Bringing Them Back

A great source of hope in the sometimes doom-laden world of nature conservation is the spectacular success of some of our longest-standing projects – focussing expertise and effort on recovering our most threatened species.

After I ‘retired’ from the RSPB in January 2022 I started a voluntary role documenting the stories of some of those projects. Some, like the white-tailed eagle and corncrake, I have already covered in my book Framing Nature. As well as revisiting those species, I interviewed colleagues and collaborators working on cirl buntings and vultures in the first phase of this work.

The plan is to gather material for articles and possibly a book, and in the meantime I am enjoying going around the country giving a new talk on the project. It is now two years since I started this new ‘job’. Red kites, bitterns and cranes have been added to the list of subjects, all of them fascinating stories.