Nature's Voice

The government has set its vision for a green future in a detailed 25 year plan to improve the environment. On this month’s Nature’s Voice, the RSPB’s Senior Policy Officer Robin Wynde talks to Jane Markham about the plan and what needs to be done to achieve its goals. And Cambridgeshire farmer Martin Lines, a member of the new Nature Friendly Farming Network, explains why it’s so important that sustainable farming has a voice at this critical time in the debate over the future of agriculture.

TV presenter Miranda Krestovnikoff takes part in the Big Garden Birdwatch every year with her children. Actor David Neilsen, who plays Roy Cropper in Coronation Street, will be joining the count for the first time. On this month’s Nature’s Voice Jane Markham meets them both and finds out what has inspired them to get involved in the 39th Big Garden Birdwatch on the last weekend of January.

This year's State of the UK's Birds report highlights how climate change is affecting our wintering and breeding birds. This annual 'stock take' of bird numbers is a collaboration between the RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust with the UK's statutory conservation bodies. On this month's Nature's Voice Jane Markham finds out more from RSPB conservation scientist Dr Daniel Hayhow and Dr Teresa Frost from the BTO. 

Back from the Brink is a ground breaking collaboration between eight conservation organisations, funded by the National Lottery. Its aim is to rescue some of our most threatened species before it’s too late and to inspire us all to discover, value and act to save endangered wildlife. On this month’s Nature’s Voice Jane Markham finds out more about the project from Back from the Brink’s James Harding-Morris and Emma Burt and talks to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Pete Wall about one of the species which will benefit – the willow tit – which has seen its population plummet by 94% since 1970.

In a world where we spend more and more time indoors - how can today’s children connect with nature? Throughout the summer the RSPB, in partnership with the supermarket chain Aldi, have been addressing this in parks up and down the UK with the Wild Parks programme. On this episode of Nature’s Voice Jane Markham meets Martyn Foster, the RSPB’s head of education, families and youth who has been overseeing the project and hears from Ellie, the bug hunter and some of the children and parents who took part.

The government has published the Great Repeal Bill - more formally the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. It states that all existing EU laws will be copied into UK legislation when the UK leaves in March 2019. How will the laws protecting nature and wildlife fare in this transition? On this edition of Nature’s Voice Jane Markham speaks to the RSPB’s Conservation Director Martin Harper and Kate Jennings, Head of Site Conservation Policy, about the threats and opportunities for nature contained in the bill?

Corncrakes are secretive birds - you’re far more likely to hear their rasping calls than see one. They were once widespread throughout the UK but their numbers declined catastrophically during the 20th century. By the 1990s they were only found breeding in the Hebrides, Orkney and some parts of the Scottish West Coast including Durness.  Since then, thanks to close collaboration between RSPB Scotland, government bodies, farmers and crofters, corncrake numbers are on the rise. On this month’s Nature’s Voice Jane Markham talks to the RSPB’s John Bowler who monitors corncrakes on Tiree in the Hebrides and meets Paul Walton, head of habitat and species for RSPB Scotland to discover more about these birds and their changing fortunes

As part of Project Puffin the RSPB wants you to join the Puffarazzi and send in your photos of puffins carrying fish in their beaks. Puffins have recently been added to the red conservation list and your photographs will help research into how they are faring during this breeding season. RSPB Northern Ireland's Liam McFaul is warden of the dramatic Rathlin Island reserve - a great place to see puffins. Jane Markham talks to him, and visitor experience officers Hazel Watson and Ric Else, about about the island's huge sea bird colony. Plus conservation scientist Ellie Owen explains what Project Puffin is all about

Oxford has just become England’s first Swift City – a two year project, with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to give a home to these remarkable summer migrants who spend nearly all their lives on the wing. Since 1995 the number of swifts returning to the UK has fallen by 47 per cent and the project aims to recruit Oxford locals and city visitors to record bird sightings and encourage people to put up nest boxes. On this month’s Nature’s Voice Jane Markham visits Oxford to meet Lucy Hyde who is the Oxford Swift City Project Officer for the RSPB, and volunteers Chris Mason and Jocelyne Hughes.

The National Nightingale Festival brings together events throughout May to give you the chance to go and hear the song of this increasingly rare bird at special venues across the east and south of England. On this edition of Nature’s Voice Jane Markham meets acclaimed folk singer Sam Lee who, with guest artists, creates concerts around a campfire to sing with nightingales. She also finds out about the continuing threat to one of the country’s most important habitats for nightingales when she talks to the RSPB’s Adrian Thomas, the campaign manager to save Lodge Hill in Kent.

The little tern is the smallest and one of the rarest breeding seabirds in the UK. They over winter in Africa and on their return they nest in the open on sandy and shingle beaches which leaves them vulnerable to human disturbance, predators and high tides. The Little Tern Recovery Project is a five year programme, in partnership with 10 other organisations, to protect these brilliant little birds. As the project moves into its fourth breeding season Jane Markham meets Fabienne Fossez who runs the team of volunteers on the east Norfolk coast. And talks to Sue Rendell Read, the project manager, and her assistant Anne Parr about its progress.

We often report on nature in trouble in the podcast – so many species and habitats in the UK and around the world are under threat. But from time to time it’s worth taking stock of where work to help threatened species is bearing fruit. On this edition of Nature’s Voice Jane Markham talks to Andy Evans, head of the RSPB’s Nature Recovery Unit, and species recovery officer Stephanie Morren about some of the good news stories from the past year. These range from the appearance of a huge flock of yellowhammers at Hope Farm to progress in saving the albatross from extinction.

Actors Charles Dance and Jason Isaacs are taking a lead in The Climate Coalition's Show the Love campaign this February. They've given their time to star in a short film made by Ridley Scott Associates featuring the poetry of Anthony Anaxagorou and the music of Elbow.  The things we love could change forever due to climate change and that's the message of the video. On this edition of Nature's Voice Jane Markham talks to Fiona Dear from The Climate Change Coalition about the film and campaign and to the RSPB's conservation director Martin Harper about special places under threat.

The Big Garden Birdwatch 2017 takes place between 28-30 January – yes this year you have a choice of three days to take part in the annual count by spending an hour in your garden noting down all the birds you see. And – particularly if you live in the east of the country – you might be lucky enough to spot an exciting visitor or two this time. With berries short in other parts of northern Europe, waxwings have already been spotted on the east coast. On this month’s Nature’s Voice, Jane Markham discovers that we may be heading for a waxwing winter!

The RSPB is aiming to raise a million pounds to acquire 10 million square metres of new space to provide homes for wildlife in the coming year. For this episode of Nature’s Voice Jane Markham talks to Gwyn Williams, the RSPB’s Head of Reserves, about how increasing the amount of land under RSPB management is helping conserve some of the country’s rarest species. And she looks at a success story – the long road to acquiring and reclaiming rare salt marsh at Hesketh Out Marsh on the picturesque Ribble Estuary in Lancashire.

Jewellery designer Alex Monroe has created some very special pieces for the RSPB featuring a curlew, a pair of turtle doves and a harvest mouse. The collection illustrates his great love for wildlife and in particular the wildlife on the RSPB’s Minsmere reserve in Suffolk - a place he’s known since he was a child. He’ll be telling Jane Markham about his inspiration and she’ll be meeting the RSPB’s Adam Rowlands and Matthew Parrott from Minsmere to find out more about one of the RSPB's flagship reserves. Alex will be donating £35 from each piece sold to the RSPB.

The RSPB, in partnership with 50 conservation organisations, have pooled data to provide the most comprehensive assessment of the UK’s wildlife ever - and it’s not good news. More than 56 per cent of our wildlife has declined over the last 50 years and is still in decline. The new State of Nature report  was  launched by Sir David Attenborough – three years after the original report. On this episode of Nature’s Voice Jane Markham meets the RSPB’s Principal Conservation Scientist Dr Mark Eaton, lead author of the report, to look at its findings. And she speaks to Jim Foster from ARC, the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, and finds how, working in partnership, there is good news for some species.

Turtle doves are the fastest declining bird in the UK - their population is halving every six years. Why is this happening and what can be done to help? On this month’s Nature’s Voice Jane Markham talks to the RSPB’s Senior Conservation Scientist Dr John Mallord who has been part of Operation Turtle Dove. His work with Titan the turtle dove – who was satellite tagged two seasons ago - has produced a huge amount of information.  She also meets Samantha Lee who works with landowners in the east of England to help improve the habitat on their key breeding grounds.

This year’s Big Wild Sleepout is upon us and on this edition of Nature’s Voice we go on a night time adventure at RSPB Pulborough Brooks Nature Reserve. We’re on the trail of moths and bats – creatures you may well hear in your own garden if you take part in the Big Wild Sleepout over the last weekend of July. Jane Markham also speaks to the RSPB’s Paul Birmingham about why it’s become such a popular event and why it’s so important to reconnect with nature.

It happens every morning at this time of year - in the countryside and in towns - but how many of us have ever really listened to the dawn chorus? Why do the birds start singing before the sun even rises and does the early bird really catch the worm? RSPB wildlife adviser Ben Andrew talks to Jane Markham about the birds as they start to sing in an Oxfordshire garden, identifying the early risers and what you should listen out for.