The RSPB have announced that sixty of their reserves are likely to be affected by the charity’s proposed cuts.
A document, understood to have been sent to RSPB volunteers in September, outlines a significant change to the charity’s reserves, with 380 people seeing their role at the RSPB 'ceasing or changing significantly'.
The document apparently states that 32 RSPB reserves are planned to be mothballed or ‘disposed’ of completely.
And what do we think is the reason behind these job cuts and the ‘disposal’ of numerous reserves? Ah, of course! Bring out the begging bowl; the RSPB don’t have enough money.
This is despite the fact that the RSPB have more money than they have ever had before. In the year 2023-2024, their total income increased by £5.2 million to £169.9 million. £54 million of this came from members and donations, with £33.9 million coming from ‘grants, corporates and trusts’, with an increase in grant income of £1.9m.
This included £1.3m to support Orkney Native Wildlife – their stoat removal project which has been branded 'ineffective' and 'a flop' from insiders working on the project (read more here). And then there was £1.1m for Lake Vyrnwy, the RSPB flagship reserve in Wales where the RSPB have spent millions of pounds (of public money) and yet since they took over, wildlife has plummeted.
You have to ask whether birds on their reserves seeing better outcomes now, when the RSPB have a ‘record’ income of £169.9 million, than when their turnover was ‘only’ £2 or £3million? It’s hard to agree that they are.
Despite this, and despite a ‘record’ year when it comes to their income, the RSPB don’t have enough money to enable school visits or programmes to their reserves. They are planning to dispose of a number of reserves and are ‘reviewing’ hundreds of jobs. But many would argue that they have frittered away money on other projects which were doomed to fail. It seems an odd state of affairs.
The RSPB state that ‘no decisions or changes have been made yet’, and they expect to publish an outcome document on November 14. Then, from January 2025 onwards, the ‘agreed model’ of changes will come into force. Let us see what a new year will bring.