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Lack of RSPB Reserves in North East England (1 Viewer)

Stuff 'em.

Whilst they may not have the density of reserves you desire in the north-east, the contribution they make to the UK, to which you are also a resident, I feel deserves a degree more consideration than a mere 'stuff em' comment. Live in a country beyond the U.K and all too soon, you'd get to appreciate the amazing conservation bodies the UK has, be it the RSPB, WWT, county trusts or even National Trust.

Sure there'll always be things they do that will not be to everybody's liking all the time, but were they to not exist, the UK would be the poorer for it, far poorer.
 
Whilst they may not have the density of reserves you desire in the north-east, the contribution they make to the UK, to which you are also a resident, I feel deserves a degree more consideration than a mere 'stuff em' comment.

You're entitled to that view Jos, but it doesn't change my experience of the RSPB one iota. It's not about the reserves, that's just a symptom. It's about the fact that the RSPB has turned a blind eye to every single development up here, regardless of the damage that it caused to the environment, in the near thirty years that I've been watching.

Time after time, when local wildlife groups have looked to the RSPB for help in fighting off some heinous, unnecessary, deeply damaging development, the RSPB has turned its back.

As an aside, it's partly the lack of a critical eye cast on the RSPB that has resulted in them turning into something more akin to a bloody PR company than a charity whose stated aim is to:
speak out for birds and wildlife, tackling the problems that threaten our environment
"Our" in that sentence apparently excluding the North East...

Aye, stuff 'em.
 
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Two things come to mind for me. The first is availability of land and I suspect that most of the area you describe is owned by large scale landowners who would have no wish to sell it. Secondly it is about relevant protection not just buying land anywhere. Avocets breeding in Durham, good, but that doesnt mean that the RSPB has to step in, the birds have done it by themselves in that area. I would like to know what the Wildlife Trusts, WWT, Woodland Trust and others cover already, this is about a national approach to habitat protection not one charity trying to outcompete another.
 
Attempts have been made elsewhere to attract Roseate Terns back to previously occupied sites, and to create new sites. Methods utilised have been nestbox placement, tape-luring and decoy birds. Results have been mixed, so the contribution made by the attractants isn't known.

'almost certainly' may be a bit optimistic ;)

cheers
martin

How about managing sites to try and increase the number of Roseate Terns that breed. Currently all birds apart from a couple of pairs are on Coquet Island but they will almost certainly breed in boxes on the mainland if they were to be provided.
 
Keith

Can you list a few examples please? I'll be at a 2 day meeting in July with the RSPB's Regional Conservation Officer so it could provide some interesting discussions over coffee ;)

I fully understand why the RSPB are much maligned in Northumberland, but my own view of them has mellowed over the last few years. They may not have any reserves up here (apart from Coquet Is. and Geltsdale is right on our border) but they stepped in when the North Tynedale Hen Harrier project was in turmoil (although things subsequently went wrong in 2009, but that's a whole different story...), they stood up alongside a small group of NTBC members when there was an attempt to remove the Tyne Bridge Kittiwake colony (another issue that's rearing it's head again, although the issues are different now I think) and they're a strong advocate for conservation in the ongoing Marine Conservation Zones project. Those are just a few examples from projects I've been involved in personally. I know that they're opposing planning applications and advising on mitigation measures when there would be consequences for conservation as well.

cheers
martin

The reason there's less up here in the first place is in no small part, down to years of the RSPB neglecting the North East as a matter of policy: massive amounts of now-lost habitat up here needed protection, but the RSPB quite deliberately focused its attentions elsewhere.
 
One aspect that relates back to my earlier post, about whether the land needs protecting with RSPB reserves is still valid, if you look at national parks, a scheme that should protect the habitat in some way (may not be as good a s a full on reserve, but prevents mass development being carried out easily) and you will see the north, wales and south west are covered by large swathes where as the south east and east anglia are not. http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/map-homepage.gif

There may well also be better farming methods employed,I do not know this for a fact, but they don't get much worse than those used in Kent, for example in the Thanet area, farming is pretty much of cabbage, year on year, they plant them, harvest them, then scour the earth with acids and plant again, this has terrible affects on bird/insect life. If that is the case these areas again don't need as much protection.

It is also evident these days that small nature reserves alone are not as effective at encourageing wildlife as protected corridors or large areas of reserve, therefore the RSPB buying and maintaining vast tracts of land in one area is more important to wildlife than buying small areas dotted around the country. I'm from central England, and we have no RSP reserves nearby, yet our one reserve locally (at great Linford, the first inland site to hold breeding little egret) was offered for sale to the RSPB to help protect the area (which is under huge amounts of threat from development) yet they said no as they have enough water based reserves (or so I was told).

Alternatively maybe those of your from or in the Northwest just smell bad, and the RSPB want nothing to do with you 8-P
 
also, from experience of living in both the south east and yorkshire, the biodiversity and numbers of birds up here is far, far greater than in the south-east. I only have to walk a mile or so to see tree sparrows, which are practically extinct in the south-east, house sparrows are common, yellowhammers thrive, etc etc etc. For a large part, this region also has huge areas of land that are under nowhere near the same land-use pressures, there is (I would guess) a much lower population density across the majority of the region. the reserves down south provide vital islands of biodiversity that wouldn't make the same impact up here cos the birds already exist.
 
Attempts have been made elsewhere to attract Roseate Terns back to previously occupied sites, and to create new sites. Methods utilised have been nestbox placement, tape-luring and decoy birds. Results have been mixed, so the contribution made by the attractants isn't known.

'almost certainly' may be a bit optimistic ;)

cheers
martin

Thanks for info regarding Rosy terns. Tape lures........lets not go there;)
 
It's good to hear that Dorman's Pool has now become an extension to Saltholm. But I just wish we could get a few RSPB reserves in Northumberland, Durham and Tyne and Wear in addition to Coquet Ireland that is in Northumberland.
Ian.
 
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