Blogger: Erica Howe, Communications Manager

It always starts with a look doesn’t it? The first time your eyes meet, that twinkle, the smile that you don’t want to give away. Of course I’m talking about love! One of the most written about subjects in the whole world. Many things can get lost in translation, misinterpreted across seas, but not love. And the funny thing about love is how it can take you by surprise. I met my other half whilst out on a bike ride; I never thought I’d fall in love whilst peddling through the Norfolk countryside wearing lycra! One of my colleagues met his wife on a dating website and they instantly hit it off. Neither of these were typically a ‘red roses and candle light’ kind of situation, but that’s what makes them so sentimental.

And of course, what is a more romantic setting than a reedbed? Really? Well, personally I’m not too sure, but there must be some air of romance nestled away within the misty wetland that brings people together. With bitterns booming, kingfishers darting past and the crisp air falling over the marshes, you can’t help but feel a few goose bumps on the back of your neck. Over the years, the RSPB has seen many of its volunteers fall in love whilst giving the gift of time to conservation. Having a common goal to help our environment and to do something a little bit different, is a uniting force. 

Whether you choose to help out on a reserve, serve cakes at Minsmere, take up a residential volunteer placement, put on a sponsored event or try your hand at face painting, volunteering for the RSPB is as varied as it gets. And not everyone at the RSPB has a beard, nor do you have to own a pair of binoculars! Young or old, there are things that you can do to get involved with the RSPB that will have you meeting a new person round every corner – and probably some cool wildlife too.

Helping species to survive, flora and fauna to flourish and inspiring people to get connected to the outdoors does sound quite romantic, you have to admit? But these aren’t the only rewards to volunteering. Volunteering might not be the most obvious place to meet your soul mate, your best friend or perhaps just someone to have a good old chat to, but trust me; it brings people together from all walks of life. And it certainly puts a twinkle in your eye!

For more information about volunteering for the RSPB in the East, call Annie Sadler on 01603 660066

Getting romantic in the reedbeds

Photo credit: Andy Hay (rspb images)

There are two ways to debate the role of the EU. 

First, you can ask whether the UK should be in or out. This was front page news for the Sunday Times and the Observer yesterday and no doubt will be a topic that draws in the crowds at Conservative Party conference this week in Manchester. 

But there is another debate – one about how the EU should operate and, for example, spend one trillion euros of European taxpayers money in the next budget period of 2014-2020.

While this constitutes just 1% of the total GDP of all 27 Member States, it is still an awful lot of money and it is worthy of a public debate.

Fortunately, the EU Budget was the topic at a fringe meeting held last night.  This was hosted by the RSPB in partnership with the Conservative Environment Network.  That’s one of the benefits of hosting fringes – you get to decide the topic for yourself.
I shared the panel with Richard Benyon, the Biodiversity Minister, Garvan Walshe from the CEN and Jorge Nunez from the Centre for European Policy Studies.

I tried to argue that it was important for the UK Government not to get side-tracked by the more fundamental debate and roll up their sleeves to negotiate a Budget deal which not only benefited the UK, but was also in the wider interests of the EU’s environment.

Unfortunately, debates at the European level have been dominated by the short-term interests of Member States each defending their own red lines: the French wanting to keep the Common Agriculture Policy, the Spanish fighting for the Common Fisheries Policy, the new Member States defending the Cohesion and Structural Funds and yes, the UK still arguing over the content of Baroness Thatcher’s handbag – the UK rebate.

The result at the moment appears to be stalemate – political leaders failing EU taxpayers who have a right to expect better value for money.

From an environmental perspective, the EU Budget is currently a disaster.  While Member States struggle to meet their environmental commitments (many set at an EU level) for climate change or halting the loss of wildlife, a tiny proportion of the EU budget is allocated to supporting these objectives.

Let me give you an example, since the 1960s farmland birds in the UK have almost halved, while their declines across Europe are something like 44%.  Species such as the skylark and yellowhammer provide the soundtrack to our summer but struggled to cope as farmers implemented EU policies which fundamentally changed with the may farms were managed.

This and the previous government have committed to reverse the declines of species such as farmland birds.  And in recent years, more farmers have been rewarded for managing their land with wildlife in mind.  They have received incentives – in the form of agri-environment schemes – to help provide the things that wildlife needs.  In the case of farmland birds that means – a place to nest, spring and summer food for chicks and food to help birds survive the winter.  We know that these schemes, when designed well, do work.  For example, at our commercial farm in Cambridgshire we have managed to triple the number of farmland birds over the last decade whilst increasing our wheat yield.

These agri-environment schemes form part of what is known as Pillar II of the Common Agriculture Policy.  Pillar I makes up the bulk of the CAP spend (2.5billion annually in the UK) and is principally a support payment for farmers linked to no particular public policy objective.

It is fair to say that agri-environment schemes are core to the UK Government’s business model for nature conservation – a point reinforced in its Natural Environment White Paper where it has signalled that it wants to make these schemes work harder for wildlife.  The Minister was strong on this point and it is clear that he wants to reform these schemes so they have more of an impact.

Now CAP constitutes something like 40% of the EU Budget (c400 billion euros over a six year period) and new draft regulations outlining how this money will be spent will be announced on 12 October.

Latest rumours are that Pillar II – that provides the support for wildlife-friendly farming – remains vulnerable (particularly because this bit of the Budget requires match funding from Member States).

In any rationale world, a cut to Pillar II would be ludicrous as this is the bit of the Budget that provides demonstrable public benefit and provides credibility to the CAP.  But, in the political horse-trading that will go on over the coming months and given the extremely tough economic climate, we think that it is right to be cautious and act to shore up Pillar II quickly.

As Jorge Nunez said last night – it is those bits of the Budget which provide the most benefits that are under threat.

There are similar concerns over reforms to the Common Fisheries Policy, Transport and other funding schemes.  This is why it is simple insufficient to argue about the size of the budget, it is the quality of the spend that counts.

I am not naive enough to expect a particularly informed public debate about the EU Budget.  But I do expect this Government to support its Biodiversity Minister in fighting for a EU Budget deal that delivers for wildlife in the UK. 

We have a year to fix this.

The RSPB does many things, but we don’t do work much on waste.

Yet, this week we’ve two rather eye catching initiatives. The first is yesterday’s announcement by the Coalition Government that they’ve found £250 million to encourage local authorities to return to weekly household bin collections. 

Well done Mister Pickles for finding the money – I wish I had that stashed behind my sofa.

But it is worth noting that research by the government’s own Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) found no difference, in terms of hygiene, between fortnightly and weekly collections and there’s certainly no economic or environmental justification for such largesse. 

If Mr Pickles wanted to do something for the environment, wouldn’t the money have been far better spent plugging the UKs conservation financing gap, which stands at around £275 million?

Just a thought.

The second initiative is rather more heartening with the introduction of the Welsh Government’s levy on plastic bag use

. 

Single use plastic bags are bad news on the whole as they add to landfill, litter the countryside or, probably most damagingly, end up in waterways and the sea, where they are a hazard to marine life. 

Shoppers in Wales will now need to pay 5p for every new single-use bag which should reduce usage and encourage people to think more about reducing waste. 

The Irish led the way on this, introducing a levy in 2002.  In England, we tried a voluntary approach which did reduce usage but did not achieve its target reductions.    We still use around 6.5 billion single use bags a year.

Now we would expect a levy to significantly reduce use but at current usage rates. Indeed, the levy in Ireland

cut plastic bag use by 90%.  Still a 5p levy across the UK on current usage would raise £300 million – again just the job to properly fund our biodiversity objectives! 

Earlier this year the UK Treasury showed enthusiasm for making greater use of green taxes.  Let’s hope they have an eye on Wales, recall the failure of England’s voluntary approach and remember just what good value investing in nature can be.

Oh, and when you go shopping this weekend, remember to dig out an old bag from the pile you are storing in your cupboard...

Blogger: Jane Delaney, Local Groups and Volunteering Support Officer

I wanted a holiday but was on a budget.  How could I get away and discover an exciting new location, meet new people, have fun and do something useful?  I know,  I’ll go residential volunteering!

 I spoke to the lovely ladies in the Residential Volunteering department and we looked at the options available for just a week  – RSPB Saltholme it is! Saltholme is a new and exciting urban reserve near Hartlepool that only opened in 2009.  The flat I stayed in was great with a sea-view and some lovely other vols and staff, Dan & Rhian.

So, what would I be doing? 

Day one I helped out at the visitors centre by encouraging people to sign the RSPB marine pledge and telling them about the “Date with Nature” (DWN) event with common seals that were just down the road.  In the afternoon I went down and joined the “DWN” team, it was great to see the children (old and young alike!) enjoy looking through the scopes and watching the seals play and lounge about on the bank.

Day two was more of a challenge – I was chief pot washer in the VERY popular Cafe as I was soon to find out!  The Cafe has a great team lead by Anne and although hard work and a bit hot and sweaty at times I had a fun day and a free roast dinner to boot!

Day three and four I had off and explored the reserve and surrounding area – great fish & chips in Whitby (drop me a line if you want a recommendation!)

Day five I spent the morning with Barbara, an inspiring and passionate reserve volunteer who has been at Saltholme since before it opened.  She was planning a guided walk for the next day for some VIPs and I was her guinea pig!  The afternoon was going to be a whole new territory for me – children!  There was a school visiting with lots of enthusiastic 6 and 7 year olds.  I helped the Susan, Lifelong Learning Officer, teach the children how to use binoculars to find birds and then took them along to the Wildlife Watch Point hide where they had a brilliant time spotting the birds from their bingo lists.

My last day on the reserve I joined the VIPs on their guided walk, they were new RSPB members in the area and were keen to explore the reserve and hear all about it’s history.  We chatted over soup and a roll for lunch and then went back out exploring and spent some more time in the hides.

Did I enjoy my resi vol holiday at Saltholme?  I think the fact that on my last day I had to be asked to leave the Phil Stead hide in the car park, long after closing time, so they could lock it up answers that!

 Jane “Swamp Sparrow” Delaney bird spots of the week – pectoral sandpiper and garganey!

 If you fancy trying some residential volunteering you can find out more at http://www.rspb.org.uk/volunteering/residential.aspx

or talk to Kate Tycer
Tel: 01767 680551, E-mail: volunteers@rspb.org.uk

Photo credit:

Blogger: Matt Howard, Community Collections Scheme Officer

I was delighted to be asked by Waveney and Blyth Arts to join them on their Breydon Water ‘Poetry and Birds Walk’. The brief was simple, talk about birds in poetry and how such work brings us closer to nature, and then set a writing exercise for the group to try. This gave me a chance to think more about the connections between two of my interests, but where do you start? I mean, poetry and birds; are there any two subjects that conjure stronger stereotypes of closed worlds where only the devout obsessive gets granted admission?

Thankfully the walk didn’t over stretch my fledgling birding skills. Amongst what we saw were curlew, oystercatchers, herons and little egrets. Just putting names to these was a discovery for some of our group, for others perhaps it was making that mental note of the call that will help place a curlew the next time they go walking, or maybe on the walk after that. For all of us there was space away from the workaday, fresh air for the lungs, good company and gentle exercise.

For me the arts are a way of finding and allowing us more of ourselves. For as long as poems have been written, birds have featured. It’s amazing how much they are used in our language to help us express how we feel or think. Of course, poetry can seem or be difficult, but it can also be unbelievably simple, it’s a way of tuning in. Take ‘Adelstrop’ by Edward Thomas; he describes a simple pause sat on a train in June, just noting what happens, but builds to the simple but essential idea of the interconnectedness of all things:

And for that minute a blackbird sang

Close by, and round him, mistier,

Farther and farther, all the birds

Of  Oxfordshire and Gloustershire.

Whether it’s poetry or birds, meet them on the level that you want to and each time I guarantee you will get closer, bringing back one thing, great or small, from each walk or reading. If this leads to a deep knowledge of say, curlew behaviour, or an understanding of the inner workings of a sonnet or sestina, then that’s wonderful. But it doesn’t have to. That one thing can be as simple as being stilled by the brilliant white of egrets or the individual phrase sung by the blackbird in your garden, and as in that image given to us by Thomas, there are all the blackbirds beyond it, and by extension, all of nature. Tune in, it’s all there, close by.

 Photo credit: Matt Howard

In the excitement of the planning reform

debate I forgot to profile a significant new report on the UK Govenment's climate change commitments - Climate Check

.  This is one half of our assessment of whether the government is living up to the Prime Minister's ambition, stated on 14 May 2010, to be the "greenest government ever".  The second assessment - Nature Check - will be published shortly.

Climate Check was launched a couple of weeks ago. But, as it is the topic of fringe meetings at each of the party conferences, I feel justified in talking about it now. 

The report was published by think tank Green Alliance in conjunction with WWF, Christian Aid, Greenpeace and RSPB. It is the product of five months’ research and extensive discussions with over 40 officials and ministers across Whitehall.  It assessed the progress that the UK Government has made against the climate change commitments that it has made.

The conclusion was that the government has made either moderate or no progress on 22 of its 29 low-carbon commitments.  The study suggested there are low levels of support for the government’s low carbon agenda in the Treasury and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and concluded that major opportunities to generate green jobs and increase investor confidence in the low carbon sector are being missed.

The 48-page report examined progress across 11 departments and concludes:

• So far, the government has made some good, high-profile decisions on important policies such as the 4th Carbon Budget, but its overall record is weakened by delayed or poorly-designed policies on many other coalition commitments.
• Seven commitments have been delivered successfully or achieving good progress – for instance, there has been a nearly 14 per cent reduction in emissions across central government.
• On a further 6 policies, the Coalition is failing – for instance, the Treasury has made no progress towards creating green financial products.
• On the remaining 16 policies there is only moderate progress, due to delay (10), poor policy design (9), or both. The Green Deal, for example, is at risk of failing because of a lack of urgency and support across government departments.
• There are clear indications that the Treasury and to a lesser extent BIS have curbed, or attempted to curb, the government’s ambition on the low carbon agenda.
• However, contrary to what observers might expect, there is little evidence of division along party lines. Both Conservative and Liberal Democrat champions of low carbon policies have been held back by others within their own party.

As well as assessing the government’s low-carbon record so far, Climate Check identifies three big opportunities which would help the government fulfil its stated goal to ‘decarbonise the economy and support the creation of new green jobs and technologies’.

These involve increasing cross-government accountability for the transition towards a low-carbon economy and boosting the Prime Minister’s engagement on both the international and domestic agendas.  

Commenting at the time, Mike Clarke, the RSPB's Chief Executive said:

“There is a common thread running between the Government’s underwhelming performance on climate change, and its current, flawed approach to planning reform. We are seeing a clear conflict at the heart of the Coalition between green growth and economic growth at any cost.”

In short, the verdict is - could do a lot better.

And on nature?  Well, you'll have to wait a few more days...

Apologies for the lack of action on the blog page for the past month or so. I have recently taken over from Claire as East Scotland Sea Eagle Officer, and have been welcomed with a baptism of fire! I’ve had a lot to learn and to catch up on, as well as keeping track of this year’s release cohort which are now in the skies over Fife and Perthshire. 16 birds were released and I was fortunate to be involved with this just before starting my new post. Claire has been a great help to me while I get settled and find my feet!

We also have some more great news on the funding front! A contribution of £31,000 over the next two years has been secured from Rural Tayside and Fife LEADER to help ensure the continuation of the East Scotland sea Eagle project.

The money will allow us to focus on community engagement and maximising local economic benefit in the rural Tayside and Fife regions by providing more volunteer opportunities and increasing the education aspect of the project. We will also be able to start to prepare viewing facilities for possible future nesting attempts by the eagles, which in itself will increase the potential for nature tourism in the region. This will provide an invaluable educational tool and benefit the local economy.

We are also able to use this funding to continue with the 6^th year of releases in the area to bring the total number of released eagles in east Scotland as close as possible to 100 birds. This will significantly increase the survival chances of the reintroduced population into the future. Leaders funding will support the acquisition of the birds from Norway and the complicated logistics involved!

Thanks to Ken Jack for this wonderful photo of 11RedT on his big release day!

I know this is an odd request, but I'd be really grateful if you could collect owl pellets and post them to us.  We need them to help educate youngsters about the importance of the UK's wonderful wildlife-friendly farmers.

Really??  Yes....

We use owl pellets at family fun days - children dissect the pellets as they learn about what owls eat and where they live.  Farmland is an incredibly important habitat for owls, along with so much of our wildlife.  So these family fun days are a great opportunity to educate youngsters (and their parents!) about the importance of wildlife-friendly farming, and the great UK farmers that hold the future of our countryside in their hands.

But we are running short of supplies!  So if you are able to collect pellets without disturbing your owls, please just pop them in an envelope and send them to:

Louise Bates
RSPB
46 The Green
Southe Bar
Oxfordshire
OX16 9AB

Thanks in advance!

Photo: John Bridges (rspb-images.com)

The latest wizzy RSPB Wildlife Guide from the sunny south west attached. Events, walks, talks and all manner of wildlife activity from October through to March. With something for everyone, its well worth a look.

We're even doing a film premiere!

Download is about 3Mb