RSPB: the Welsh connection

The spring issue of Birds, the magazine of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, reports that, though TV presenter Kate Humble is standing down early as president because of increasing professional and personal commitments, she and her husband have established a rural project in Monmouthshire. They have embarked on the preservation of a farm and use its buildings as a centre to teach rural skills and animal husbandry. Birds says that Kate will continue to support the RSPB and, of course, the couple will be in the right place to support campaigns for the Gwent Levels.

The new chairman of RSPB's governing body is Cardiff University's Steve Ormerod. He is Professor of Ecology in the university's School of Biosciences and has chaired the RSPB's Advisory Committee for Wales, as well as being Past President of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management.