The RSPB

The website for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is very well designed and full of fascinating information. If you weren't a bird lover before you logged on, there's every chance you will be by the time you log off.

You'll find lots on this site: regular news about birds and wildlife, ideas about how to get involved in various nature projects, and advice on everything from feeding birds to making nestboxes. You'll also find out about the history of the RSPB and exactly what the organisation does, including its conservation work and its links to farming.

If you're interested in looking out for a particular bird go to the A Date With Nature section. If you want some help with working out which bird you've spotted, take a look at the Bird Identifier section. First you'll need to say which area you saw it in: coastal, farmland, urban etc. Then you'll be presented with a list of what you'll find in that area. Click on a picture of the bird you saw and you'll discover its Latin name, where and when to see it, what it eats and its distribution around the country. There's even a recoding of its song!

And if that's that not enough, why not read up on the 150 nature reserves which the RSPB runs all over the UK? These make for great days out and might inspire children to take an interest in the natural world. It's also a fine way of discovering that another country exists well beyond our clogged up towns and cities.