BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alcina" data-source="post: 3245839" data-attributes="member: 11932">You should be thankful. Mostly the RSPB obtains reserves by taking over ones which have been created by the hard work of local volunteers, or by local authorities, and ruining them. They then decide to 'manage' them (wrecking water levels, destroying bushes) and turn them into amusement parks so that lots of people bring screaming kids to play. They pull down hides and replace them with glass 'visibles' which frighten all the birds away, bulldoze holes in sea walls which were built by hundreds of hours of hard manual labour by volunteers, the list goes on. They also fail to understand that in summer the birder's day is nearly over by 10am, which is their standard opening hour. This says everything you need to know; they think of their reserves as tourist attractions, not places for birders.There are a few exceptions, where the RSPB has created really great reserves from scratch (like Lakenheath), and occasions when they do open reserves early for birders, which I am grateful for, and I continue to be  member because of these.</blockquote>