Society and it is too big to be managed as a spare-time activity by people
who really want to work on conservation’.
Her arrival marked the beginning of a new era for the RSPB and one
which would bring a fresh focus on modern management techniques to the
Society’s business.
History of the Society
The RSPB was formed in 1889 and had an auspicious start, with 25 000
paying subscriptions being received by the end of its first decade. This
helped to finance the first official ‘watcher’, who was appointed to protect
breeding pintails at Loch Leven. The seal of royal approval arrived in 1904,
when the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was officially formed by
a degree of charter. Personal recommendation from the Royal Family came
in a letter from Queen Alexandra, who publicly supported the Society, and
later that year King Edward VII went as far as to refuse a gift of plovers’
eggs from a visiting dignitary.
Over the next 90 years the Society began to have great effect on legisla-
tion and environmental issues concerning wild birds. Shortly after the
charter was granted the Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Bill was
introduced to parliament and after much hard lobbying the Bill was passed
in 1921.
The majority of funds raised were reinvested in the purchase of land to
create reserves, as efforts focused not only on the protection of birds but
also the environments which sustained them. This work was rewarded in
1947 by the return of avocets to breed at Havergate and much excitement
was generated as ospreys were sighted in Scotland after an absence of 50
years. The popularity of the cause and membership of younger members
also grew; the Junior Bird Recorders Club, the forerunner of the Young
Ornithologists Club (YOC), was formed at this time.
As the Society entered the 1960s public support for their cause grew
rapidly and following the Torrey Canyon oil spill, that killed 100 000 birds
off the Cornish coast, the RSPB raised enough funds in three years to buy
four properties for conservation. In 1961 the move from London to the
present headquarters, the picturesque ‘Lodge’ at Sandy, Bedfordshire, was
not only a response to rising costs but also to enable major expansion.
Fund-raising appeals were now on a major scale. In 1977 the ‘Save a
Place for Birds’ appeal raised over £1 million and membership of the
charity now stood at 300 000 members. This success was to be repeated in
the centenary year, 1989. During this year the RSPB successfully lobbied
the government to abide by European Community directives to protect
special sites associated with the movements of two million migratory
birds. The launch of the ‘Action for Birds’ campaign also addressed a wide
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