Nature's Voice

Last year the Somerset levels were experiencing the worst floods in living memory - a year on how did the cranes, which are being reintroduced there, cope. And what about the other wildlife? On this edition of Nature's Voice Jane Markham visits Damon Bridge manager of the Great Crane Project at the RSPB's West Sedgemoor reserve. Plus the RSPB's conservation director Martin Harper looks ahead to an important year for climate change negotiations and we hear the voices of stars from Stephen Fry to Alison Steadman, Raymond Blanc to Meera Syal in their video contribution to the Climate Change Coalition.

For the Big Garden Birdwatch this year, why not try photographing the birds that come to your bird feeders? The RSPB's Ben Andrew has been trying out a motion-triggered camera at The Lodge nature reserve and has tips and advice on how to do it. Plus, we visit the RSPB's Richard Bashford and his family and set them a Big Garden Birdwatch quiz. How many birds can you identify from their calls and a few hints?

The Sandwell Valley nature reserve on the edge of Birmingham is a great place to see the winter migrants which will be arriving throughout the month including goosanders and pintails. On this edition of Nature's Voice Jane Markham braves the weather to visit the team there. Plus, now the BBC's Autumn Watch has completed its series at the RSPB's Leighton Moss reserve, we find the otters are still coming out to play.

One of the last places where you are almost guaranteed to hear nightingales sing in spring is under threat after outline planning permission was granted on a Site of Special Scientific Interest in Kent. Jane Markham talks to the RSPB's Rolf Williams about what you can do to help. We visit the first RSPB Garden Festival, part of the Giving Nature a Home in Glasgow project. And look ahead to September's Members Day and AGM at its new home at the ICC in Birmingham with details of an 'early bird' discount if you want to go along.

Sir David Attenborough is one of the speakers at September's Conference for Nature. The event builds on the State of Nature report which showed that 60 per cent of UK species are in decline. The 12 wildlife partners behind the event hope to develop ideas to work with politicians and businesses which will reverse these declines. This month's Nature's Voice previews the conference and finds out how the Vote for Bob campaign hopes to influence party manifestos in the run up to next year's general election.

The RSPB's Skydancer project has been nominated for a National Lottery Award in the Best Education Project category and on this month's Nature's Voice Jane Markham talks to Blanaid Denman about how the project is raising awareness of the Hen Harrier's plight as England's most persecuted bird of prey. And Andre Farrar looks at the implications for wildlife caused by the increasingly intensified management of moorland for the grouse shooting industry.

16 years ago Doñana National Park in southern Spain was devastated by a blanket of toxic sludge. Today, after years of work costing £74 million, it is once again teeming with wildlife. But there are new threats to this internationally important wetland - Jane Markham talks to RSPB campaigner Conor Jameson about its plight. Plus Clare Stringer, Head of the RSPB's UK Overseas Territories Unit, discusses her team's report on the 28,000 species which live in these, often remote, parts of the world. It includes the incredibly rare yellow spiky woodlouse!

For the Big Wild Sleepout this year why not host a sleepover in your garden? The idea is to get up close to nature, and raise money to protect it, by spending a night outdoors between June 16th and 22nd. Jane Markham talks to Richard Bashford about how to get the most out of your sleepout. Plus the RSPB's Minsmere reserve in Suffolk is the new home for the BBC's Springwatch programmes. Will they film a bittern 'booming' and perhaps, more excitingly, will these rare and secretive herons breed in the reedbeds?

This year, as part of the Big Garden Birdwatch, the RSPB asked about the wildlife that visits our gardens - not just the birds. These results have just been released. More than half of us saw frogs and toads and on this edition of Nature's Voice Jane Markham talks to Dr John Wilkinson from the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust and to Mark Ward, Editor of Nature's Home magazine, about the importance of our gardens when it comes to providing homes for wildlife. And as swallows and swifts start to arrive in the UK to breed the head of the RSPB's migrants programme Danae Sheenan welcomes them back and talks about what we can do to protect them while they are here and on their long and perilous journeys.

The Big Garden Birdwatch results have arrived and in this episode of Nature's Voice we hear from the children of a Folkestone Primary school about what they did for their Big Schools Birdwatch. We look at the ups and downs for this year's top ten birds in the survey plus the RSPB launches a new Centre for Conservation Science and Jane Markham talks to one of the scientists, Matthew Carroll, about his work investigating possible links between climate change and the declining populations of Kittiwakes.