This morning - walking my lovely rescue dog around the local park at 0730 - I could hear birds. Robin and long tailed tits on the way in - by the cedar, gold crests - so high-pitched that I fear I will soon be no longer able to hear them. There was a grumpy wren - and a background of jackdaws ad pigeons.

It is easy to think that all is right with the world.

But - it is not. We have been blinded by ‘shifting baselines’ - the process by which we thing what we see is okay … because we think it is not much worse than what we remembered from the previous year.

The reality is, as many of us are acutely aware, very different. And that is why the fourth ‘State of Nature’ report, published yesterday evening, is so crucial. It gives us a lens by which to see the changes in their broader context. 

One in six species in Great Britain are at risk of extinction - and one of these 1500 species is the hedgehog. 

This is not just figures plucked from the air by fundraisers trying to get your attention. It is the result of a collaboration between 60 research and conservation organisations.

We are more aware of the threats nature faces than ever before. Researchers has been building evidence - experts have been repeatedly putting this under the noses of those who we pay to protect our precious world.

Sometimes the evidence is met with fine words - but the report is clear, these words are clearly not enough - in fact their words would appear to be, as the RSPB said (and then chickened out) not vastly truthful! 

Since 1970, the abundance of the species studied in the report has declined on average by 19%, and nature continues to be in freefall. 31% of amphibians and reptiles face an uncertain future, and 28% of fungi and lichen species under threat. Twenty-six per cent of terrestrial mammals in Great Britain are facing extinction. There have also been declines in the distributions of more than half (54%) of flowering plant species.

But it is birds that really stand out - 43% of bird species are at risk of extinction.

Last night I watched the News at 10 on the BBC. The report - which I would argue is pointing to an existential threat to life on earth - was way down the list of stories being covered. It was not quite ‘and finally’ but there is still this feeling that editors and commentators consider all that nature stuff to be a bit ‘light’ - when the reality is utterly irrefutable - all of the worry about the economy, health, education, politics - even the deranged dribble of a one time actor who thrives on a meanness of spirit - all those worries are irrelevant if we do not have a healthy ecosystem in which they can operate. 

The good bit of the news feature, all though very short, was how they focussed on the Hedgehog Street campaign as an example of things that we are doing … Grace and Henrietta were given a brief moment - and did really well.

Our campaign with this petition is part of that work. Small steps in the right direction. Talking to our neighbours, getting hedgehog highways in place …

So - what to do? Well right now, as I write, a gang of my favourite people are gathering outside DEFRA in central London - called together by Chris Packham. I should be there - I was invited to speak - but had already committed to taking photographs in the Oxford Story Museum - an early years project themed around nature … the challenge of a freelance life - continual insecurity … and occasional clashes like this! 

My wife is there - filming Chris and the host of other wildlife campaigners - as they ask for something quite simple … that nature be taken seriously - that politicians commit to act for nature. They need to be held to account - which is why a show of strength today is important. But more than that - we need to hold every single person looking to be elected to account. We need to know what they will do ... not what they will say - but what difference they will actually make. 

Yes, it is important to talk about schools, NHS and the police - and they will - at length. But we need to make sure they also talk about nature - because, remember, without a functioning ecosystem, everything else will crumble.

As ever - my hat is open!

And if you want to come and see me talk - I will be in Calstock - east Cornwall - on 12th October, and Freshford, near Bath, on 16th October. 

And today's photo - a burst of pollen from a cedar in the park ...