The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a
charitable organisation
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definition of a ch ...
registered in
England and Wales and in
Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote
conservation and protection of
birds and the wider
environment
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally
* Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
through public awareness campaigns,
petitions and through the operation of
nature reserves throughout the United Kingdom.
In 2020/21 the RSPB had an income of £117 million, 2,000 employees, 12,000 volunteers and 1.1 million members (including 195,000 youth members), making it one of the world's largest wildlife conservation organisations. The RSPB has many local groups and maintains 222 nature reserves. As founders, chief officers and presidents, women have been at the helm of the RSPB for over 85 years.
History
The origins of the RSPB lie with two groups of women, both formed in 1889:
* The Plumage League was founded by
Emily Williamson at her house in
Didsbury
Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...
, Manchester, as a
protest group
A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one.
Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...
campaigning against the use of
great crested grebe and
kittiwake skins and feathers in
fur clothing. The house is now in
Fletcher Moss Botanical Garden.
* The Fin, Fur and Feather Folk was founded in Croydon by
Eliza Phillips,
Etta Lemon, Catherine Hall,
Hannah Poland and others.
The groups gained in popularity and amalgamated in 1891 to form the Society for the Protection of Birds in London.
The Society gained its Royal Charter in 1904.
The original members of the SPB were all women who campaigned against the fashion of the time for women to wear exotic feathers in hats, and the consequent encouragement of "
plume hunting". To this end the Society had two simple rules:
At the time of founding, the trade in plumage for use in hats was very large: in the first quarter of 1884, almost 7,000
bird-of-paradise
The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. The family has 44 species in 17 genera. The members of thi ...
skins were being imported to Britain, along with 400,000 birds from
West India and
Brazil, and 360,000 birds from
East India.
In 1890, the society published its first leaflet, entitled ''Destruction of Ornamental-Plumaged Birds'', aimed at saving the
egret population by informing wealthy women of the environmental damage wrought by the use of feathers in fashion. A later 1897 publication, ''Bird Food in Winter'', aimed to address the use of berries as winter decoration and encouraged the use of synthetic berries to preserve the birds food source. In 1897 the SPB distributed over 16,000 letters and 50,000 leaflets and by 1898 had 20,000 members.
The Society attracted support from some women of high social standing who belonged to the social classes that popularised the wearing of feathered hats, including the
Duchess of Portland
The Duchess of Portland refers to the wife or widow of a Duke of Portland, a former title in the peerage of Great Britain. The title was created in 1716 but became extinct in 1990 upon the death of the ninth Duke.
Duchesses of Portland
* Margaret ...
(who became the Society's first President) and the
Ranee of Sarawak. As the organisation began to attract the support of many other influential figures, both male and female, such as the
ornithologist
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
Professor
Alfred Newton, it gained in popularity and attracted many new members. The society received a
Royal Charter in 1904
from
Edward VII, just 15 years after its founding, and was instrumental in petitioning the
Parliament of the United Kingdom to introduce laws banning the use of
plumage
Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...
in clothing.
At the time that the Society was founded in Britain, similar societies were also founded in other European countries. In 1961, the society acquired
The Lodge in
Sandy, Bedfordshire, as its new headquarters.
The RSPB's logo depicts an
avocet. The first version was designed by
Robert Gillmor
Robert Allen Fitzwilliam Gillmor MBE (6 July 1936 – 8 May 2022) was a British ornithologist, artist, illustrator, author, and editor. He was a co-founder of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) and was its secretary, chairman and presiden ...
.
Activities
Today, the RSPB works with both the
civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
and the
Government to advise Government policies on conservation and
environmentalism.
It is one of several organisations that determine the official
conservation status list for all birds found in the UK.
The RSPB does not run bird hospitals nor offer animal rescue services.
The RSPB entered into a partnership with UK housebuilder Barratt Developments in 2014
Reserves
The RSPB maintains over
200 reserves throughout the United Kingdom, covering a wide range of
habitats, from
estuaries and
mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...
s to
forests and
urban habitats.
The reserves often have
bird hides provided for
birdwatchers and many provide
visitor centres, which include information about the wildlife that can be seen there.
Awards
The RSPB confers awards, including the President's Award, for volunteers who make a notable contribution to the work of the society.
RSPB Medal
According to the RSPB:
The RSPB Medal is the Society's most prestigious award. It is presented to an individual in recognition of wild bird protection and countryside conservation. It is usually awarded annually to one or occasionally two people.
Magazines
The RSPB has published a members-only magazine for over a century.
''Bird Notes''
''Bird Notes and News'' () was first published in April 1903.
The title changed to ''Bird Notes'' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year (one for each season, published on the 1st of each third month, March, June, September and December). Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years. For example, volume XXV (25), number one was dated Winter 1951, and number eight in the same volume was dated Autumn 1953.
From the mid-1950s, many of the covers were by
Charles Tunnicliffe. Two of the originals are on long-term loan to the Tunnicliffe gallery at
Oriel Ynys Môn, but in 1995 the RSPB sold 114 at a
Sotheby's auction, raising £210,000, the most expensive being a picture of a partridge which sold for £6,440.
[RSPB ''Birds'' magazine, Vol 16 No 01, February–April 1996, page 10]
From January 1964 (vol. 31, no. 1), publication increased to six per year, (issued in the odd-numbered months, January, March and so on, but dated "January–February", "March–April", etc.). Volumes again covered two years, so vol. 30, covering 1962–63, therefore included nine issues, ending with the "Winter 1963–64" edition instead of eight. The final edition, vol. 31 no. 12, was published in late 1965.
=Editors
=
* Miss M. G. Davies, BA, MBOU (for many years, until vol. 30 no. 9)
* John Clegg (from vol. 31 No. 1 – vol. 31 no. 3)
* Jeremy Boswell (from vol. 31 no. 4 – vol. 31 no. 12)
''Birds''
''Bird Notes successor ''Birds'' () replaced it immediately, with volume 1, number 1 being the January–February 1966 edition. Issues were published quarterly, numbered so that a new volume started every other year.
The Autumn 2013 edition, dated August–October 2013, being vol. 25 no. 7, was the last.
''Nature's Home''
In Winter 2013 ''Birds'' was replaced by a new magazine, ''Nature's Home''. The editor was Mark Ward. The magazine had an ABC-certified circulation of 600,885.
''The RSPB Magazine''
With the Summer/Autumn 2022 issue, the magazine has been re-titled.
Junior divisions
The RSPB has two separate groups for children and teenagers: Wildlife Explorers (founded in 1943 as the Junior Bird Recorders' Club; from 1965 to 2000 the Young
Ornithologist
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
s' Club or YOC
) and RSPB Phoenix. Wildlife Explorers is targeted at children aged between 8 and 12, although it also has some younger members,
and has two different magazines: ''Wild Times'' for 0-7-year-olds, and ''Wild Explorer'' for 8-12-year-olds. RSPB Phoenix is aimed at teenagers, and produces ''Wingbeat'' magazine, which is primarily written by young people for young people. The RSPB is a member of The
National Council for Voluntary Youth Services.
Big Garden Birdwatch
RSPB organises bird record data collection in annual collective birdwatching days in Britain. RSPB claims this is the "world's biggest wildlife survey" and helps that society to gain a better knowledge on bird population trends in Britain.
[''Birds'', Spring 2013, vol. 25, nº5. February – April 2013, page 18.] That activity was launched in 1979 as an activity for children, although from 2001 it is a survey open to adults too. In 2011, over 600,000 people took part, only 37% of whom were RSPB members. The usual date for this birdwatching collective activity is the last weekend in January. From the start of this annual survey records for
sparrow
Sparrow may refer to:
Birds
* Old World sparrows, family Passeridae
* New World sparrows, family Passerellidae
* two species in the Passerine family Estrildidae:
** Java sparrow
** Timor sparrow
* Hedge sparrow, also known as the dunnock or hedg ...
s show a decline of 60%, while
starling populations declined by about 80% from 1979 to 2012.
In 2022, nearly 700,000 people took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch, counting more than 11 billion birds.
BirdTrack
BirdTrack
BirdTrack is an online citizen science website, operated by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) on behalf of a partnership of the BTO, the RSPB, BirdWatch Ireland, the Scottish Ornithologists' Club and the Welsh Ornithological Society ( cy, Cy ...
is an online
citizen science
Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...
website, operated by the
British Trust for Ornithology
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an organisation founded in 1932 for the study of birds in the British Isles. The Prince of Wales has been patron since October 2020.
History
Beginnings
In 1931 Max Nicholson wrote:
In the United State ...
(BTO) on behalf of a partnership of the BTO, the RSPB,
BirdWatch Ireland
BirdWatch Ireland (BWI) is a voluntary conservation organisation devoted to the conservation and protection of wild birds and their habitats in Ireland. It was formerly known as the Irish Wildbird Conservancy (IWC). Irish Wildbird Conservancy was f ...
, the
Scottish Ornithologists' Club
The Scottish Ornithologists' Club (SOC) is a Scottish ornithological body, founded in March 1936 at the premises of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. As of 2008, the SOC has 2,200 members. The Club runs the Scottish Birds Records Committee ...
and the
Welsh Ornithological Society
The Welsh Ornithological Society ( cy, Cymdeithas Adaryddol Cymru) is an organisation which promotes the study and conservation of birds in Wales. Each year it organises a conference and publishes two issues of the journal ''Welsh Birds'', one of w ...
( cy, Cymdeithas Adaryddol Cymru).
Finances
The RSPB is funded primarily by its members; in 2006, over 50% of the society's £88 million income came from
subscription
The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...
s,
donations and
legacies, worth a total of £53.669 million.
As a
registered charity
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definition of a ch ...
, the organisation is entitled to
gift aid worth an extra £0.28 on every £1.00 donated by
income tax payers.
The bulk of the income (£63.757 million in 2006) is spent on conservation projects, maintenance of the reserves and on education projects, with the rest going on fundraising efforts and reducing the pension deficit, worth £19.8 million in 2006.
Advertising
It was reported in an article in ''
The Daily Mail'' on 2 November 2014 that claims that the charity "was spending 90 per cent of its income on conservation" by the
UK Advertising Standards Authority were incorrect. The article claimed that the true figure was closer to 26%. The
Charity Commission
, type = Non-ministerial government department
, seal =
, seal_caption =
, logo = Charity Commission for England and Wales logo.svg
, logo_caption =
, formed =
, preceding1 =
, ...
investigated the claims, and contacted the RSPB to get it to clarify its web statement. The RSPB complied, with the clarification that 90% of its net income (after expenses, not gross income as received) was spent on conservation, and that conservation activities were diverse, not limited to spending on its own nature reserves. This was accepted by the Charity Commission.
Presidents
*
Winifred Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland
Winifred Anna Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (''née'' Dallas-Yorke; 7 September 1863 – 30 July 1954) was a British humanitarian and animal welfare activist.
Background
Born at Murthly Castle, Perthshire, she was the only daughter ...
1891–1954
*
Cyril Hurcomb
Cyril William Hurcomb, 1st Baron Hurcomb (18 February 1883 – 7 August 1975) was a British civil servant.
Career
Hurcomb was Permanent Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Transport from 1927 to 1937; of the Ministry of Shipping from 1939; and th ...
*Colonel Sir
Tufton Beamish
*
Derek Barber, Baron Barber of Tewkesbury
*
Robert Dougall
Robert Dougall, MBE (27 November 1913 – 18 December 1999) was an English broadcaster and ornithologist, mainly known as a newsreader and announcer.
Early life and radio broadcasting
Dougall was born and educated in Croydon, Surrey. He a ...
*
Max Nicholson 1980–1985
*
Magnus Magnusson
Magnus Magnusson, (born Magnús Sigursteinsson; 12 October 1929 – 7 January 2007) was an Icelandic-born British-based journalist, translator, writer and television presenter. Born in Reykjavík, he lived in Scotland for almost all his life, a ...
1985–1990
*Sir
Derek Barber
Derek Coates Barber, Baron Barber of Tewkesbury (17 June 1918 – 21 November 2017) was a British member of the House of Lords. He also served as a senior civil servant and agricultural expert.
Barber was educated at the Royal Agricultural Colle ...
1990–1991
[RSPB ''Birds'' magazine, Vol 13 No 7, Autumn 1991]
*
Ian Prestt 1991–1994
*
Julian Pettifer 1994–?
*
Jonathan Dimbleby
Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby.
...
2001–?
*
Julian Pettifer 2004–2009
*
Kate Humble 2009–2013
*
Miranda Krestovnikoff
Miranda Krestovnikoff (born 29 January 1973)'' Who's Who'' is a British radio and television presenter specialising in natural history and archaeological programmes. She is an accomplished musician, and also a qualified scuba diver which has l ...
2013–2022
* Dr Amir Khan GP 2022-(incumbent)
Chief officers
Over time, the organisation's
chief officer
A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship ...
s have been given different titles.
*
William Henry Hudson
William Henry Hudson (4 August 1841 – 18 August 1922) – known in Argentina as Guillermo Enrique Hudson – was an Anglo-Argentine author, naturalist and ornithologist.
Life
Hudson was the son of Daniel Hudson and his wife Catherine (), U ...
– Chairman of Committee 1894
* Sir
Montagu Sharpe
Sir Montagu Sharpe KBE DL (28 October 1857 – 23 August 1942) was an English politician, lawyer, amateur archaeologist, antiquarian, and ornithologist. He came from an old Middlesex family that owned Hanwell Park. He was a member of the Midd ...
,
KBE
KBE may refer to:
* Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters
* Knowledge-based engineering
Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...
DL – Chairman of Committee 1895–1942
* Phillip Brown
*
Peter Conder
Peter Conder, OBE (20 March 1919 – 8 October 1993) was a British ornithologist and conservationist known predominantly for his contribution as Director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Early life
Peter Conder was born in S ...
OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
– Secretary 1963. Director 1964–1975
* Ian Prestt
CBE – Director General 1975–1991
*
Barbara Young – CEO 1991–1998
* Sir Graham Wynne – CEO 1998–2010
* Mike Clarke – Chief Executive 2010–2019
*
Beccy Speight
Beccy Speight is the chief executive officer of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Career
Speight started her career working in local government in Scotland and then with the management consultants Smythe Dorward Lambert. Since 200 ...
- Chief Executive 2019-
Associate organisations
The RSPB is a member of
Wildlife and Countryside Link. The RSPB is the UK Partner of
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
and manages the
South Atlantic Invasive Species Project
The South Atlantic Invasive Species Project is a three-year project (December 2006 - December 2009) funded under the European Union EDF 9. The purpose of the project is to increase the capacity of the UK's South Atlantic Overseas Territories to de ...
on behalf of the partner governments.
See also
*
List of Birdlife International national partner organisations
*
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
*
*
Wildlife law in England and Wales
*
:Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
RSPB.org.uk— official website
RSPB images*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Society For The Protection Of Birds
Organizations established in 1889
Environmental organisations based in England
Ornithological organisations in the United Kingdom
Animal charities based in the United Kingdom
1889 establishments in the United Kingdom
1889 establishments in England
Charities based in Bedfordshire
Bird conservation organizations
British landowners