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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Robert Wallace" data-source="post: 3398307" data-attributes="member: 5690">John your question is very difficult to answer. When I joined in 1973 it was primarily an organisation run by ornithologists or people with a deep love of birds and the membership reflected this but it was not not mainstream.Indeed when I was a boy birdwatchers were regarded as slightly odd in a well meaning way. In the late 70's and 80's  birdwatching  became much more popular  endorsed by a plethora of celebrities. The late Eric Morecambe is a good example of what I mean. Today birdwatching is both popular and mainstream and many people find birdwatching a pleasant leisure activity which does not necessarily require much effort. Today many well known bird reserves are almost "Nature Theme Parks" catering for the mass market. Membership of the RSPB has changed and because of the increased income many new reserves have been purchased but these still have to be managed which is costly.I do not know what the social profile of the RSPB membership is, but mature, white middle class and small c conservative comes to mind. Visit a typical "honeypot" reserve to see what I mean. Can the RSPB afford to upset it's membership by being controversial? I cannot see many RSPB members doing a mass trespass on the grouse moors, protesting against driven grouse shooting.On another tangent I am slightly uncomfortable about the RSPB becoming and overarching "National Wildlife Trust"  (Nature's Home etc). I fully accept that any conservation project will effect the overall ecology and that nature reserves need to sensitive to the big picture, I worry that the RSPB may be seen as taking over. The various County Wildlife Trusts seem to be able to cope with nearly all the various strands of nature (wild flowers, fungi, butterflies, moths etc) without any problems so maybe it's just me. John your simple question has raised many issues in my mind but I'm not sure about the best way forward.</blockquote>

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