This week, a RSPB member sent our campaigns team a copy of a letter that he had found in his father's Bible.  The letter was dated March 1955 and was from PE Brown, Secretary of the RSPB.  This is what it said,

"The Secretary of State has given notice of his intention to make an order withdrawing protection from the eggs of 13 commons and harmless birds, including the Robin, Chaffinch, Linnet and Wren. The Society is strongly opposed to the making of this Order and it believes it to be contrary to public-opinion. You are asked to sign the enclosed Petition and to get as many people to sign it as you possibly can and to send it to the Secretary of State to reach the Home Office, not later than the 26th March. We also ask you to represent your views at once to your Member of Parliament and your Local Authority.

TIME IS SHORT. PLEASE ACT QUICKLY."

This caused a little excitement internally and we felt obliged to explore it further.  The context was the 1954 Protection of Birds Act.  While a great step forward for birds protection, it contained a clause that allowed the Government of the day to exempt specific types of birds if they so wished. Consequently, the Home Secretary at the time, Major Gwilym Lloyd George, drafted the Wild Birds (Eggs of Common Birds) Order in February 1955. This withdrew protection for the eggs of thirteen common bird species to prevent criminalising young children who went ‘birds-nesting’.  With only three weeks to respond, the RSPB sent out more than 6,000 petitions to its Members and Fellows in a bid to show that public opinion was on the side of protecting the birds.

Despite thousands of objections from RSPB Members and many of their MPs, the Order came into force in April 1955. Nonetheless, this did not stop the RSPB campaigning to have it repealed.  The petition gained almost 20,000 signatures, while the Society’s Chairman of Council continued advocating directly to the Secretary of State. Over the following eight years, the political mood for bird and wildlife protection changed markedly. The Order was eventually revoked in April 1963, and the ability to enact such Orders formally removed in the 1967 Protection of Birds Act.

It is a wonderful reminder of the campaigning heritage of the RSPB.  It also shares a striking resemblance to current campaigning principles - helping people who care about nature have a voice. What is so humbling is that they achieved these successes with only a fraction of the membership and numbers of staff that the RSPB enjoys today.

Today's campaigning environment is of course very different: new threats, new politics, new economics, new means of communication etc.  As we refresh our thinking about how to tackle the many challenges facing nature, this story will act as a timely reminder that when a committed bunch of people take a stand, they can make a difference.

What is your earliest memory of RSPB campaigns?  What are we not doing now, that we should be doing to influence change?

It would be great to hear your views.

  • I have often wondered whether the damage of children egg collecting in the 50s did actually do any damage at all as the nests that they found were from birds that at that time were very numerous and they only took egg from a nest that had a full compliment and usually they seemed to know and leave alone if eggs had started to have a developing chick.Against the small amount of damage if any was the fact that they learnt a considerable amount about birds and nature and as they grew older the fact is as we all get older we become more nature friendly with very few exceptions.Have often wondered in fact if making a brood one less did any damage as those remaining would get a bigger share of food.

    Of course we are in a very different world now and would never condone egg collecting which now is of course a very serious problem.