Yet another appalling case of bird of prey persecution🤬, another ludicrously light penalty & yet another reminder of why licensing of shooting across the UK is so urgently needed! Prosecution once again based on evidence provided by @rspbinvestigations.bsky.social 🙏 www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...

Police investigate after white-tailed eagles go missing across UK

A sign of our (deeply depressing) times! 😔👇https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/05/street-names-birds-britain-rise-populations-plummet?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

📢 The IUCN National Committee UK's Protected Areas Working Group response to yesterday's report on protected areas in England by The Office for Environmental Protection: @ruthchambers.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @jncc-ceo.bsky.social @naturalengland.bsky.social @tonyjuniper.bsky.social

Without legally binding targets, proper funding and urgent delivery, the Government’s own goals won’t be met and nature will pay the price.⚠️ Protected sites are the frontline of recovery but only if Government chooses to make them so. Fail nature here, and you fail everywhere.

The Office for Environmental Protection says stronger, statutory targets are needed for protected sites. We agree. Yet the Government’s revised “Environmental Improvement Plan”, published earlier this week, did the opposite: weakening targets & slowing the action nature needs.

England’s most important nature sites are being failed.❌ Protected sites can and should be driving nature’s recovery. But today’s OEP report exposes the real problem: years of weak delivery, underfunding and political drift have left them unable to do the job the law intended.

Thankyou to @keasdenkate.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social for launching our new campaign #EyesontheSkies speaking out against the very illegal #persecution of #BirdsofPrey & thank you all that attended & supported🤩 Sign up to our enews for all future plans & events: www.friendsofthedales.org.uk

"if, the Government is serious about tackling bird of prey persecution connected to the game shooting industry, now is the time to introduce licensing, for both upland and lowland game bird shooting" @friendsofthedales.bsky.social @bucktonbirder.bsky.social

Final call for tonight's launch! @friendsofthedales.bsky.social

Still time to book 4 launch of #EyesontheSkies - our new #campaign - calling for an end to #birdsofpreypersecution - with Kate Jennings, UK Head of Site Conservation & Species Policy @rspb.bsky.social Book at: friendsofthedales.org.uk

Very happy to add my name to @guyshrubsole.bsky.social's and > 200 others calling on @Keir_Starmer to put a stop to rumoured moves within Government to weaken the laws protecting England's #NationalParks and National Landscapes. #NationalParksMatter www.cnp.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Thousands take legal action over ‘widespread pollution’ of Rivers Wye, Lugg and Usk - alleging that Welsh Water & two corporate chicken producers are responsible: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

If you need a little something to restore your faith in humanity (which I reckon we all do right now!) then I recommend this which I fell across by accident on the radio yesterday. #BemoreGander www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

Excellent news to start the week! 🥳. On peatlands if you fight 🔥with 🔥 you get .... more 🔥 - not to mention less peat, more climate change, worse air quality and less wildlife🤯. Huge thanks to Defra and to @marycreagh.bsky.social for recognising that #WetterisBetter

GOOD NEWS: the peat burning ban is being extended in the English uplands. 👏 Peatlands lock up carbon, protect water & support rare wildlife. We hope today's announcement signals a move to end this damaging practice for good, and thank our supporters for helping make it happen.

Fantastic news! Defra Ministers listened to the science rather than the hysteria & rhetoric of the grouse shooting industry. Ban comes in to force 30 Sept 2025. raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/09/09/m...

The last of 'my' #Swifts left this weekend - good job as they were leaving it late & there were signs 👀⬇️that they were getting a bit big for the box! Such a privilege to have them & it blows my mind that the next time the babies land it will be to raise young of their own! 🤯 @rspb.bsky.social

Do you ever feel like you are being watched 👀 - from just now while I was boiling the kettle 😍 @gtalstonwader.bsky.social @heyjooode.bsky.social @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social

Ridiculously excited - for today's #Crapbirdphotooftheday I bring you a swiftlet - the first I've seen poking it's head out of one of my #Swift boxes @rspb.bsky.social @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social @penrhynbirder.bsky.social @gtalstonwader.bsky.social @mcg-hilary.bsky.social

For today's #Crapbirdphotooftheday I bring you an Oystercatcher on a rugby field.. @rspb.bsky.social

#crapbirdphotooftheday I swear that's a cuckoo chick, calling to being fed by an adoring (or long suffering?) meadow pipit. First time I've ever seen that! @keasdenkate.bsky.social

For today's #Crapbirdphotooftheday I bring you the best possible end to this season's #Curlew surveys for @rspbengland.bsky.social in the Forest of Bowland #ClaphamCluster - a Curlew chick being diligently guarded by a parent (out of shot!) & later taking flight 🥳❤️

So pleased to see Alan & Colin Price given the Ty Trophy @ Great Yorkshire Show for all they do for nature in general & for #Curlew in particular, working with @rspbengland.bsky.social 🥳👏💪 ‪‪ @mcg-hilary.bsky.social @gtalstonwader.bsky.social www.northernfarmer.co.uk/news/2530236...

I missed #SwiftAwarenessWeek, but after a week away, a pleasure to come home last night & watch 2 pairs of #Swifts returning at dusk to my #Swift boxes. Such a privilege to be playing landlady to these amazing birds! 😍🙏 @rspb.bsky.social @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social @johncortes.bsky.social

You can read the RSPB's response to last week's Westminster Hall debate on the future of grouse shooting here👀: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...

Another weekend and another @rspbengland.bsky.social #Curlew productivity survey - and although numbers are starting to drop now there are definitely still a few pairs guarding young - and 1 chick seen which is a rare treat!

1/2: Westminster-bound 🚆 for today's debate on the future of grouse shooting. The RSPB is calling on the UK Govt to introduce licensing of grouse shooting in England to provide a meaningful deterrent 🚨to wildlife crime. Action is long overdue 👀 and no change is simply not an option!

The illegal killing of our beautiful birds must stop. It’s good to see MPs will be debating this urgent issue on Monday. Thank you to everyone who's spoken up so far. We’re close to getting the change our upland wildlife needs.

For today's #Crapbirdphotooftheday I bring you this #Curlew, snapped while I was doing my @rspb.bsky.social Bowland Curlew productivity survey

Showers successfully dodged for the last @btobirds.bsky.social #Woodcock survey of the season & a morning of yellow rattle-filled meadowy loveliness for another #Curlew survey for the @rspbengland.bsky.social Bowland wader recovery project.

For today's #Crapbirdphotoftheday I bring you a baby #Lapwing from today's @rspb.bsky.social Bowland Wader Recovery Project productivity survey @mcg-hilary.bsky.social

Welcome back to Nature or No Nature! Rachel Reeves, your own experts say nature-friendly farming is vital for our food security, wildlife, & climate. Yet we hear you're set to slash the very funding it relies on. With the clock ticking, and our future to play for, can you answer this question...

Welcome to Round 1 of Nature or No Nature! Keir Starmer, you were elected on a promise to meet legally binding nature targets. Now, funding for nature, and laws protecting species and habitats, are at risk. So, for a chance to win back public trust, your first question:

❗The proposal on the EU ban on #lead in ammunition and fishing weights has already sparked debate. Some Member States argue that the ban might risk defence and harm the fishing sector, while lacking evidence. These claims do not hold up under scrutiny. Here’s why: banleadnow.com/news/lead-ba...

Highlights of this week's surveys were the discovery of an Oystercatcher nest in which a chick had started to chip it's way out of the first of three eggs, and a #Woodcock survey feat. many thousands of midges.... and an actual Woodcock @btobirds.bsky.social @rspbengland.bsky.social

Care of this week's @rspbengland.bsky.social Bowland Wader survey I bring you a #Crapbirdphotooftheday triple-header.... a #Curlew, an Oystercatcher and a Lapwing chick...although you may have to take my word for it on the latter....

Out yesterday evening almost ahead of the 🌧️ to check on a #Curlew nest on Colin's farm. Chicks have hatched, and - judging by how thoroughly I was being yelled at by two angry parents - they are alive and well 🙏 🤞 @rspbengland.bsky.social

Important Guardian reporting on the planning bill - if unamended, this bill changes everything www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

An all-too-familiar pattern. They're provided safe haven at Geltsdale, but as soon as they cross the boundary to hunt... Again and again and again and again. #RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime #UKBirding raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/05/20/t...

As part of @wclnews.bsky.social, we’re warning MPs about the loss of nature already being seen in their area 📢 The #PlanningBill as it stands is an application to demolish wildlife even further 🚨 We cannot accept this - it simply must be amended. Take action today 👇 rspb.org.uk/planning

I am one very VERY excited landlady🥳 1 luxury penthouse apartment taken - 2 more available #Swifts 💚 @gtalstonwader.bsky.social @penrhynbirder.bsky.social

Not quite a #Crapbirdphotoodtheday - but it is a crap photo... My first ever Green Hairstreak butterfly seen in the North Wales Moors! 🦋 @rspbcymru.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @penrhynbirder.bsky.social

A Shoveler's bum for today's #Crapbirdphotooftheday

Just seen my first #SettleSwifts of the summer! 🥰🥳

1/2: Wonderful to see the @rspbengland.bsky.social Bowland Wader Recovery Project on BBC Countryfile tonight with the fabulous @mcg-hilary.bsky.social & with Colin Price - a farmer rightly acknowledged as one of those leading the way when it comes to wader recovery. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

A wonderfuI day yesterday at the fabulous @rspb.bsky.social #LeightonMoss - Bitterns, Marsh Harriers, Cetti's Warblers and so much more - including the stars of today's #Crapbirdphotooftheday which I think could double as a caption competition...

There were endless warnings that Brexit would lead to scrapping EU laws protecting nature. And many reassurances this would not be the case. It is now becoming clear what is actually happening.

Pretty scathing and accurate review of The Planning and Infrastructure Bill proposals from @georgemonbiot.bsky.social This represents a significant regression on current environmental protection. @teamlabouruk.bsky.social were your environmental manifesto commitments just lip service?

100k! Thank you to everyone who lent their voice. This debate must unlock the change upland nature needs. Illegal killing of our beautiful birds of prey must stop. 👇 petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...