Guest editorial

Guest editorial

Guest Editorial

James Robinson is the RSPB’s Chief Operating Officer, responsible for the running of the charity’s operations across the UK, including its network of over 220 nature reserves. 

I know how important our nature reserves are to the readers of British Birds – how much they are loved and revered, and what special memories they hold, not least because of the incredible birds and other wildlife you’ve seen there.

RSPB nature reserves provide vital habitats for more than 18,700 species of wildlife and are essential for the protection and recovery of many threatened bird species. Their success is down to the dedication and expertise of our amazing teams, who manage them in such a way to provide the most incredible spaces for nature, and I am so proud of them.  

As you might expect, our nature reserves and the conservation work we deliver on them accounts for the largest proportion of our financial spend each year. So, at a time when costs are continuing to rise, we, as a responsible charity, need to ensure that the money our members and supporters so generously donate is being used to help nature in the most effective way.

We cannot get away from the fact that it has been an extremely challenging few years, not just for the RSPB but for other charities, businesses and the nation as a whole. The cost-of-living crisis and inflationary pressure has impacted everyone in their daily lives.  

We’re fortunate that, in such tough times, we have seen our income grow; but it hasn’t grown at the same pace as our costs have risen. To illustrate this, just two years ago the cost of delivering our work was £150 million; the same work this year has cost us £165 million – some 10% more overall.

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Barn Swallow

25. Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica, RSPB Minsmere, Suffolk, May 2008.

David Tipling

Nature needs our help now more than ever and, as it’s incumbent on us to ensure we deliver our work sustainably, we’ve completed a comprehensive review of our operations. The review included our entire nature reserve network and other small pieces of land owned or managed by the RSPB. We need to ensure that we are equipped to continue to keep saving nature in the future, and to remain strong and viable it was clear that we needed to make some changes. This does not mean selling off large areas of land to the highest bidder or that any of our flagship nature reserves will disappear. Our focus has been to understand the strengths of each individual site and where it contributes to our mission to save nature.

At some of our nature reserves, a small number of facilities are planned for closure or potential change of management. This includes five retail facilities, one cafe and four visitor centres across a total of seven sites. These are:

the retail facility at RSPB Loch Garten, Highland;

the retail facility at RSPB Newport Wetlands; 

the retail facility at RSPB Dungeness, Kent;

the retail facility and visitor centre at Fairhaven Lake, Lancashire & North Merseyside;

and the retail facility and café at RSPB Rainham Marshes, Essex, while the future management of the visitor centre will be explored over the next 12 months. The nature reserve will remain open.

Additionally, options for the future of the reserves at Flatford Wildlife Garden, Suffolk, and RSPB Rye Meads, Hertfordshire – including potential change of management – are being reviewed during 2025.

At other sites, we are reducing our work to allow us to do more and make a bigger impact elsewhere. At these sites, which in all account for less than 1% of our landholding, this will mean working in partnership with other charities, community groups or local councils to find sustainable futures for these places. 

We want to be very clear that our long-term aim is to focus on what we do best and where we can do this most effectively. The RSPB is an organisation grounded in science and our evidence has shown us that nature does better in larger, more ecologically joined-up places. Strategic acquisitions, particularly to our existing nature reserves, are critically important to us. Since 2017, we’ve acquired over 8,500 hectares of new land to restore, from whole new reserves like Sherwood Forest and Glencripesdale in Scotland, through to strategic extensions such as at Blacktoft Sands, Yorkshire, and Lakenheath, Norfolk/Suffolk. We are continuing to grow the area of land that we manage and conserve for nature year on year and we have a number of exciting and large new acquisitions to be announced in the coming months.

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Lakenheath

26. RSPB Lakenheath, Norfolk/Suffolk, May 2011.

David Tipling

We know that change is always challenging. In its 135-year history, there have been many instances where the RSPB has been forced to adapt to ensure it remains in the best position possible to advocate powerfully for nature. Our mission continues to be to create a world where wildlife and people can thrive.

Today, thanks to the generosity of our members, supporters, partners, funders and volunteers, the RSPB is the UK’s leading charity for nature conservation. For this to continue for many years to come, we will be even more focused on where this generous support can have the biggest impact – boosting numbers of birds and other wildlife, restoring the vital habitats they need, creating better nature havens for you to visit, and bringing more people together who love birds and wildlife and who want to take action to restore the natural world.

 

James Robinson, Chief Operating Officer, RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL

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