AWFN Springwatch Group

Nature UK blog and website now live

A quick post to let you know that the new Nature UK blog and website are now up and running. We won't be posting here any more (but you can still comment for a bit longer) so please make sure you follow us on the new one. We're pretty excited about the new possibilities it will bring. Hope you are too!

Announcing the new Nature UK blog

Exciting news... next week the Springwatch/Autumnwatch team, in conjunction with our friends and colleagues in the BBC Natural History Unit, will be launching Nature UK, a brand new blog and website for UK nature lovers that will run all year round.

We're really excited about this. It will give us - and you - the opportunity to talk about the UK's wonderful riches of nature right across the year, not just in spring and autumn. It also means that, instead of switching what we do between two different websites depending on whether the leaves are brown or green, we'll always be in one place from now on.

The BBC Nature UK website and blog will cover all the usual Springwatch and Autumnwatch stuff - news about the series and about our many conservation organisation colleagues, your opinion on controversial subjects, a bit of fun with Martin and the Unpsrung team, deeper information on subjects covered in the shows - and loads more too.

There are some things that we won't be changing - the Springwatch and Autumnwatch TV shows themselves, our Flickr groups (here and here), the webcams, the messageboards... and most of all our commitment to reflecting what you've got to say and what you want to contribute.

We'll let you know when the new blog is live - and where to go - right here. We'll keep the comments open on the Springwatch blog for a while yet as there's so much great stuff coming in all the time. Eventually, though, we'll close them and migrate across to Nature UK but we'll give you plenty of notice.

It's still early days and we're hoping that Nature UK will be as good as, (and indeed better than!) our trusty Springwatch and Autumnwatch websites, but as ever we'd love to hear what you think. What would you like to see more of? Less of? Please let us know... and remember it doesn't have to be just about spring or autumn any more!

Update 17th May
A quick response to the comments below. We're in no way trying to compete with the Nature UK forum, quite the reverse - the more people who get involved with nature in the UK the better.

We've gone with this name as it follows the BBC's URL structure. We set up bbc.co.uk/nature about six months ago, which acts as a home for all BBC natural history so bbc.co.uk/nature/uk sits below this as our UK nature home. (And we've also used this name in the past.)

Hope that makes sense.

Springwatch team's early May Flickr favourites

Just a few weeks to go until the live show and your pictures are really flooding in to the Springwatch Flickr group! Now that we're gearing up for the Springwatch Photo Club it's more important than ever that you share your spectacular signs of spring with us, so that we can put together the strongest and most sensational show of your work.

Series producer Roger thought this image perfectly captured the blue tit's character.

Our Unsprung team adored this Canada gosling image which they thought captured a moment. They loved the energy in this gosling's expression.

Producer Hannah chose this crisp capture of a house sparrow. She's been out filming them recently and thinks so few people realise that they are in decline.

Our management menagerie were impressed by this macro shot of a bee. They thought it was a nice sign of spring.

Simon's squad were pleasantly surprised by this beautiful bearded tit. It's uncommon to see them like this as they're usually clinging to reeds. They loved the reflection.

The Webbies thought the grace in this image contrasted the common perception of gulls by the sea and they really appreciated how the photographer caught the light through the feathers.

This spectacular action shot really wowed me. It perfectly caught the moment and showcases the beauty of the pheasant's feathers so well.

Researchers Ruth and Lucy chose this colourful damselfly. In their own words "We're all about the invertebrates this spring!"

As always we'd love to know how spring is unfolding where you are, so add your spring pictures to the Springwatch Flickr group and tell us what's going on in your neck of the woods.

Do you have any favourites?

You can see our Flickr favourites from late April here.