Even with the balmy, mild temperatures at the moment (16 degrees C this morning on the car!), autumn is definitely here and everywhere looks stunning. From my flat window I can see all shades of yellows, oranges and greens as the trees across the neighbourhood and beyond to Blaise estate get ready for the winter. Had a nice flock of tits passing through this morning - bluetits, great tits and long-tailed tits all busily gleaning the leaves and checking the window sills and brick mortar for any tasty morsel. I've seen them doing it a lot this week. The view out to Wales isn't too bad too - it feels very calm outside despite knowing wind and rain is on its way. After a hectic week working and playing hard, I've got a nice day to myself. I need to get some bits ready for scuba dive training and colour ringing robins for the BBC on Monday but the rest of the time is mine! Bliss!!

Robins for the One Show

All set for colour-ringing robins as part of an experiment for the BBC's One Show to be shown before Christmas. We're seeking to find out more about the soap opera of robins living in a suburban neighbourhood in north Bristol - who knows what we might discover! Under my licence with the British Trust for Ornithology I'll be catching some robins in a mist net and Potter traps (small cages) and then carefully putting colour rings on their legs so we can identify them as individuals. They will then be released to carry on their lives as normal. Hopefully we can find out who's who, what territories are being set up and where, who may be passing through and how many are visiting the gardens. The unset traps are in place to allow the birds to get used to them in the gardens. Hopefully they will use them when we film on Monday - we're hoping to ring at least 6-8 robins if not more.

Communicate 2009

Well, what a conference. Communicate 2009, http://www.festivalofnature.org/conference.php?pageid=303&parentid=299&public=0 excelled itself. It had some amazing speakers, a relaxed atmosphere, much more time for audience participation and great content. It felt like a true shift from perhaps the stodge (in Jonathan Porritt's words!) of environmental messaging which we were grappling with the year before to a true move forward, bulldozing some of the communication barriers and entering into a new world of engaging people through spirituality and enjoyment. There were some brilliant delegates there too - while there were many who had been before, there was a really great assortment of newcomers. I look forward to helping develop Communicate 2010! Here's to it! Look out on the website for content, features and photos of this year's conference.