and still dark and I am walking through the tiny strip of woodland that runs parallel with the busy Scrubs Lane; a road that never seems to be free from traffic. Yet, the thin cover of trees does a good job masking the sounds of the early morning motorists. It’s enough to hear what I came to witness: the dawn chorus. For me, springtime is announced and anointed by rapturous birdsong. It lifts the most sullen of spirits and warms the hearts of those tired of the long, dark days of winter.
So, what exactly is the dawn chorus? It is far more than our romantic vision of the birds celebrating the onset of spring by singing for our benefit. After the doldrums of winter, the onset of the longer, warmer days of spring coupled with the increased availability of insects and other invertebrates kickstarts the birds into action. The singing begins in earnest just as the trees start to bud and flowers bloom. Birds sing prior to the dawn to take advantage of the dead time before their insect prey becomes active when the sun rises. This quiet period is a great time to proclaim their territories to allcomers, and the loud singing carries further in the still air.
The message to the females is an invitation to come and check out the handsome male’s amazing territory with loads of food and a great spot to raise a healthy family. And that’s the thing, the male’s potential partner can tell by the quality of his cantor whether he is healthy and free from parasites and infection
and thus worthy of getting together with. At the same time, the male’s song also serves as a warning for rival males to stay out of his hard-earned territory.
I remember as a child in primary school being made to sing the hymn ‘Morning Has Broken’. Even at that early age I was into birds in a big way and I particularly liked the line ‘Blackbird has spoken like the first bird’. In a strange way, I saw it as a verification of my strange fledging hobby that absolutely nobody else shared. Interestingly, the hymn was a Scottish ditty that was originally composed back in the early �30s. The composer must have been a birder. Why? Because it is true, Blackbirds are amongst the first of the avian choir to pipe up. In fact, it is the insectivorous birds that lead the singing, joined by the seedeaters as dawn approaches.
As I cock my ear to listen to the first avian utterings, I hear a couple of competing Robins followed by Blackbirds and Wrens. It starts with random individuals singing from a variety of scattered locations around me, including birds singing from nearby private gardens. Eventually, it becomes an amazing cacophony of sounds all around me emanating from a range of species. It is almost deafening. As dawn approaches, migrant birds such as Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs have joined in the fray. The last to add their voices are the Goldfinches, Greenfinches and House Sparrows. Then, when the sun rises the chorus of singing dissipates.
‘Springtime is announced and anointed by rapturous birdsong. It lifts the most sullen of spirits and warms the hearts of those tired of the dark days of winter’
I implore you to get up early one calm spring morning to experience this amazing natural phenomenon. And, it doesn’t matter where you are, even if you are in the middle of the concrete jungle, just open your window and listen or pop to a local park with tree cover as, in varying degrees, this show is on everywhere. The dawn chorus does not happen on just one day. It is a gradual build-up starting as early as late February, with birds such as Mistle Thrushes classically starting proceedings. But, a great time to get yourself out of bed super early is around International Dawn Chorus Day on Sunday 5 May. Getting up early is not everybody’s cup of tea but you know what they say: the early bird gets the worm!
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forTogether nature
Your stories
From reservoirs to nature reserve
The three Grimsargh Reservoirs, near Preston, were decommissioned in 1980, and it soon became obvious that the site would be developed. Inspired by the great conservationist Sir Peter Scott I had a vision for the reservoirs to become a nature reserve. I compiled detailed ecology reports of the site, and in January 2003, perseverance paid off and the reservoirs became a Biological Heritage Site. I was elected as the Chairman of the Grimsargh Wetlands Trust, and the site was renamed Grimsargh Wetlands. In line with our mission statement, we promote and enhance the site’s biological diversity and the provision of facilities for everyone.
The progression has been remarkable. The trustees and volunteers have maintained the site, and the wetlands now support a rich biodiversity. At present, birds total 148 species; flora thrives and attracts many insects; small mammals provide prey for Kestrels and Barn Owls; and Daubenton’s and Noctule Bats feed over the water. It has been a mammoth task to restore the wetlands as a home for nature.
We are not going to stop here though, we have a big vision to develop the reserve even further, and I believe it has the potential to be a very significant regional wetland. Already it is a safe haven for migrating birds, with over 500 of the globally threatened Curlew roosting here. Looking forward, we plan to create a Sand Martin colony, provide better protection for threatened birds and extend the reedbed.
Personally, I will continue to campaign as a life member of the RSPB, WWF and WWT. I hope my recent book, Enjoying Birdwatching in Lancashire and Cumbria, encourages readers to get out and enjoy local wildlife, including, of course, Grimsargh Wetlands.
David Hindle
Make the most of summer with an event at a nearby nature reserve, events.rspb. org.uk
DAY TRIP
Your say
Star letter
Home for hoglets
We have three Hedgehog houses, two of which are occupied. The female has produced two autumn babies, which isn’t unusual here, it just means that mum will disappear to hibernate, leaving us to feed the kids! We have done this for several years and have only ever lost one youngster. I am sure that this year’s Hedgehogs are previous years’ babies who have returned to the garden to nest. They certainly know where the food is!
Hazel Smith
On the menu
After reading about the unusual behaviour of a Blackbird catching a newt in the latest issue of The RSPB Magazine, I’m sharing a photo of a Blackbird with a frog (shown on the right-hand page) that it caught in the garden before flying off with it in the direction of a nest in a neighbour’s garden.
Leslie Arkless
Ed: Many of you have written in to report that you’ve also seen Blackbirds catching newts in your gardens, from Claire Wilton in West Sussex to David Perry in North Yorkshire. Rosemary Jackson suggested that the behaviour might be due to hot, dry weather meaning worms were less accessible. Janet and Alan Singleton nicknamed their newt-
catching Blackbird Beyoncé as she had been ringed! Nicola Smith and Nigel Arthur have watched their local Blackbirds fishing for tadpoles as well as newts, and Ginny Matthew has seen them tadpole fishing too. Thanks also to B W Mercer, Alison Bell, Tony Teperek, Mark Wall, Nicola Smith, Wendy King, Colin Sumner and Richard Moisey who shared their sightings of this behaviour.
In it together
In these difficult times, we all need to feel that we are contributing in some way to ensuring a better world. Each of us, by being a member of the RSPB, is doing our bit towards improving the natural environment worldwide. So, feel good and smile! I had been working for 10 years before I could afford to join. Now,
The star letter wins a pair of RSPB 8x32 Avocet binoculars from our Viking Optical range. Waterproof, nitrogen-filled and robust. To see the full range, visit rspbshop.co.uk
I have been a member for 60 years. Over the years, when able to do so, I contributed to appeals and projects. I am most fortunate to have been a founding member of two which particularly addressed my concerns: the Flow Country and Hope Farm. Now, please set that aside, for the point I would like to emphasise is that the amount contributed is less important than the real effect we make over time together. You are one of a large army who care about our world. That is something to celebrate and smile about!
Nigel Palk
Bird book mystery
In the 1940s and �50s, Penguin published three volumes of James Fisher’s Bird Recognition, featuring a
Above: A Hedgehog’s average litter size is four to five hoglets
series of innovative calendar pie charts summarising much information about each bird. A fourth volume – which would have covered the passerines – was advertised as ‘in preparation’, but as far as I can discover was never published. Fisher died in 1970 and produced many other books, but apparently not Bird Recognition 4 Does anyone know why? The year-cycle charts included were such a useful summary.
Bill Evershed
Farming for the future
Hopefully this is just one of many letters expressing praise and support for your clear declaration that ‘working together’ is how we can rescue nature. Embracing farmers and landowners is an essential part of any endeavour to recover what has been lost over the years – often with the best of intentions to produce affordable food for us all. The damage caused to the environment has been recognised and many farmers have, for some time now, been pursuing schemes to improve the environment on their land. Unfortunately, this has not always been recognised and opportunities to work hand-in-hand with farmers have been passed by. Your clear statement of purpose made in the latest edition of The RSPB Magazine should send a message of direction to all those seeking to bring more life back into the countryside. Work together, give credit for what has already been achieved and build on it.
Brian Chester
Climate heroes
It is so easy to get bogged down in the doom and gloom of climate change, biodiversity loss and the decline in nature here in the UK. As a secondary school science teacher and school sustainability lead, I am hoping to support my students dealing with climate anxiety in any way possible. When your latest magazine arrived, it reminded me just how many people, charities and communities are working so hard, passionately carrying out difficult and laborious tasks in all weathers to do their part to mitigate the climate crisis. From campaigning for policy change in sandeel fishing to tagging
from
catastrophic bird flu pandemic. Thank you for highlighting all these heroes; I hope they realise how important and inspiring their work is. I will certainly be using lots of your articles in my lessons!
Trudie Gorham
The year in birds
When I retired over 20 years ago, I joined a walking group of fellow retirees. One of the group had set himself an annual target to spot and photograph 100 British birds in a year. I had little interest in bird spotting, but when he was diagnosed with cancer and sadly died pretty quickly thereafter, I felt compelled to adopt his challenge. I’m so pleased I did, particularly for the interest in nature and birds that it spurned. Spotting is not too bad, but adding the need to photograph as well remains a demanding challenge. I’ve come close to the illusive 100 but not quite made it yet. Anyway, it’s another year now, so off again.
Mike Goodwin
Getting to know you
Our resident Robin has been regularly visiting us for a year now. In summer she brought her mate who cautiously watched but never got too close. The fledglings also made occasional visits to our pond. They all left in the late summer,
but she remained. The Winter/ Spring edition of the magazine has enlightened us about the Robin’s behaviour. In early December a mate reappeared. We were surprised to see him so early, but Dominic Couzens said in the last issue that Robins can breed as early as January. We also read in Your Questions how the female has a ‘sharp, monosyllabic call’ to encourage the male to feed her during courtship. Our Robin uses that call to us when she is particularly hungry and wants us to take some notice of her. We had no proof at the beginning of 2023 that this robin was a female, but I think we now have evidence that we are correct. We’re looking forward to next year’s breeding season and wonder whether the male will dare to copy his more assertive mate and get a bit closer to us for some yummy suet bits.
Catherine Heatherington
Swinging skills
With reference to Winter/Spring 2024 issue, page 58, ‘Heated seat’. The Jackdaws that visit my garden have learnt that there is food in the bird feeders. Initially they have tried to copy the smaller birds, but over time they have found that as they swing on the feeders, the contents are scattered on the ground, where the other Jackdaws are waiting to collect the spoils. Clever Jackdaws!
Alan Ketley
Ringed Plovers and helping seabird colonies recover
the
Above (top): Leslie Arkless’ Blackbird spotted with a frog Above (bottom): Nigel signed up to the RSPB 60 years ago and he still treasures his copies of Bird Notes, an early predecessor to The RSPB Magazine
Your photos
Star photo Blackcap
I was out in my garden hide and was surprised and happy to see this Blackcap. Lovely to see it feeding on the berries I had put out to get a good photo.
Dudley Taylor
Send your wildlife photos to The RSPB Magazine See page 3 for details
RSPB Shop bundle worth £250!
Our star amateur photo wins £250 to spend on anything at the RSPB Shop! From wildlifegarden ideas to homewares, books and even chocolate, everything is produced in the most sustainable and nature-friendly way possible, and proceeds go directly towards wildlife conservation. So treat yourself or a loved one, safe in the knowledge that you’re supporting both wildlife and sustainable, ethical businesses.
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3. Glossy Ibis by Joanne Crossland
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6. Grey Heron and Oystercatchers by Geoff Reed
G s ardens
The spiritual side of nature
Adrian Thomas visits the gardens of Lambeth Palace, where nature finds a home in the heart of London
Less than 400 metres from the Houses of Parliament – hardly known for its wildlife riches! – is a place that teems with life: the Lambeth Palace Garden. Here, the palace graciously allows the RSPB to host walks for MPs to help inspire them about nature.
As well as being a private garden for the Archbishop of Canterbury, his wife Caroline and the palace’s staff and visitors, the garden also has many more equally important roles. “The Archbishop likes it to be used to support worthwhile causes,” explains Lambeth Palace’s Head Gardener Lindsay Schuman.
It is one of the oldest gardens in the UK, first created in 1197, but with a long and
varied history – from growing food in the Middle Ages to becoming allotments in the first world war. It was then heavily bombed in the second world war.
Now, it is a haven of tranquillity, all managed organically. At one end of the garden is the palace, at the other the library, and in between, enjoying a sheltered microclimate thanks to the high garden walls, is, in effect, a grand woodland glade.
On the central lawn, mowing is restricted, leaving as much uncut as possible, including a grass labyrinth requested by Archbishop Justin. The main lawn is needed for large events, but there
are plenty of edges left. “It is like the biblical principle where you have a generous margin around the edge of a field,” Lindsay says. “We try to be generous in everything we do in the garden.”
This generosity extends to the Foxes, which breed in the garden. “We live with them, accept them. We do have to work around some of their impacts, so we mow long grass when they’ve run through it several times, but we raise the mower height and leave the cut area longer.”
Around the outside of the lawn, majestic trees soar and there are extensive beds of flowers. “We try to have as long a flowering season as possible. Snowdrops
Lambeth Palace nestles at the end of the garden, which is like a large woodland glade.
Patches of longer grass, including a labyrinth, bring ecological diversity to the lawn.
The Thames runs alongside, creating a migration corridor. The Houses of Parliament are just to the right of here on the opposite bank.
Together for nature Gardens
How to Create a flower border for wildlife
A great way to encourage insects is with herbaceous perennials – flowers whose top growth dies back in autumn but regrows each spring. Above is one of the glorious beds at Lambeth Palace Garden in May, with orange geums, lilac irises, pink foxgloves and Red Campion.
Most perennials can be grown cheaply from seed, although they may not flower until their second year. Choose your plants wisely,
Activity No-mow May… June and July!
At the palace, many grassy areas are allowed to grow unchecked, excellent cover for all sorts of wildlife. Some become a froth of Cow Parsley (right). Many people take part in Plantlife’s ‘Nomow May’ (plantlife.org.uk/nomowmay), but don’t take the title too literally – it’d be a problem for wildlife if every lawn was mown on 1 June! Leave areas uncut into late summer if you can. Do keep mowing paths through longer areas –Starlings, Blackbirds and other wildlife also need shorter turf. If the grass grows so lush that it flops, cut it. Otherwise, you can leave it as late as September. Ideally, cut it over several days with shears.
selecting those that are right for your garden – some prefer sun, others shade; some like a free-draining soil, others cope with wet clay. Plant each type of flower in groups to ensure insects enjoy the bounty.
Adrian’s award-winning book, RSPB Gardening for Wildlife, includes a compendium of 600 wildlife-friendly garden plants. rspb.org.uk/shop
What to grow now Roses (Rosa)
Roses – or at least some of them – are among the most underrated garden plants for wildlife as well as for creating a healthy garden ecosytem.
There are some 30,000 varieties available to gardeners, with many groups to suit different spaces, including shrub roses, climbers and ramblers.
Most have been bred to have dense whorls of petals, at the expense of pollen production, so slim your choice right down to the single-flowered varieties –those with a single (or at most, double) ring of petals.
Even the best roses produce little or no nectar – it is the copious crop of pollen that bees, butterflies and hoverflies come for from these single varieties.
Look too for roses that produce hips, offering food for birds throughout autumn and winter. These include Simple Yellow and This Morning.
Several native species can be planted in amongst a native hedge, such as Dog Rose and Sweet Briar.
Most roses need pruning. As a rule of thumb for most varieties, do it in late winter, cutting out dead and damaged stems, and then taking last-year’s growth back by about a third.
A garden with wildlife in mind
We moved to our home just over 40 years ago. After years riding horses, my wife Ann turned her attention more to her garden. She dreamed up rockeries, gravel paths, water features, places for pots and a wooded area. While it was not specifically planted for wildlife, she had wildlife very much in mind.
The garden now is home to many birds, with House and Tree Sparrows visiting every day. In winter, we regularly have Yellowhammers and occasionally Reed Buntings. Greenfinches have come back on a more regular basis, and in late 2023 we even had a Waxwing and a couple of Bramblings visit.
One pond has just about been taken over by all three British species of newt. I even saw a Great Crested Newt on Christmas Day.
I trap moths and have had some unusual species for Durham, including the county’s first Bulrush Veneer. I have also recorded Brimstone butterfly, becoming more common but still rare in this part of the country.
We opened our garden under the National Garden Scheme in 2021 and have done so since. Sadly, my wife died last year, but I am trying to keep her treasured garden going.
Richard Cowen, Durham
Adrian says: Gardens have to perform many functions, but wildlife can be interwoven whatever style of garden you want, so Ann’s, and now Richard’s, approach of considering wildlife in every decision is perfect – and the photo clearly shows the wonderful results!
Grassroots
Nature on Your Doorstep
Buy RSPB-endorsed and wildlifefriendly roses
Roses have long been a garden favourite in the UK. If you want to grow a wildlife-friendly variety to help save nature, we’ve got just the thing! Harkness Roses, the oldest UK rose breeder and grower, has been developing a range of roses to have open flowers with protruding stamens – perfect for wildlife.
The plants are grown in peat-free compost; are supplied in recycled plastic pots; and have been tested for seven years without any pesticides to ensure that they remain disease-free in gardens.
There are nine roses in the RSPB ‘Power to Pollinators’ collection. There are bare-rooted and potted options and a selection of pink, white and orange roses and an array of types including bush and climbing varieties.
For each rose sold, a £2.50 donation will be made to the RSPB to help fund our ongoing conservation efforts. roses.co.uk/rspb
Have you done something for nature in your garden or outdoor space (big, small or tiny) that you are proud of? Has something exciting visited or moved in as a result? Have you got any questions about what to do to have even more impact? Send us your garden stories and questions to RSPBmagazine@rspb.org.uk And remember to check out our Nature on Your Doorstep webpages for advice and inspiration, and why not join our community and Facebook group, sharing ideas with people across the country? Start your journey with us here: rspb.org.uk/ natureonyourdoorstep
Start your journey
Your questions
Questions answered by India James, Siân Denney and Molly Brown, RSPB Wildlife team Ask us about wildlife at YourQuestions@rspb.org.uk
I have seen sick finches in my garden, could it be trichomonosis?
Trichomonosis is a parasitic disease which leads to lesions in the gullet of affected birds. Signs of the disease include lethargy, fluffed-up feathers, difficulty swallowing and regurgitated food around the beak. A new study is trying to understand the ways in which the disease spreads and how we can reduce transmission risk. You can help by reporting any sightings of sick or dead birds to our partners at Garden Wildlife Health (gardenwildlifehealth.org). If you find five or more dead birds of any wild species in the same location, report this at gov.uk/guidance/report-dead-wild-birds You can also help reduce the risk of disease with weekly cleaning of feeding stations and bird baths.
Which is which?
Turtle Dove vs Collared Dove
We are lucky enough to have Turtle Doves visit us over the spring and summer to breed, however, they can easily be confused with our year-round resident, the Collared Dove, which can be spotted across the British Isles. With its distinctive ‘coo’ and bold markings, the Green-listed Collared Dove is a familiar species to us all; the Red-listed Turtle Dove, however, has sadly become a rarer sight in the UK. You can discover more about these migratory birds on page 18.
• Long-winged and pale buff-grey in colour
• Black half-collar ring on the back of the neck
• Upper parts of tail have no strong contrasting colours
• White undersides of wings and buffcoloured lower belly
Who does this nest belong to?
This cosy-looking nest was discovered in an outdoor pizza oven! It’s a fantastic example of a Great Tit nest, which tend to be found in cavities such as a hole within a tree, wall or nestboxes. Great Tits create wonderful nest cups made up of roots, moss, lichens and grass which they mix wool, down and even spider-webs into. They then line the inside with materials such as hair and feathers to keep their eggs warm. An important reminder to check your pizza oven before lighting!
Dove
• Smaller in size than the Collared
• Barred neck patch
• Upperparts are distinctively mottled with chestnut and black
• Neck and chest are pink/grey in colour
• In flight you can see their dark tail has a contrasting, broad white band
Have you ever wondered about the structure of bird bones?
Hannah Dewhurst
Most birds are masters of flight, which is possible through their bone structure. The wing skeleton is particularly lightweight due to hollow (pneumatic) bones that are filled with air. Interestingly, there are broad differences in bone structure, even between similar species. For example, diving ducks have thick, marrow-filled bones to counteract buoyancy in water, whereas dabbling ducks have almost entirely air-filled bones since they rarely submerge themselves. Birds are also the only vertebrates with a fused collarbone – along with the fusion of other bones, this reduces their mass to aid in flight.
Blue Tit
How do birds navigate during migration?
Environmental cues play the greatest role; along with temperature changes, day length triggers migration as birds are sensitive to the hours of daylight. Birds use landmarks as guidance, following rivers or mountain ranges. Birds also use the position of the sun and even the Earth’s magnetic field for direction – some species have a mineral (magnetite) embedded in their skulls that picks up on magnetic forces. Many flock together, with young birds following adults to learn the route. It’s incredible to think about the journeys many of our birds take!
Why do Cormorants spread their wings so often?
Cormorants are frequently seen perching, staying still for a long time with their wings spread open in the sun. This behaviour is usually (although not always) observed after swimming or diving. There are a few different theories as to why Cormorants assume this posture (including warming ingested fish and advertising their success in finding food to others), but it is mainly believed that Cormorants do this to dry off their feathers. Cormorants primarily feed on fish and dive to catch their prey. However, their plumage is not completely waterproof so it’s important that they find a way of drying themselves off after.
Site a Nuthatch nest box
Nuthatches use natural tree holes for their nests – often choosing large, mature deciduous trees or making the most of old woodpecker holes – but they will also use nest boxes with a 32mm entrance hole. A Nuthatch nest box is best placed around two to three metres from the ground with a clear flight path to the entrance. Ideally the nest box should face between north and east, but it would also be fine to face it in a different direction as long as the area gets plenty of shade during the day. You’ll likely know if you get Nuthatches move in to your nest box by the mud that they plaster around the entrance hole! They typically lay between six and eight eggs which hatch around two weeks later.
What
are l h j k ?
Craneflies (right), or daddy long-legs as they are often known, are an important part of the food chain. The larvae of some of our most common cranefly species (such as Spotted Craneflies, often found in gardens) are known as ‘leatherjackets’. As well as many birds eating adult craneflies, the larvae are also an important food source for lots of species, including Starlings which are often seen probing for the leatherjackets in the ground. Short grass areas are great places for Starlings to find this nutritious food source.
Ellie Peters
Tom Blades
Matthew Kersley
Pink-footed Geese
Business of nature
Jamie Wyver explores how the RSPB’s strong and positive relationships across different industries give nature a muchneeded helping hand
Vicki Boyton leaves her house accompanied by Blackbird song cascading from a nearby Bird Cherry. House Sparrows chatter in the hedgerow as she walks towards the lakes. It’s a lovely, and perhaps unexpected, experience on a new-build housing development. This has all been possible at Kingsbrook in Aylesbury, where Vicki lives, thanks to a pioneering partnership between the RSPB and Barratt
Developments
PLC.
It’s not just housebuilding that the RSPB aims to make more nature-friendly. Across the UK, and globally, the charity works with industries as varied as fishing, mining, recreation, retail and tourism.
Why work with businesses?
In the past, industrialisation has caused biodiversity decline and decimation of wild habitats. So the list of sectors above may seem surprising. The RSPB needs to be vocal about the changes that are needed to protect and restore nature. But as well as lobbying those in power, the charity also needs to be working alongside people, building trusted relationships and sharing the wealth of expertise it holds. It is members’ support that helps the RSPB to build these relationships.
“Businesses are a core part of the solution,” explains Kim Dunn, RSPB Senior Policy Officer. She adds that there are 5.59 million registered businesses in the UK. “Imagine what it would be like if each one embedded nature into the heart of their decision-making and committed to restore what we have lost,” says Kim.
Businesses can play a powerful role in bringing back nature. With access to some of the best minds, funding and technology, they are often able to act swiftly and independently, leading rather than waiting for others to act. But, Kim adds, the level of understanding amongst business leaders and employees needs to increase, rapidly.
Katie Wakefield, the RSPB’s Head of Business Engagement, says, “It’s important to recognise that businesses are at different stages in their journeys with nature. We need them to commit to contributing to a Nature Positive future in which people and the planet thrive. Where we are satisfied that they are committed to being on this journey with us and have ambitious plans for the future, it’s important for the RSPB to help those businesses succeed, not just for us but for the incredible nature and communities around us.”
How does this help business?
Nature isn’t just something that’s nice to have or to look at. Every business is either wholly or partly dependent on healthy, functioning ecosystems. When things go wrong, business is impacted. For example,
flooding, drought and insect loss all have negative effects on business, from crop failures, property damage and loss of income. On the other hand, resilient, healthy nature can protect people and livelihoods from the early effects of climate change. Nature can ensure stable supply chains and boost the health and wellbeing of employees.
Taking action for nature offers companies an opportunity. Nature is our greatest ally in the fight against climate change, helping us to store carbon, regulate water and manage air temperatures. It is also an economic opportunity. The World Economic Forum estimates that 395 million jobs are dependent on nature, and with every £1 million invested in nature’s recovery, an additional 40 jobs are created.
Governments look to businesses to help them meet their environmental commitments, such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This was signed by 196 countries who pledged to protect and restore 30% of our land and seas by 2030.
And customers increasingly expect businesses to have a position on the nature crisis. Research from the RSPB’s Fair to Nature food certification scheme shows that over two thirds of the UK’s adults want to support nature-friendly businesses. So do employees, who want to know if corporate values match their own.
People power
Previous page: Wildlife is thriving amongst the houses at Kingsbrook
1. Cranes at RSPB Lakenheath Fen where Morgan Sindall Group has helped acquire new land
2. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park supports valuable species
3. Alex Falkingham with colleagues from the RSPB and Co-op at Lake Vyrnwy
4. Tufted Vetch and Oxeye Daisies at RSPB Blacktoft Sands where Ella’s Kitchen are helping to protect a meadow
5. A diverse range of birds appear at Kingsbrook, such as this Cormorant
It’s worth remembering that companies are made up of people too, and often when the RSPB is talking to businesses, enthusiasm for wildlife is already there.
Chris Jenkins is Head of Impact at kids’ food brand Ella’s Kitchen, a recent corporate partner for the RSPB. Creating a nature-connected business culture is a priority for Ella’s Kitchen, and for Chris.
A particular bird inspired Chris’ passion for conservation. “I was born in May 1984, around the time Peregrine Falcons first successfully bred in Symonds Yat, Herefordshire. The RSPB set up a 24-hour surveillance to prevent egg theft. Peregrines have nested there ever since, throughout my life.”
Chris continues, “Ella’s Kitchen relies on nature; we couldn’t exist without it. I want to ensure that when my children are grown up, and maybe have children of their own, that nature is in a better state than it is today – and those Peregrines are still there! For this to happen, we need businesses to step up. We must work together to create the change we need to save nature.”
By engaging with businesses, the RSPB is also reaching people whom they may not otherwise. Graham Edgell at UK construction and regeneration
How to help…
‘Businesses are often seen as the villain of this story, but we need to see them as our allies’
group Morgan Sindall Group believes that as their RSPB partnership work energises his company’s staff and their families, many more people will feel they’re helping to make things better.
Restoring landscapes
The RSPB works with businesses in several different ways. There are corporate partners who give the charity financial support, often funding large conservation projects. These include Co-op, who began a three-year partnership with the RSPB in 2023. The retailer’s initial £1 million investment, raised through the sale of its compostable carrier bags, will enable the ongoing restoration and long-term management of precious peatland at RSPB Lake Vyrnwy in Powys and RSPB Yell in Shetland.
Guy Stuart, Director of Sustainability, Technical and Agriculture at Co-op, explains the thinking behind the project: “This partnership will play a part in helping to avoid carbon emissions through repairing vital peatlands. This will increase carbon stores and support our work to prioritise action where we are able to make the most impact.”
The RSPB and Ella’s Kitchen recently launched the ‘30 by 30’ partnership. This aims to protect and restore 30 million square feet of wildflower and grassland meadows on nine RSPB sites by 2030. These include Otmoor in Oxford, Dolydd Llyn in North Wales and Loch Lomond in West Dunbartonshire.
Another long-term landscape-scale project has been transforming a vast sand and gravel quarry in Cambridgeshire. Since 2001, Heidelberg Materials UK have worked with the RSPB to transform their site into the Ouse Fen Wetlands. This reserve – home to Otters Bitterns, Bearded Tits, and Marsh Harriers – will hold the biggest reedbed (460ha) in the UK. The site helps local people too, as part of a flood alleviation system.
Not far away, at RSPB Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk (see p48), Morgan Sindall Group has helped the site to expand, which will, over time, enable more wetland habitat to be created for wildlife, including Cranes, and help to reduce carbon emissions in the area.
Advice and advocacy
The RSPB’s conservation experts help people work in a way that enhances the natural environment and creates habitat for wildlife.
This includes the long-term partnership with Barratt Developments where the RSPB has been guiding the company’s practices to be more nature friendly, from the flagship Kingsbrook development
to a new Swift brick and wildlife-friendly show gardens around the UK.
Helen Nyul, Group Head of Biodiversity at Barratt says, “Our work with the RSPB helps us bring in new ideas for ways we can make our business go beyond just meeting compliance and help include spaces for wildlife in our developments too.”
The RSPB has also supported idverde, a landscape management company, in transforming 2,281ha into wildlife-friendly green space. Chief Executive Kristian Lennard recently commented, “Working alongside our RSPB colleagues is both a pleasure and an invaluable lesson in how to better manage our ecosystems.”
Member events
Discover more about the RSPB’s work with businesses. Register for fascinating free online events for RSPB members in June 2024 by scanning the QR code below or visiting rspb.org.uk/ businessofnature
By the end of 2023, the charity passed the major landmark of 10,000ha of land well-managed for nature with its business partners, including Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London, working with idverde, and Lightrock Power’s Longpasture solar farm in Darlington.
The RSPB is also reaching new corporate audiences through film. Along with WWF, National Trust and Silverback Films, the charity has produced four Save Our Wild Isles business videos. These use incredible footage from last year’s Wild Isles TV series, along with interviews from leading business thinkers. The films have so far been shown to over 25,000 employees at a variety of businesses, prompting conversations around how their companies can aid nature’s recovery.
Hope for nature
Back at Kingsbrook, spring is well on its way, bringing hope and new life. Those chirping House Sparrows are doing well: over five years their numbers have increased from two to 147 pairs. There are twice as many Starlings and bumblebees, and there has been an increase in Reed Buntings, Sedge Warblers and Common Whitethroats. Bats have been seen swooping around the houses and will hopefully make use of the built-in bat boxes. A human community is building there too, with schoolchildren planting trees and bulbs.
6. A business holds a screening of the Save our Wild Isles films
7. Partnership work has transformed Ouse Fen Wetlands into a haven for Otters
8. Loch Lomond is one location where the RSPB and Ella’s Kitchen are creating and enhancing wildflower meadows
9. Adults and children are connecting with the wildlife at Kingsbrook
10. Over the last five years at Kingsbrook, Common Whitethroats and other species have increased in numbers
Eris Robertson and his partner Jon both live and work on the development. They love watching wildlife in their garden with their two children. “I’ve seen butterflies here that I’ve never seen before,” Eris says.
As Vicki Boyton says, housing is going to be built anyway, but by working with businesses, charities have “an opportunity to direct the conversation”.
Kim Dunn agrees: “Businesses are often seen as the villain of this story, but we need to see them as our allies and bring them on this journey with us.”
Nature is vital for business. And, given the chance, business can be vital for nature.
Supporter Communications
Manager Jamie Wyver began working at the RSPB in 2014, after completing a Master’s in Conservation Science at Imperial College London.
Scan code
Photos: Kim Dunn, Ben Andrew, Craig Churchill (all rspb-images.com); Gary Daggers; RSPB Scotland
Simon Barnes
Igniting a passion – and keeping it lit
Simon Barnes is a bird and wildlife
The 20th anniversary edition of Simon Barnes’ How to be a Bad Birdwatcher has been published and is available to buy at shopping.rspb.org.uk
Don’t be cool. There’s nothing quite so uncool as being cool. The only truly cool thing to be is a nerd. Nerds are passionate people, and who wants to live without passion? Only cool people. So here’s my advice to every young person oppressed by the social pressures of teenaged life: be uncool! Release the nerd within and live with passion!
I wish I’d taken that advice myself. I had a passion for nature. I was a natural history nerd, with a head full of dinosaurs, birds of paradise and endangered lemurs – but then I went to Big Boys’ School and tried to fit in. I lost nature for 20 years, and finding it again was one of the great events of my life. I’ve written thousands of words in an attempt to bring nature back into the lives of people who either lost it like me, or perhaps never quite found it.
People are always asking Sir David Attenborough how he got his love of nature. His reply is always the same: “How did you ever lose yours?” The true and secret answer is always this: I was trying to be cool. I needed to fit in. I didn’t want to be a nerd.
All children are attracted to nature, if only they can get some. Unworried and oblivious to the terrible notion of being cool, they’re enchanted – without hesitation – by sightings of Robins, earthworms, butterflies, earwigs and Hedgehogs. Then they become teenagers
and face the awful pressure to be ordinary. To live without passion.
Has natural history ever been cool? The Victorians couldn’t get enough of it, collecting ferns, seaweed, seashells, orchids, butterflies, birds’ eggs and stuffed birds. Charles Darwin was mad for beetles. But that sort of thing has been out of fashion for more than 100 years. So how do you ignite a passion in the 21st century?
That’s easy: show a child a certain butterfly and explain that it came all the way from Africa; visit a museum, view the bones of a dinosaur and explain extinction. The best PR for nature has always been nature. But how to keep the passion you’ve ignited? Aye, there’s the rub. Give a teenager a choice between the Blue Whale and half an hour in the bus shelter with your mates, and it’s the bus shelter every time. Or so it seems.
Growing up is about learning to make choices: all an adult can do is point in the direction of good choices, and better still, be a living example of them. Enthusiasm is contagious – take your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews with you next time you go birding. Share your knowledge and let them teach you something, too. A fresh perspective can lead to fresh sightings. There are new opportunities to seize, too: free admission to RSPB nature reserves for people aged 16 to 24: huzzah! No one should be unable to afford nature.
‘People are always asking Sir David Attenborough how he got his love of nature. His answer is always the same: “How did you ever lose yours?”’
The embers of our childhood passion for nature glow forever, waiting to catch light again. I had just turned 30 when I saw my first Avocet, and it was not so much a bird as a bolt of lightning. Bang! And I was back in nature. Why had I ever been away?
Because I tried to be cool. Did I succeed? Not even for a second. My great achievement at school was to be both bored and boring. After that, well, I’d just lost the habit. But when the birder is ready the bird will come. And with the Avocet my inner nerd leapt free at last: glorious, golden, enraptured and above all, passionate. At last, I was myself again.
writer and author.
A father’s devotion leads to incredible patented pillow –one day all pillows will be made this way
technology. When Georgia Miles was recovering from a lifethreatening accident, her father Alexander looked everywhere for a pillow that would keep her comfortable throughout the night.
After purchasing dozens of different types and finding none that worked, Alex, a renowned furniture and domestic product designer, decided to engineer his own.
UNIQUE BREAKTHROUGH
He made a breakthrough when he realised that all pillows spread out and flatten down as the weight of the head rests on them. This flattening progresses through the night, leaving the head and neck poorly supported – and sleep interrupted. This is why many people find themselves half awake and ‘pillow-punching’ in the middle of the night, desperately trying to get comfortable.
EXTRA COMFORT AND SUPPORT
The innovative model that Alex designed has internal ties that hold the filling in place, and pull the pillow in and up to cradle the head and neck. This provides extra comfort and support that lasts through the night and ensures that you get the most benefit from an undisturbed sleep.
I can honestly say that your pillow has made the world of difference… and fully endorse your pillow as being quite unique in its ability to maintain support throughout the night.
Dr Deane Halfpenny Harley Street Consultant and Spinal Pain Specialist
MADE IN THE UK
Made in the UK, the Gx Pillow comes in a choice of two levels of support: Medium-soft, which most people seem to prefer, or Medium-firm for those who like a little more resistance. Alex’s desperate desire to help his daughter Georgia has led to a pillow that has also transformed the lives of thousands of people. So if you have spent a lifetime looking for the perfect pillow, your search may well be over!
INFORMATION: gxpillows/0800 316 2689
“ levels of support: Medium-soft, which most seem
I cannot believe that after 40 years I have finally found the best pillow ever!!!! It simply stays put and so comfy, fabulous, must buy more for hubby and a spare. Izzy, Yorkshire
Alexander Miles, inventor of the Gx Pillow pictured with his invention
Your legacy is nature’s future
At the RSPB we know our connection to nature is irreplaceable. We must nurture and protect it, because without it we are lost.
That’s why we’re working tirelessly to tackle the biggest threats facing our world, so one day we can truly thrive together.
A gift in your Will to the RSPB is one of the most powerful ways you can support this mission for generations to come.
Request your RSPB Gifts in Wills guide at rspb.org.uk/legacy or call one of our Legacy Advisers on 01767 669700
South East Cornwall Luxury s/c lodges in AONB with woodland, meadow, lake and River Fowey on site. Wildlife and bird-watcher’s paradise. Great location for exploring Cornwall.
www.rivermeadcottages.co.uk • 07932 945599
Nr Penzance. 2 remote cottages on Penwith moors. Slps 2-4. Available all year. See for miles across fields & heathland down to the sea. Nr Marazion Marsh & Hayle Estuary. Tel: 01736 363677. www.dingdongcottages.co.uk
Cawsand Coastal sea views, AONB, wild garden, abundant woodland, bird life, relaxing space, 2 dbls. April–Oct Sat to Sat. 07900 994231. makerevents@hotmail.com for info.
Port Isaac. Cottage for 6 in bygone fishing hamlet on N coast. Washer-dryer, dishwasher, PC + wireless broadband, full CH. Gardens. Pets welcome. £300 (winter) – £950 pw. Tel: 01208 880106
Creekside Cottages® Cornwall
Picturesque waters-edge self catering cottages sleeping 2 - 8. Peaceful & comfortable ideal for birdwatchers. Just come & relax. Dogs welcome, available all year. www.creeksidecottages.co.uk 01326 375972
Next to Leighton Moss, Lancs/Cumbria border & Gait Barrow AONB. B&B overlooks Haweswater Lake. Challan Hall. 01524 701054
Lake District, Ravenglass. Enchanting coastal cottage, sleeps 3, panoramic sea/estuary views. Near Drigg, Duddon, St Bees, Hawk & Owl Centre, Eskdale, Wasdale, Scafell. www.rosycot.co.uk 01946 723413
Otters, owls, dipper, kingfisher
Separate annexe, slps 2, near river with 34 acres. On Devon/Cornwall border 01566 784196. www.coombemillshippen.co.uk
Holsworthy. Bird-friendly farm. Cabin, sleeps up to 6, Wi-Fi, wood burner. On Ruby Way national cycle route, nr. DWT reserves, Dartmoor and N. Cornwall coast. 01409 253570
Exmoor, nr Dulverton. Very comfy cottage in tranquil secret setting, fine views, direct access ancient woodland nature reserve (SSSI), moor & river. Ideal location for birdwatching and walking. Sleeps 2-4. Tel/fax: 01225 464 232. www.mounseyend.co.uk
Glorious North Devon. Only 9 cosy caravans on peaceful farm. Wonderful walks in woods & meadows. Easy reach sea, moors & lovely days out. £125-£395pw. Discount couples. Nice pets welcome. 01769 540366 www.snapdown.co.uk
Nr. Weymouth. Comfortable VE4★ cottage slps 4. Nr Jurassic coast & bird reserves. 01305 760120. www.stonebank-chickerell.co.uk
Slimbridge Tudor Arms. Real ale & good food pub with rooms. Close to WWT. enquiries@thetudorarms.co.uk Tel: 01453 890 306. www.thetudorarms.co.uk
Forest of Dean, Stunning loc, direct access to forest. Secluded cott slps 6. Lge garden. Dogs welcome. Parking. RSPB Nagshead 4 mls. 07581 302496. air.tl/hiNQlidY
Timber framed, 2023 constructed holiday cottage. Open plan living. 2 en-suite bedrooms, sleeps 4. Hot tub & private balcony. www.tawnycottage.uk tawnyc0ttageuk@gmail.com 01989 740223
Hereford. Farmhouse B&B on banks of River Wye. 01432 870223 or www.sinkgreenfarm.co.uk for brochure
DUNGENESS: comfortable cottage ideal for RSPB. 2 en suite double bedrooms. Openplan kitchen/dining, large lounge, wood fire, Wi-Fi. Sightings of rare birds. RSPB site next door. www.wiwurri-dungeness.co.uk or annpatriciamcferran@gmail.com
Nr Dungeness/Rye B&B, All Ensuite, RSPB 3 night or more 10% discount. 01797 362381. www.broadacrehotel.co.uk
Holiday cottages Between Boston & Skegness. Ideal for RSPB Freiston Shore, Frampton Marsh & Gibraltar Point. For brochure: crewyardholidaycottages.co.uk 01205 871389
Rural cottage in quiet village of Bratoft, ideal for RSPB Gibraltar point, Frampton Marsh & Frieston Shore. Near Gunby Estate NT. Contact 07731 865275 or Ashcottage7@gmail.com
Between Blakeney & Cley. S-C annexe slps 2. Garden area, birdsong and parking. Also B&B suite. 01263 740 840
Isles of Scilly
Bird Migration, Flowers & Butterflies
Based on Bryher, visiting Tresco, St Martin’s
For more details contact: David Rosair, Island Ventures 01227 793501 www.islandventures.co.uk
Sedgeford, North Norfolk
Luxury Bed & Breakfast - Ensuite double rooms Perfect for bird-watchers, cyclists and walkers Mid-week offers available www.norfolkhaybarn.co.uk 07799414191
Cromer. Coach House Studio. Delightful. Sleeps 2. Private courtyard. Large reception. Ideal for exploring N Norfolk, both east & west. Dogs welcome. www.coachhouse.studio
Cromer S/c house. Slps 4. Private garden. 5 min walk to coast. 2 bedr’m, 2 bathr’m. Great rates/reviews. 07724 290369. turnstonescromer@gmail.com
Norfolk coast. Brancaster. Comfortable house slps 10. Reasonable. 07768 333373
Period cottage, N Norfolk, 1 mile coast. Sleeps 2+2. Quiet village, large garden, private parking, Wi-Fi. 07850 989531. www.churchcottagelangham.co.uk
Close to Wenlock Edge 4 self-catering coach house; ideal for 2; walks from the door; tranquility and views. Phone 01584 841649 or www.ferndaleflat.co.uk
Quantocks AONB One bed spacious rural cottage. Stunning views. Patio and parking. All mod cons. Sleeps 2. Near Fyne Court. Contact 07786 314980. upalong3@gmail.com
Meare. Licensed 4 B&B close to the Moors & Wetland bird reserves. 01458 860449 www.mearemanor.co.uk
A Roost with a View Relax in our beautiful selfcontained Roost, 1 dbl & 1 sgl bed. 3-minute walk to Chew Valley Lake, amazing views in bird heaven. sucass@hotmail.co.uk 07800 775853
Shapwick Take advantage of our location, staying in one of our unique luxury cottages. Easy access to Avalon Marshes, RSPB’s Ham Wall & other reserves. 07513 438623. info@wheelwrightscottages.com
Luxury Bed and Breakfast accommodation between Norfolk Broads & Coast. Access to private farmland with Cranes and Marsh Harriers. 01692 598243 www.dairybarns.co.uk
Snettisham. ‘Merchant House’. 4 bed house with garden & parking. Sleeps 2-6. Dog friendly. 1 mile from RSPB Snettisham and Ken Hill Wood. 01480 264266. www.holidayhomenorfolk.co.uk
SHERINGHAM: Comfortable, convenient, flint fishermen’s cottage, close to beach, shops and amenities. WiFi. Sleeps 2-5. 01223 834476. sue.hunting@ntlworld.com
Wells-next-the-Sea. ‘The Snug’, a cosy hideaway for 2. Also 1 double room B&B 01328 710594. www.thesnuginwells.co.uk
Hunstanton Sleeps 2/3, 2 bed annexe. En-suite bathroom. Walking distance beach, fields, town. Ideally situated for Titchwell 5.8 miles, Wild Ken Hill 4.8 miles. Small patio and parking. Joannabostrom@hotmail.co.uk 07432 563331 www.seahenge.co.uk
WEYBOURNE Two self-catering holiday lets (sleep 4/5 and 6/7) within private nature reserve. Beach 250 m. Bird list 251 species! Tel: 01263 588131 www.denmarkhousenorfolk.co.uk
Chilton Polden Lovely 3 bed S/C cottage; sleeps 6 with log burner, private garden and parking. Close to Ham Wall, Greylake, Shapwick & Westhay. www.rosarycottage.co.uk 01293 431175
Claverham, by Kenn Moor. Red Apple Lodge & 5CL crvn & mtrhme site at Orchard Bank. 30 mins to Severn Estuary or Somerset Levels, home to outstanding sites. A little further to Slimbridge, Axminster & Wye Valley. Only 15 mins to Chew Valley and Blagdon Lakes. Secluded, comfy cabin for 2 w/log burner & 5 lrg hrd-stdng sites w/elec. 07492 544499. stevedowney@ymail.com
B&B in Westleton, close to RSPB Minsmere Barn Cottage is in a quiet position in this pretty village, the 3 bedroom well equipped cottage is also available for self catering holidays during most months of the year. Sue Brett, 01728 648700 or 07970 968342 or www.westletonbandb.co.uk
Unique birdwatching cottage near Southwold ☎ 01767 261407
www southwoldbirdwatchingcottage co uk w so hwoldbir
Snape. Rose Tree Cottage. Short walk to Snape Maltings; Minsmere 7m; 2 bedroom, sleeps 4, excellent facilities, private garden. www.snape-cottage.com 07957 212118
Minsmere 1 mile, Mulleys Cottage. Two B&B rooms ensuite/one self catering. Quiet village spot. Beautiful country cottage. Two pubs close by. Walking distance to Minsmere. Beginners and Advanced guided bird walks available. Tree Identification guided walks. Moth trapping groups. www.mulleyscottage.co.uk Tel: 01728 649036
SIBTON WHITE HORSE INN 01728 660337
Rural, peaceful setting 15 minutes from Minsmere. Relaxed, informal, friendly (with no younger children). 5 well appointed rooms with gold comforts. Suffolk dining pub of the year on 7 occasions. 2 AA Rosettes. Family owned and managed for 18 years. www.sibtonwhitehorseinn.co.uk
Close to Minsmere. Superior 4 Gold Award barn conversions. Both sleep 2. Perfect location for exploring Suffolk Heritage Coast and Heathlands. Weekly/short breaks. 01728 668459. holidaysatprioryfarm.co.uk
A short walk to Minsmere or enjoy wildlife from garden. Peaceful cosy cottages in Westleton & Eastbridge. Slp 4; log fires, lge gdns, dogs welcome. 07941 530559. www.suffolkcottages.info
The Woodlands Sandsend 10% off for RSPB members staying 2 midweek nights or more. Use code BIRDS-10 direct bookings only through our website. www.thewoodlandssandsend.co.uk 01947 893899 hello@thewoodlandssandsend.co.uk
Sandsend Nr Whitby North Yorkshire Coast
Yorkshire Dales Superb holiday cottages in Swaledale in stunning scenery 01748 886366 www.catholecottages.com judith@catholecottages.com
Nethybridge High standard s/c cottage. Open all year, red squirrels and crests in the garden. Tel: 01479 821803 or email salmonpools@googlemail.com
Dave Slater, Professional Birding guide in the beautiful Scottish Highlands. Tours and trips to suit all pockets, from day trips to all-inclusive holidays. Comfortable tour vehicle for up to four people. See birdingecosse.co.uk for details or call 07955336955
Cottage overlooking Loch Ruthven The Grain Store is a luxury holiday cottage, fully renovated in 2021, set in an elevated position overlooking RSPB Loch Ruthven. Famous for the Slavonian grebe, the reserve is home to many other amazing wildlife including red kite, buzzard, osprey and red deer. To book visit Cottages.com ref: UK 32354
All inclusive tailor-made wildlife holidays for small groups. Self catering also available.
Secluded cottage nr Breckon Beach. N.Yell slps 2+2. Run by a Shetland Nature tour guide & ex RSPB Warden. www.westerbrake.com
170 holiday properties in N. Wales, Snowdonia & Porthmadog. Snowdonia Tourist Services. www.sts-holidays.co.uk 01766 513829
LUXURY COTTAGES Sleep 2–4 bordering Cors Caron NNR. Over 140 recorded bird species. www.cruglasfarmcottages.co.uk
Poplar Hall Nr. Minsmere & Southwold. Delightful self catering cottages in 1.5 acre gardens of 16th cent. house. “Attracts birds and wildlife every day!” Tel: 01502 578549 poplarhallsouthwold.com 10% summer discount
Cosy cottage for 2 in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Near centre of town and river. Great walks and birding nearby. www.curlewcottagewoodbridgesuffolk.co.uk
The
Grant Arms Hotel
Grantown-on-Spey
The Wildlife Hotel
Finsbay Cottages Beautiful self-catering timber lodges on the Isle of Harris overlooking Loch Finsbay. Ideal for holidays, fishing and birdwatching www.finsbaycottages.co.uk
for two with own nature reserve in quiet valley next to RSPB reserve, Elan Valley. A very special place for wildlife and birdwatchers. 01597 811169. www.wildlifecottagewales.co.uk
Dyfi Valley nr RSPB Ynys-Hir (Springwatch) & Dyfi Osprey project. S/c cottage, sleeps 5. Tel: 01654 702952. www.glangwyneddcottage.co.uk
BIRD COTTAGE, sleeps 4. Fantastic birdlife, views & walking. Peace & quiet. Close to Kite centre & Elan Valley. Tel John 01483 200079. www.birdcottagewales.co.uk
Ystrad Meurig, Mid Wales Spacious, modern bungalow, sleeps 2, adjacent Cors Caron nature reserve. Excellent birding, walking, touring. WTB No smokers/ pets. Brochure 01974 831471. www.maesgylfinir.co.uk
South of Chichester 01243 641661 honeysucklelodge.co.uk
Malvern
Rural detached 2 b ensuite & wet room. Footpath to Medmerry RSPB Reserve. Full central heating.
TO BOOK CALL 01479 872526 email reception@grantarmshotel.com www.birdwatchingandwildlifeclub.co.uk
Quiet cottage in Cairngorms near Loch Garten Sleeps 4. High up. Mountain views. Bird/wildlife. £290-£620. Tel Peter on 07747 417121. www.upperfinlarigcottages.co.uk
Isle of Mull Luxury 4 S/C just for adults. Abundance of birds & wildlife.
01688 317713 www.hideawaylodges.co.uk
Stylish 4&5character cottages. Sleeps 2&4. Dog friendly. Short breaks. 01377 255639 www.churchfarmgarton.co.uk
Isle of Mull. Central east coast, peaceful location, Whigmaleeries s/c for 2 plus B&B. www.garmonymull.co.uk Tel 01680 812316
Near Jedburgh. Modern guesthouse in peaceful setting beside Jed Water. Wide variety of birds on doorstep. Pets welcome by arrangement. Own riding stables. AA 01835 863279. www.ferniehirstmill.co.uk
Llyn Peninsula near Abersoch Close to Wales Coast path. Static caravan off beaten track. Peaceful location, birds, walking, golf. Beach 5 mins. Dogs welcome. 07811 186969. margery.griffin@gmail.com
Y Felinheli/Menai Straits. Close to Anglesey & Snowdonia. Modern cottage, garden, sleeps 2. WTB 07910 095991.
Argyll & Bute
Dumfries & Galloway
Highland – Mainland
Highland – Islands
North-West Wales WALES
Shetland Mid Wales (Powys)
Orkney
Grant Arms Hotel, The Square, Grantown-on-Spey PH26 3HF
West Wales (continued)
Cleddau Estuary. Isolated cott on shore, slps 4-8, with boat. brickyard-cottage.co or 01638 742344
ROSEMOOR COUNTRY COTTAGES
PEMBROKESHIRE COAST NATIONAL PARK
Our warm and comfortable red sandstone cottages provide a spacious home from home, including biomass fuelled central heating, in lovely countryside two miles from the sea at Little Haven, with Skomer nearby. On your doorstep you’ll find the Rosemoor Nature Reserve, with its 5 acre lake, home to otter, wildfowl and kingfisher. Peregrine Falcons breed within view of our gardens. John M. and Jacqui Janssen, Rosemoor, Walwyn’s Castle, Haverfordwest Tel: 01437 781326 rosemoor@walwynscastle.com www rosemoor.com (with lots of photographs)
Abereiddy, Pembrokeshire. Beach, cliffs, coastpath 1/2 m. Traditional stone cottages on farm in peregrine territory, CH, one with log stove, 2 or 4 bedrooms, might suit 3-generation parties. Pets welcome. Brochure 01348 831482
Holiday Cottages
WILDLIFE HOLIDAYS
France
SOUTH AFRICA
Kruger National Park. S. Africa. S/C, 3-bed
CLUBS & GROUPS
PHOTOGRAPHY
MISCELLANEOUS
WILDLIFE HOLIDAYS
Takeouts
Three things to take away from this issue – and do
1 Visit the Natural History Museum exhibition
Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre – organised in affiliation with the RSPB – opens at the Natural History Museum in London on 24 May 2024. Head to nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions to book your tickets. Members of the RSPB can get 20% off tickets bought online by selecting ‘RSPB Member’, and you’ll need to present your membership card on arrival at the museum.
3 Enjoy the dawn chorus
Embrace nature’s wonderful soundtrack on International Dawn Chorus Day. Our early morning skies start to fill with birdsong as spring arrives and males sing to attract a mate and claim their territory. The song builds to a fabulous crescendo in early May. This year, International Dawn Chorus Day falls on Sunday 5 May, but you can enjoy our feathered friends’ concert any time from March to July. Head to your local nature reserve, park or pop outside to your garden to begin your day with the sweet symphony from a range of garden and migrant birds, including Robins, Wrens, finches, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs.
2 Continue your valuable support
Thanks to your incredible support with our campaign to stop industrial sandeel fishing in English North Sea and all Scottish waters, we’ve affected real change that provides our precious seabirds with a much-needed lifeline. Many species will benefit from this crucial development, including Puffins and Razorbills. It wouldn’t have been possible without you, so thank you. Please continue to support our campaigns and take action for nature – scan the QR code to find out how.
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The fabric has a two-layer construction that stops you feeling clammy and cold in your Cascada II trousers by moving moisture and trapping still air to keep you warm, dry and comfortable:
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The Cascada II trousers are especially suitable for photographers and wildlife watchers.
