As we approach Valentine’s Day and the nations’ love birds are busy making amorous plans, the celebrated Saint’s day also marks the start of National Nest Box Week.

Mid-February is also when many wild birds start to pair up and seek out suitable sites for the imminent breeding season, so now is a great time to put up new nest boxes, or spruce up your old ones, says the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

A project is underway to amplify nature’s chorus across Purbeck in Dorset by restoring areas of wood pasture, a prime habitat for Britain’s much-loved, native songbirds.

The National Trust, which cares for around 3,500ha (over 8,600 acres) of land across Purbeck, is supporting its tenant farmers to plant 60,000 trees and shrubs over the next six years, creating 380ha (940 acres) of new wood pasture.

One hundred hectares of new habitat for rare and threatened wildlife is to be created at RSPB Wallasea Island reserve in Rochford, Essex, the site of Europe’s largest coastal habitat restoration project.

Published today by the RSPB a new report shows that in just four years the Orkney Native Wildlife Project is delivering on its mission to protect nationally important bird and small mammal communities found on the Orkney Islands. This ambitious partnership project is the largest stoat removal on an inhabited landscape anywhere in the world, and its success is critical to protecting Orkney’s wildlife. 

The latest report by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP), the independent body that monitors the populations of the UK’s rarest breeding birds, reveals that 108 species and races of rare native birds were reported breeding, or attempting to breed, in the UK in 2022.

This is the second-highest total since the Panel began reporting in 1973, and suggests a continuation of the increasing trend in the number of rare breeding bird species in the UK, largely driven by the arrival of colonising species.

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is excited to announce the launch of Cudyll Cymru, a brand-new citizen science project aimed at enhancing our understanding of birds of prey across Wales.

The BTO is looking for volunteers from today - find out everything you need to know, and how to sign up here.

Usually flowering from late March to early May, this year’s mild winter and spring means we may well see them early and Forestry England expects a bumper bluebell display in the nation’s forests.

 Surrounding yourself with the delicate scent and sea of blue colour is a must-do spring nature experience so pack your picnic and head to one of Forestry England’s recommended list of bluebell woods.