Ecoscape UK has joined the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Founded in 1889, the RSPB is the UK’s largest nature conservation charity with over 12,000 active volunteers and over a million members contributing almost one million hours every year. Working on projects both nationally and internationally, the RSPB aims to protect and restore UK wildlife so that towns, coasts and countryside areas can one day be flourishing with nature – for the benefit of species and people.
Our country is home to an abundance of animals including the likes of skylarks and puffins, red squirrels and hedgehogs. They are threatened, however, by everything from urban expansion to intensive farming, pollution, non-native species, the climate crisis and overfishing. To tackle these issues, the RSPB has developed nature recovery groups which prioritise those most threatened species, habitats and sites, setting clear objectives for each.
One way they are helping nature is by creating nature reserves. They currently manage over a whopping 150,000 hectares of land at over 200 reserves, providing a home to 80% of the UK’s rarest or most threatened bird species. These reserves also give people a place to enjoy wildlife, and are the base of scientific research so the RSPB can ensure its conservation methods are effective and based on the latest innovations Putting things into perspective, by 2025 the RSPB will have helped to improve the wildlife value of at least 10%of the seas around the UK and its overseas territories as well as ensuring at least 20% of UK land is well preserved for nature.
Currently there are almost 200 current ongoing projects that have been set up by the RSPB, ranging from the Ayrshire Farmland wader project, helping to stem declines in breeding wader birds across Scotland, to eradicating invasive mice from Gough Island, a seabird breeding paradise in the South Atlantic. No one charity can save nature alone, however, so the RSPB also works with a whole range of corporate organisations to save nature.
In 2014, for example, the RSPB began working with Barratt Developments PLC, the country’s leading housebuilder, to see how housing developments could help and support wildlife. Together they’ve created and installed thousands of swift bricks, built ‘hedgehog highways’, and produced industry-leading guides to encourage their sites, their homeowners and indeed other housebuilders to give nature a home, to name just a few of the partnership’s ventures.
The annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch has been a huge part of the RSPB since 1979, with nearly 9 million hours being spent watching garden birds since it began all those years ago, and a total of more than 137 million birds counted. The Big Garden Birdwatch has helped provide the charity with invaluable data tracing bird species that are doing well, and giving an insight into which species are perhaps struggling – and how to protect them. 2021 was the biggest year yet for the Birdwatch with over a million people taking part, counting 17 million birds! The house sparrow was in the number one spot for the 18th year in a row, with the blue tit moving up to second place and starlings going down to third. The parallel Big Schools Birdwatch still took place though many students were studying from home. For students, woodpigeon came in as top bird, with blackbird coming in second and the house sparrow at third. This is a fantastic way to not only enable school children to be outside in the midst of all that nature has to offer, but it also teaches children the importance of local wildlife and what we can do to try to protect those species in decline. In mid-December registrations will open for Big Garden Birdwatch 2022, so be sure to check out the website for your free ID pack and top tips! www.rspb.org.uk.
Ecoscape UK are passionate about working with the RSPB to not only save our nature today, but to do more to save nature for future generations by delivering maximum impact with all our support and donations. Ecoscape UK are getting involved in developing the RSPB nature reserves around the UK by donating high quality recycled products to build boardwalks, bridges, walkways and nature areas, helping to create more accessible areas for everyone to enjoy our natural world and all the beautiful nature within it. Ecoscape UK are also planning to take the time out of the office and get involved in corporate volunteering days for the RSPB, from helping to create paths with the Ecoscape UK donated products, maintaining wildflower meadows, to planting wildlife gardens, Ecoscape UK really are committed towards making a real difference to nature. Ecoscape UK are also planning to raise funds by placing a pin badge box in the office showroom, helping to spread awareness amongst the community and increase contributions for such a fantastic charity.
Comment (01)
“Nature conservation is a crucial aspect of preserving our planet and the RSPB has been at the forefront of this mission for over a century. It’s great to see Ecoscape UK joining forces with them to protect and restore UK wildlife. The nature reserves managed by the RSPB not only provide a home for rare and threatened species, but also give people a chance to connect with nature. I’m curious about how I can support this cause by purchasing products from Ecoscape UK.”