RSPB UK are celebrating their ‘Feed the Birds Day 2011′ on Saturday 29th October 2011, and are asking you to round up your leftovers and join them this weekend. With the clocks going back, Autumn will soon be truly upon us, and now is the perfect time to leave extra food and water for our fine feathered friends as the cold snap returns.

Birds really will appreciate the extra help at this time of year, and you don’t need to be a wildlife expert to provide them with provide them a nutritious meal with basic items found in most kitchens. Though birds are of course always partial to seeds and peanuts, they also like -

• mild grated cheese
• cooked rice
• cooked pasta
• unsalted bacon
• cooked potatoes

Perfect for providing birds with extra energy in the cold winter months. In fact, I wouldn’t mind a selection of some of the above myself! Also remember, a fresh supply of water is great for birds to keep their feathers in good condition, and of course to drink and wash in.

Feed the Birds Day Manager, Elaine Holderness, said -

You don’t need to spend lots of time and money to provide a slap up meal for garden birds – in fact, providing them with tasty, beneficial food couldn’t be easier. A mixture of seeds, some leftover kitchen scraps and some water is our equivalent to a three course meal and it’s a lifeline when the seasons change and food becomes scarce. And you could attract all sorts of dinner guests – in addition to the more common species you could see things like fieldfares, redwings and blackcaps as they leave their usual countryside feeding areas to come to gardens with good supplies of natural and supplementary food.

There will be over 100 RSPB events kicking off nationwide to mark this annual celebration, you could even host one yourself for your friends, family and neighbours. By helping out you see the number of birds visiting your garden rise rapidly, offering you the chance to enjoy your own show for free!

Help Raise Funds for RSPB with a Membership

Don’t forget, if you sign up today to an RSPB membership you will also receive -

• Free entry to over 100 beautiful nature reserves
• Free Handbook of British Birds
• Free quarterly Magazine
• Free welcome pack

For every £1 that you provide with your membership fee, 90p of it will go towards current and future conservation projects. Plus with the Big Garden Birdwatch just around the corner, now is the perfect time to ‘join up and join in’ with all the fun!

> > Click here to join RSPB today

RSPB charity officials will be giving more evidence today to support their claim that the proposed expansion of Lydd Airport in Kent will be putting one of the UK’s most important wildlife habitats under threat. The public enquiry will be reconvening today, Tuesday 6th September 2011, after a break in proceedings during the summer. RSPB representatives will offering new ornithological evidence to the panel which will hopefully put a halt to the unnecessary expansion.

RSPB’s south east conservation manager, Sam Dawes, said -

This Public Inquiry is the culmination of five years campaigning to demonstrate that any expansion of Lydd Airport is wholly inappropriate. We have seen the strength of opposition from local people both prior to and during the Inquiry through letter writing and attendance at the public meetings in July. They, along with the RSPB, know what a special place Dungeness is and how important it is to protect it both for wildlife and for people.

The Dungeness RSPB nature reserve is one of the most popular in the UK, with thousands of visitors each year enjoying the local birds and taking part in activities such as pond dipping and bug hunting. The area is also one of the most important wildlife habitats in the UK, meaning any airport plans of expansion must prove that they will not so with damaging the surrounding area.

Closing statements will then be heard on 14th-16th September, so please check back to the Donation4Charity blog for further developments on this enquiry.

Help Raise Funds for RSPB with a Membership

Don’t forget, if you sign up today to an RSPB membership you will also receive -

• Free entry to over 100 beautiful nature reserves
• Free Handbook of British Birds
• Free quarterly Magazine
• Free welcome pack

For every £1 that you provide with your membership fee, 90p of it will go towards current and future conservation projects. Plus with the Big Garden Birdwatch just around the corner, now is the perfect time to ‘join up and join in’ with all the fun!

> > Click here to join RSPB today

RSPB UK are dumbfounded by the shock news that a gamekeeper has been found guilty of the illegal trapping and killing of birds of prey at the Upper Derwent Valley estate in Derbyshire. Glenn Brown has now been convicted of seven offences under the Countryside and Wildlife Act 1981, and has been sentenced to 100 hours community service and pay £10,000 in costs.

RSPB Investigations officer, Mark Thomas, said -

We welcome this conviction as it sends a clear message that bird of prey persecution remains a serious and orchestrated crime, which continues to steal from society at large. Glenn Brown’s illegal actions have damaged the reputations of both his employer and of the game shooting industry in general. If they are serious about eradicating wildlife crime, both individual employers and the industry’s representative bodies need to do more to ensure that such people have no future in the game shooting business. Bird of prey persecution is a UK Wildlife Crime Priority, and it is vital that Government and the police lead a renewed and concerted effort to afford birds of prey the protection they are due. As part of this, the UK Government should introduce a vicarious liability offence to make managers and employers responsible for the actions of their gamekeepers, as is the case in Scotland.

The Derbyshire gamekeeper was found to be using a cage trap (pictured) on the grouse shooting estate in an attempt to illegally trap and kill birds of prey. Brown was originally arrested in May 2010 thanks to a surveillance operation by an RSPB. The undercover team caught Mr. Brown using a pigeon as bait to capture larger birds of prey, acts that are against the Countryside and Wildlife Act 1981.

Derbyshire has been named as the third worst county in the UK for crimes against birds of prey. Hopefully the message will be sent to other people who poach and kill, that the British judicial system will not tolerate the harming of birds any more.

Help Raise Funds for RSPB with a Membership

Don’t forget, if you sign up today to an RSPB membership you will also receive -

• Free entry to over 100 beautiful nature reserves
• Free Handbook of British Birds
• Free quarterly Magazine
• Free welcome pack

For every £1 that you provide with your membership fee, 90p of it will go towards current and future conservation projects. Plus with the Big Garden Birdwatch just around the corner, now is the perfect time to ‘join up and join in’ with all the fun!

> > Click here to join RSPB today

The RSPB UK‘s ‘Make Your Nature Count’ wildlife survey has shown a number of unexpected results since it kicked off. This nationwide stock take allows the RSPB to tap in to the British public’s findings about the creatures that visit their gardens across the UK at this time of year. The most surprising statistic of all is that more than half of the people who have participated have seen bats in their garden, which is a new occurrence.

Also high in numbers this year were frogs, who were spotted in a massive 54% of participants gardens, and 30% off all those surveyed saw toads. Thankfully I didn’t as I would have run a mile! I have no fear of spiders like a lot of people, yet if I see a frog or a toad, I’m off. Work that one out if you can!

Richard Bashford, RSPB Make Your Nature Count Manager, said -

Many people probably don’t even realise how much wildlife they have in their gardens – and now is a great time of year to sit back and discover who’s visiting your patch. Of course we know that lots of people regularly see frogs and bats, but it’s great that more than half of those taking part in the survey get to enjoy them and we didn’t anticipate the numbers being that high. It just goes to show how vital gardens are for our wildlife, and that you never know what you might get in your own backyard.

This study come off the back of the Big Garden Birdwatch in January, which saw some 500,000 people take part across the UK to monitor the action their garden provides for our feathered friends. This year’s Make Nature Count has thrown up some pretty astounding figures, and with the survey continuing until Sunday, check back on the blog for some final figures once they are tallied. Let’s just hope there’s not too many frogs, for my sake!

Help Raise Funds for RSPB with a Membership

Don’t forget, if you sign up today to an RSPB membership you will also receive -

• Free entry to over 100 beautiful nature reserves
• Free Handbook of British Birds
• Free quarterly Magazine
• Free welcome pack

For every £1 that you provide with your membership fee, 90p of it will go towards current and future conservation projects. Plus with the Big Garden Birdwatch just around the corner, now is the perfect time to ‘join up and join in’ with all the fun!

> > Click here to join RSPB today

Since the early eighties, the decline in albatross and other seabirds has been due to their accidental entrapment in longline fisheries. With lines that can be over a hundred kilometres long, sea birds are continually dragged underwater and killed, but the numbers that this is happening to is quite staggering.

Though there has been a reduction in bycatch numbers due to enforced regulations, the numbers still continue to grow due to fleet fishing, who’s data is not as forthcoming. Countries such as South Africa have managed to achieve a drop of 85% since 2008, thanks to a cap being placed on the number of bycatch deaths permitted. But more needs to be done by other countries around the world to put a stop to this staggering amount of innocent bird per year, as if this carries on, many of them could face extinction.

Senior policy officer for the Global Seabird Programme, Dr. Cleo Small, said -

Using simple bird-scaring lines and weighting of hooks as they enter the water could dramatically reduce the number of seabirds being killed. With the UK’s Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic holding a third of the world’s breeding albatrosses, the UK has a major responsibility to ensure seabird-friendly fisheries. As for the EU, the findings of this review place a heavy onus on the forthcoming EU Plan of Action for Seabirds to deliver a robust set of remedial measures capable of reducing the impact of longline and other fisheries on seabird populations in EU waters and beyond.

Help Raise Funds for RSPB with a Membership

Don’t forget, if you sign up today to an RSPB membership you will also receive -

• Free entry to over 100 beautiful nature reserves
• Free Handbook of British Birds
• Free quarterly Magazine
• Free welcome pack

For every £1 that you provide with your membership fee, 90p of it will go towards current and future conservation projects. Plus with the Big Garden Birdwatch just around the corner, now is the perfect time to ‘join up and join in’ with all the fun!

> > Click here to join RSPB today

There’s £5 off on a whole host of different feeds, including -

• No mess sunflower mix
• Table mix
• Premium sunflower hearts
• Premium ground mix
• Feeder mix

Plus for a very limited time you can also pick up 100g of dried mealworms for only £1.99 (saving £3!) a packet of 6 suet balls for 85p (half price!), and also grab hanging bird cakes for only £1.74, that’s 50% off! Plus all orders over £75 receive free postage and packing in the UK, unbelievable value at the perfect time of the year.

RSPB bird food are carefully selected, with no filler ingredients, which means less mess and waste in the garden, as our feathered friends won’t be able to get enough of it! Plus with 100% of all RSPB profits going into their continual conservation work across the country, you can be safe in the knowledge that all your purchases are going to help the upkeep of the UK’s beautiful bird population, and their habitats.

> > Click here for RSPB Gift Shop

Running from 11th May until 12th June, this Saturday 28th May 2011 sees the RSPB running a family event called ‘Black Browed, Wanderers and Royals’, which will offer a wide range of craft activities and games for children to take part in about the marine world.

RSPB’s marine policy officer, Sharon Thomson, said -

Our seas are under-protected and over-exploited. We need to act fast to secure their future for us and for generations to come. Project Ocean is an exciting new way for the RSPB to connect with a wider audience and change attitudes around the crucial issue of protecting our seas. With public support we’ve already achieved new laws that should revolutionise the way we manage our marine environment. The Government has promised to set up a network of Marine Protected Areas throughout our waters by 2012. MPAs provide safe havens for wildlife, and act as reservoirs that can help to keep the rest of our seas alive and healthy. However, they can only help if they are put in the right places with the right protection measures.

Project Ocean’s main activities area will be in the UltraLounge, where there will be workshops, screenings and talks. Plus all around Selfridges there will be art installations, window displays and even products being served in the food hall to pay homage to the ocean. If you get a chance, do pop in to sees what’s going on and show your support to Project Ocean and the RSPB, who have been campaigning on marine issues for over 10 years.

Help Raise Funds for RSPB with a Membership

Don’t forget, if you sign up today to an RSPB membership you will also receive -

• Free entry to over 100 beautiful nature reserves
• Free Handbook of British Birds
• Free quarterly Magazine
• Free welcome pack

For every £1 that you provide with your membership fee, 90p of it will go towards current and future conservation projects. Plus with the Big Garden Birdwatch just around the corner, now is the perfect time to ‘join up and join in’ with all the fun!

> > Click here to join RSPB today

It will only take 2 hours of your time to get involved once you have received your stickers and yellow bucket. There will be thousands of volunteers across the country joining in, with a whole host of fund-raising ideas, including -

• cake sales
• pin badge boxes
• street collections
• fun runs
• pub quizzes

This is a really great way to muck in and get involved, so if it sounds like something you would be interested in, simply click  on the link below and find out how you could help the RSPB today.

> > Click here to register for Love Nature Week

Help Raise Funds for RSPB with a Membership

Don’t forget, if you sign up today to an RSPB membership you will also receive -

• Free entry to over 100 beautiful nature reserves
• Free Handbook of British Birds
• Free quarterly Magazine
• Free welcome pack

For every £1 that you provide with your membership fee, 90p of it will go towards current and future conservation projects. Plus with the Big Garden Birdwatch just around the corner, now is the perfect time to ‘join up and join in’ with all the fun!

> > Click here to join RSPB today

Simply add item R0852 to your basket when you have purchased £30 worth of other products to take advantage of this great deal, which equates to a saving of £9.38!

This offer is only available until Sunday 17th July 2011, but you’ll have to hurry, as this deal is only available whilst stocks last and for only one bag per order.

There’s loads of awesome stock to choose from at the RSPB Shop, so why not click on the link below and start turning your garden into a magnificent play area for some of the UK’s most beautiful birds.

> > Click here to order at RSPB Shop

Other great charity gifts

• 20 % discount at RSPB shop  on 12.75Kg sacks of bird seed and seed mixes (excluding peanuts)
• offer ends 8th March 2011

All RSPB bird food and wild bird seed blends are carefully selected, premium quality products with no filler ingredients, meaning more of the food is eaten by the birds in your garden and there is less waste and mess.

The RSPB Charity Shop sells high quality bird food, bird feeding accessories, bird feeders and seasonal gifts and 100% of profit goes to conservation. So if you need to stock up on some bird seed or mixes head over there today and take advantage of this great discount.

> > Click here to order online at the RSPB shop