"For those who attach importance to honours and medals, the top job at the RSBP is the one to aim for. The outgoing incumbent, Graham Wynne, has recently picked up a well-earned knighthood, while his predecessor, Barbara Young, is not only a Dame but also a member of the House of Lords and Ladies, and a very budy one, to boot. Many of us expected Sir Graham's job to go to the wel-upholstered figure of Mark Avery, who has been number two at RSPB for as long as I can remember. But it went instead to Mike Clarke, the 'director of operations', who used to study bogs in the New Forest."