If this were a rating on TripAdvisor or similar then this year’s RSPB AGM would score quite highly. It was a bit less slick than usual – whoever was working the images didn’t quite get them right all the time for example. But it was still an inspirational event – and the AGM itself is free if you are a a member (and you should be a member).
I didn’t stay for lunch – we went to the pub! – and I didn’t come back for the afternoon talks because you do have to pay for them and anyway I was on the People’s Vote march just around the corner!
Here are some observations:
- Caroline Lucas MP was awarded the RSPB Medal. Hooray! In the centenary of women’s suffrage (some women anyway) and the publication of a book mildly critical of the RSPB’s track record with women (particularly some of its founders) this seemed appropriate. But it is always appropriate to recognise achievement and excellence and that is what our only Green MP demonstrates brilliantly. The RSPB even rejigged the AGM agenda so that Caroline could nip off to the People’s Vote march straight after her acceptance speech (in which she praised RSPB and mentioned that she is seeing Michael Gove a week on monday with Mary Colwell to talk about a GCSE in natural history). The round of applause for Caroline was one of the longest I have ever heard at an RSPB AGM.
- the changes to the Charter really weren’t well-explained. They seemed a bit dull and financial so everyone voted them through (I noticed only one vote cast against) but this was because nobody wanted to delay their lunches! I don’t think it was a great way to do business actually. I didn’t vote either For or Against the motion as I really didn’t think I knew what I was voting on so I still have both voting cards as a souvenir of the day.
- Kevin Cox made his first speech as Chair of Council (after pointing out to me that he doesn’t chair the event (silly me – I forgot!) because that is the role of the President, Miranda Krestovnikoff). And a good speech it was too. But it practically completely avoided any mention of advocacy and engagement with government policy. That was strange. We usually hear something about RSPB’s campaigning zeal but this time we didn’t. Was that intended, or was it an accident? These things are rarely accidents.
- there were more members than usual at the AGM this year – I’m told about 250 more. These numbers still aren’t as high as they were in the 1990s I think, but they have been falling for years.
- the outgoing Treasurer, Graeme Wallace, didn’t mention advocacy either but he did mention, again, some of the examples that the Chair had used a few moments earlier – not as slick as usual, as I said. The speechwriters should be working more closely together. There is a fine line between putting a brave face on your problems and not being completely straight about them. From the Treasurer’s report you would hardly have realised that the RSPB is shedding 200-300 posts out of a total of around 2000. That’s a big deal, certainly for the staff involved but also for the organisation, including the surviving staff. It was left to a regular commenter on this blog to ask a question about this and for Mike Clarke to explain matters. Except, quite honestly, one would have been left not much more the wiser after Mike’s explanation than before. Again, these things are difficult to get right, but as a member I think the RSPB ended up by not being entirely frank with me at the AGM yesterday and that disappoints me.
- and let me reiterate, the RSPB did not give the impression in these two set-piece, scripted speeches that it was regarding advocacy to governments as a high priority these days. Design or accident?
- it would be unworthy of me to wonder, so I am confessing my unworthiness now, if it will be easier for the RSPB to talk about the sticky financial position next year when there is a new Treasurer and a new Chief Exec in place who can say something like ‘bygones’ and move on.
- I think it was Graeme Wallace who said, and I am happy to be corrected if he didn’t, that Orkney holds 25% of the national Hen Harrier population. It doesn’t (regardless of whether the nation in question is Scotland or the UK): Orkney had 83 territorial pairs in the 2016 survey out of a national total of 460 in Scotland and 545 in the UK (and 575 in the UK and IoM).
- two regular commenters on this blog, Richard and Lyn Ebbs were given the title of the dynamic duo and an RSPB President’s Award. Another hooray! Richly deserved and it’s always nice when your friends get recognised.
- Chris Murphy, an ex-RSPB staff member and a guest blogger here (Saving Loughs Neagh and Beg, 6 December 2016; At the Gates of the Supreme Court, 17 October 2017) gave the RSPB a very hard time over their alleged lack of fight against a road development in Northern Ireland. He got quite a robust response from Shaun Thomas. We were left wondering who was more in the right.
- the RSPB was challenged to introduce meat-free Mondays into their staff canteens and visitor cafes to prove they were serious about climate change. Martin Harper promised to think about it and come back next year with an answer, which might have sounded a bit lame but he is the Conservation Director and he can’t make up RSPB policy on catering on the spur of the moment. I hope we hear something positive on this quite soon – particularly as the RSPB Chair, as he said himself, is a vegetarian.
- the closest we got to a gang of YFTB supporters rushing the stage was a question from Keith Cowieson, RSPB volunteer and surveyor and, he failed to remember to mention, the director of the execrable Songbird Survival organisation. Keith used to comment here in the past but he doesn’t seem to do so any more. Whenever I see him, last time was at the Bird Fair, he is always very keen to be seen to be shaking my hand. I don’t really want to shake his hand because I have no admiration for the organisation he leads but have always done so up until now, though somewhat hesitantly, out of a feeling of politeness. Today when I met him in the foyer of the QEII Centre I decided that it was closer to hypocrisy than politeness so I declined his handshake and he got a bit huffy about it. But his question was along the lines of ‘Why doesn’t the RSPB support a Hen Harrier reintroduction scheme in SouthWest England? Wouldn’t it be good to work with that nice Michael Gove on this scheme?’. Martin Harper, who was quite busy yesterday, looked almost thunderous for Martin when answering the question with quite a terse response along the lines that ‘It’s a daft and illegal idea until persecution is sorted out’ which was the right response, and he could have added, but was probably wise not to, ‘And anyway it was one of our biggest mistakes to give any credence at all to the ridiculous Defra Hen Harrier Inaction Plan and we are now, alongside Mark Avery, taking a legal challenge to NE’s licensing of brood meddling as a fake conservation measure, and haven’t you noticed that we persuaded the European Commission to threaten Defra with infraction proceedings over damaging burning of blanket bogs by grouse shooting estates so I don’t think we need your advice thanks very much Songbird Survival, errrr, I mean Keith’.
‘Daft and illegal’? What an odd exchange that must have been. Songbird Survival asking for the restoration of a songbird-eating raptor and RSPB wanting nothing to do with it. I hope they come around to the idea. They were involved with Red Kites. One of the stated reasons for initiating that project was that kites were not spreading out from their core range in Wales because of problems with illegal persecution. Then there is Cirl Bunting – quite rightly reintroduced into a new area in south-west England because the problems limiting the spread of the existing population (intensive farming) were too difficult to tackle. Let’s get these birds back into southern England as well as keeping up the pressure in the uplands. Helping improve the status of Hen Harriers in one part of its former range is not an admission that we are giving up in another part – in fact, ultimately, one will help the other.
There weren’t 500+ Red Kites in Wales trying to spread into other countries.
Your logic seems to depend on the belief that persecution can not be stopped. With stricter laws the persecution could be stopped virtually over night (except then there truly would be a few bad apples). Believing that we have to compromise and accept that persecution is a fact of life that we have to accept and adjust to, is a dangerous defeatist idea which only play into the hands of the criminals and their masters. That is why i agree with Chris Packham that this and brood persecution are sops to the grouse ‘industry’ and their mafia.
It could have been a much shorter conversation. No-one in the world is willing to give England Hen Harrier chicks for the southern reintroduction. Maybe the IUCN guidelines have something to do with that. Well, maybe Putin might but even Natural England would surely balk at that.
Ian – I’d agree with you if we were talking about a butterfly or reptile re-introduction, but the hen harrier is different. Birds dispersing large distances after breeding could still come up against the gamekeepers guns in northern england. Any re-introduction in the south-west would be a distraction from the main issues facing this species.
Yes, true, just as with Red Kites – thousands of birds lost to persecution but also plenty that survived to allow populations to become established. As to your last point I would never not do something with a great conservation outcome just because it could be labelled as a distraction. In any case, I believe that it will ultimately help get them back into the uplands, given enough time.
‘In any case, I believe that it will ultimately help get them back into the uplands, given enough time.’
WHAT!
More birds, more dispersing young, more high-tech tags with close to real time information, and better public awareness of the bird through a high profile reintroduction. So, yes, I think it would help, given time.
The grouse uplands of England are extinct of Hen Harriers which are getting killed when they come down from Scotland but somehow the ones from the lowlands flying north are going to be protected.
Sounds almost racist (just kidding).
I think only a small fraction of this years Hen Harrier chicks in England were satellite tagged. There are limited resources. So rather than tag all the English birds and as many as the Scottish birds as possible you want to waste resources on a southern re-introductions. Seems absolutely barmy to me. Why not just get the law obeyed. Very odd that the people who kill these birds will agree with you.
Where is all this time you speak of? Mine is limited.
This reminds me of Bomber Harris who calculated that daylight raids on Germany would work if enough planes were sent into the slaughter. A lot of men died for his mistake.
It is the first time i have heard the idea that Hen Harrier persecution would be solved if only there were more Hen Harriers for the gangsters to kill.
This week Thor was killed in the exact spot where 4 other Hen Harriers were killed. The police don’t even seem to be aware of it. We have all the information we need and still no one is acting. Certainly the more data there is the harder it will be for the politicians to pretend nothing is happening (but so far they are doing a damned good job of that) but the lowland re-introduction and brood persecution are just huge distractions and a waste of resources. They don’t address any real problems and do absolutely nothing for other persecuted species of grouse moors particularly the Peregrine which is suffering an identical fate.
This is all Natural England are doing about Hen Harriers so it is quite clear to me that if we could stop this debacle they would have to actually do something about the actual source of the problem. Lowland re-introductions and brood persecution makes them look as though they are doing something when actually all they are doing is keeping the grouse-mafia happy.
Hi Ian,
There is a huge difference between kites and harriers. Kites in the North of England can for example in areas where persecution is not as rife. They can sneak into woods and be difficult to locate.
Hen harriers are trying to roost and nest on open moorland, they are treated as enemy number one. There’s really very few hiding places for them when they hang around for a few days. I hope the work by Redpath and Amar looks at how long birds stayed in a grouse moor area before disappearing, I think that would be very interesting.
I do think that there could role for reintroduction, once we have seen a recovery to a sustainable number in the uplands, SPA designations met for example. That wouldn’t take long if there was a real will to see an improvement and if there wasn’t an improvement of this order then why waste the time and money on it?
The problem is that the criminals don’t want one bird making the shoot day “messy”, that’s why we see Short-eared owls persecuted. SEO must also be really struggling in some areas due to persecution. Peregrines another species almost extinct in grouse moor areas, yet thriving not far away.
We need to see an end to illegal persecution, not measures that are aimed at giving it credibility, I understand the arguments that it will produce more evidence of wrong doing but we are passed that stage, the evidence is there for all to see, no matter how much Amanda thinks she’s fooling people. We now need some proactive work by the UK government to act on the evidence that it and others have already produced.
Interesting blog. I was there too and wasn’t aware of the backgrounds of some of the members posing questions.
I wouldn’t be aware of the redundancies if it wasn’t for your Birdwatch column and this blog. I thought it would be mentioned at the AGM but it was only the question from the floor that brought it up and then the response wasn’t really adequate. Surely getting rid of more than 10% of your workforce is quite a big thing. Over 200 people will no longer be doing good work. It is pretty much a disaster and it still isn’t clear to me why these massive cuts are having to be made. Funds available seem at least stable. As a member I would at least like to be told the impact of the changes with the rationale.
Philip Astor didn’t ask a question this year, maybe he wasn’t there or busy on the march for a peoples vote?? Perhaps he has lost interest now he has sold his grouse moor?
Darren – thank you.
There were quite a lot of hands up seeking to ask questions when the session ended.
Philip was there, I had a quick chat to him about his ‘eg-grouse moor owner’ status.
You are in danger of becoming a grumpy old man, Mark. Perhaps if you’d come back for the inspirational afternoon talks you’d have left in a more positive mood.
I’ve always found the opportunity to talk to staff and the management team more informative than the questions asked in the meeting. As the staff themselves have not yet been told about the future changes it’s not surprising that Mike Clarke et al wouldn’t say much about them. And the changes to the charter are very technical – they’ve been on the website for anyone to read who’s interested.
It seemed to me that awarding the medal to Caroline Lucas was a huge piece of advocacy in itself!
At the end of the day I was left feeling that the RSPB is in good hands with its ambition undimmed, and I’m very happy about that.
Bob W – we are all getting older. How old are you? The AGM is where the organisation is supposed to relate to its members formally – the afternoon talks are entertaining (I dare say I’ve sat through more of them than you have – indeed, I’ve given some too!) but are not part of the formal proceedings. The RSPB is seeking voluntary redundancies and the scale of the necessary redundancies is well known (and has been discussed with at least one journalist). The staff know what is happening – the members have been kept in the dark and that cloud was not lifted by Council or staff yesterday. It is up to the RSPN management (and Council) how they communicate with staff but they owe it to the membership to take the annual opportunity of the AGM to inform them fully of the state of the organisaton.
The award of the RSPB Medal to Caroline might indeed have been used as a piece of advocacy. Unforunately the press release on the subject was released at 08:58am on Saturday morning – a time almost guaranteed not to get any coverage in Saturday’s media, or Sunday’s or Monday’s. Have you seen this reported anywhere? Try googling ‘Caroline Lucas RSPB Medal’ – good luck! The RSPB Twitter account only operates 9-5 Mon-Fri and has not tweeted about the award of the Medal, nor has Mike Clarke, nor has Kevin Cox, nor has Martin Harper (who has however mentioned it very briefly in a blog this morning). That does not amount to a huge pievce of advocacy in anyone’s book.
What is your relationship with the RSPB by the way?
I find it a matter of great concern that the RSPB has got itself into financial difficulties. It is our most important conservation organisation and all the information leaking out so far would suggest that, somewhere along the line, its Council has been asleep at the wheel!
I am alarmed at the lack of mention of advocacy and campaigning. Now is a once in a generation opportunity for change – if we don’t get it right now, then we never will. Unless there is a loud, clear voice for wildlife, policy will be set entirely to benefit those with economic interests who certainly won’t be afraid to ask for what they want.
Greenfly, if you’d been at the AGM you’d have heard Caroline Lucas’ brilliant acceptance speech. She made very clear the huge amount of help she (and no doubt other like-minded MPs of all parties) get from the RSPB to make sure that conservation’s voice is heard.
Yesterday iI was talking to a friend i work with about the Hen harriers killed up Roeburndale and complaining to him about the roles (or lack of) played by Natural England and the Lancashire Police. He asked what about the RSPB? I said they were fantastic, publicising the killing of Sky and Hope and offering a reward. Then we both continued working and i realised that my remarks were only in comparison to NE/Lancashire Police. Do the million+ RSPB members know about Sky and Hope and now Thor and the extent of the killings on driven grouse moors. I live in an anti persecution bubble so of course i know about this, it is an important part of my life but is the RSPB really publicising these crimes and their background as much as they could? There used to be an Action supplement in what used to be RSPB Birds magazine. The loss of that was very telling.
Reintroducing such a dispersive bird as Hen Harrier anywhere in England is pointless until we get the illegal persecution of raptors under control. I doubt if that will happen this side of a change of government, but I would be very happy to see Michael Gove prove me wrong.
I honestly wonder if putting Hen Harrier back into SW England wouldn’t be reintroducing the wrong species. Montagu’s Harrier females and juveniles aren’t easily distinguishable from Hen and might well have been widespread on Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall 200 years ago. Does anyone really know?
Ian, I absolutely agree. The people who shoot harriers certainly don’t seem to distinguish between them and Montys are in real trouble here. I’m glad to say Martin Harper was very firm in his response to the questioner.
Mark, many thanks for your kind comments in the blog. Lyn and I had a good time at the AGM/Conference. Sorry to have missed a chat but a wave across a crowded room sufficed. We had a nice conversation with Rosemary.
I was pleased to be seated next to Mike Clarke at the pre-AGM dinner. I had read the document about the changes to the Charter and was slightly bemused by it all, Mike helped me out a bit and I did vote! We also discussed grouse moor management and pheasant and RLP release. We were in close agreement on one of these. It was a social event and very pleasant.
We would have loved to have joined you and the other 699,998 marchers outside the hall but thought it possibly a little impolite.
Richard (and Lyn) – I’m glad you had such an enjoyable day – you both deserve it.
Thanks Mark! I’m 71 and I’ve been a member since 1963. The reserves have always been my big interest and I’ve happily contributed to all the land purchase appeals since then that I could. Being quite a keen birder, I also know some of the staff. I read a lot of the blogs and I talk to people so I’m sure I know more about what’s going on than the average member – that’s because I want to and I take the trouble to find out. In short, the RSPB is my charity.
As far as the finances and reorganisation is concerned, yes, no doubt we’ll hear a lot more next year and things will be a lot clearer. Meanwhile, I trust the trustees and the management team to get the very best outcome they can. I can’t see how saying more to the membership at this stage would help at all. It was the AGM for the year to March 2018. I’ve read the Trustees report and it is very detailed – there is a lot of information there for those who want it. No doubt there will be again next year.
Btw, a good thing from the afternoon talks was “saving the curlew” was very upfront about the need to trial fox and crow control – and I didn’t hear any murmurs of dissent from anyone near me.
chortle, chortle: after I clicked on the link to ‘Songbird Survival’, their ad appeared next to the blog! So I closed it. Perhaps I should have left it open so they end up paying you money…
And good decision about the handshake. Sometimes a handshake is more than a handshake, it implies approval.
I hope the 200 – 300 leave with an open heart with prospects of a bright future. As one who left after being suspended twice in the same year and not knowing what future lay ahead for me or my family I know it can be a worrying time for staff and their families. I will have made it to 65 in a few weeks time and the money I get from my private pension [mainly from the RSPB] will go into a new business venture expanding this great wildlife tourism empire that is being created by organisations like the RSPB. One last word to those loosing their jobs – If I can do it you can too. All the best.
Excellent that Caroline Lucas’s principled environmental/conservation stance was recognised, for once if it was a pr stunt I’m not particularly upset 😉
Well done too if Martin Harper said ‘daft and illegal’.
Seems a bit sad that the RSPB couldn’t treat its members to inspirational talks without charging, or if they had to charge then explain why (as in explain the 10% staff cuts, so reduced conservation etc.)?
Governance of some of the larger membership NGOs is ‘managed’ and trustees treated like mushrooms, they are often figure heads and good for pr etc. they tick the right boxes for charitable status compliance etc.
Then again all is wonderful of course, bit like NE management and Ministers playing puppet masters whilst the metaphoric Rome continues to burn.
But, try researching big business and banking, or politics and then there really is mirky water 😉
Mark, or anyone else – I’m an RSPB member and would like to know why the 10% staff cut – esp if, which is my understanding, there is no sudden financial crisis. I can imagine a few hypothetical legitimate reasons, so this isn’t necessarily a criticism, but I’d like to know anyway.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why the organisation has decided to do this? The details might not yet be public domain but the underlying rationale should not be politically or legally sensitive now that the cuts themselves are know about.
And RSPB – best get in the front foot about the PR of this. Or the likes of YFTB will fill the void.
Hopefully we’ll learn later even if its not public domain yet.
jbc – you should read my Birdwatch column for October.
Whether or not to reintroduce the Hen Harrier to south west England is worth considering. However on balance I think the RSPB is quite right in the stance it is taking, and that is, the Hen Harrier and other wildlife persecution problems must be addressed and properly sorted before any reintroduction can be contemplated.
If this terrible Government was lifting even a finger to try to stop the widespread killings of most non grouse species of wildlife on grouse moors I would be more inclined to say some consideration should be given to reintroduction. However this Government have done and are doing absolutely nothing meaningful to address these wholesale killings (compare this to the Scottish Governments introduction of vicarious liability for grouse moor owners.) The brood meddling put forward by the Government is an absolute farce and is quite rightly being legally challenged by Mark and the RSPB.
So until this Government and members of the Tory Party put to one side their grouse moor vested interests and do the right thing, for a change, I believe the RSPBs stance is the right one.
Mark well done you for not shaking Keith Cowieson’s hand. It took quite a !ot of guts to do that. I also loved that you referred to Songbird Survival as execrable – love that word as it seems to be polite way to say excrement a fair description of the Field Sports Channel and SoS. KC has started making comments on the Rewilding Scotland FB page, we don’t give him much room to manoeuvre. The other organisations in its stable infuriate me, SoS makes my skin crawl – creepy organisation with some very creepy folk.
Whenever I see them referred to my mind always converts Songbird Survival to “Gamebird Survival” which I think is a much more accurate moniker for them.
It appears that we have some supporters of the SS indulging in a bit of serial “disliking” of any comments which oppose their loathsome, disreputable little organisation.
These ignorami will, no doubt, dislike this comment as well. If they, however, do so without offering any defence of their ridiculous views, or justification of the rank dishonesty of the SS, they will, once again, be revealed for what they are.
Teehee….
Q.E.-f***in’- D!