It’s always exciting to go and walk a brand new RSPB reserve, because it gives you a chance to reflect on the journey to bring the reserve into fruition and secure ownership. Each acquisition is special, and has its highs and lows. Sometimes it can take years to assemble the deal. On other occasions it’s a mad rush, as out of the blue land is put on the market. Just occasionally a benefactor approaches the RSPB and offers to gift some land so it can be enhanced and cared for in perpetuity by our expert teams.
The RSPB owns or manages (on leases or tenancies) some 213 nature reserves across the UK. There are 80 in Scotland, and in total the Scottish team is responsible for over 71,000Ha, and 1153 protected site features making RSPB Scotland the largest individual manager of such features in Scotland. It’s a big responsibility, not just for birds, but for all nature and indeed the many important geological and archaeological features in our care.
From 19th Century timber ponds to Medieval ruins and major prehistoric monuments, our reserves have many hundreds of archaeological sites including important Scheduled Ancient Monuments that can be visited like the Dwarfie Stone Neolithic rock cut tomb on Hoy or the fantastic Mousa Broch (both under the guardianship of Historic Scotland.) We take looking after these sites seriously and the RSPB employs an archaeologist, Robin Standring to advise us on the conservation work needed.
Land is very expensive, and as Mark Twain said, people aren’t making it any more. So when the RSPB decides to purchase land for a nature reserve we want to make sure it’s absolutely the right thing to do. We have a check list of priority species and habitats where the reserves ‘mechanism’ can make a real difference. And of course we first look to the statutory agencies, in Scotland that’s SNH, to use their legal powers to protect important sites from threat, rather than rush to buy these designated places. Sadly what’s much harder to combat is ‘neglect’ and many key areas are gradually declining in interest because of slightly too much grazing, or undergrazing, or things like the effects of agricultural effluent and run off from nearby land. Thus the RSPB is very selective, in short an RSPB nature reserve has to be able to make a difference for wildlife and people. But acquisition is just the start, what follows are detailed surveys and condition monitoring, plus a management plan written with the best information we can assemble and with input from SNH, SEPA and neighbouring and community interests. This identifies the scale of investment needed to bring the area to its peak condition – and it is often very expensive to do this. We are at this stage now with the Wards estate by Gartocharn on Loch Lomond.
We recently completed the purchase of 228Ha, at a cost of some £1.1m. We were helped by grants from NHMF, SNH, and LLTNP who generously provided £347k. A members appeal raised a fantastic £550k. We will now need to invest in the reserve – a new access track so our staff and the farm grazier can safely enter the site is required – another £80-100k. We will need a Site Manager, and money to repair fences, remove scrub encroaching on the wetlands and much more. We estimate the running costs at £75-80k per annum, before work to further enhance the site is taken into account. So before we buy any reserve these long term management costs have to be identified and carefully considered. It's a huge responsibility, and we estimate RSPB reserves UK wide generate 1872 FTE jobs in rural economies and pump £66m into local economies so nature brings big benefits!
In Scotland most of our nature reserves do not wash their face financially, because conservation is the priority and thus the income derived from farming or forestry activity is lower than a commercially run enterprise. It’s our members funds that make up the difference. Unfortunately the grants from the Scottish Government to pay for conservation work – the so called agri-environment payments are less generous than those in England and elsewhere in the EU. So managing conservation land can be a costly and demanding business – but also fantastically rewarding. In Scotland we manage some outstanding reserves, from Abernethy Forest which supports over 4,300 species of wildlife, to our farms on Islay at Loch Gruinart and the Oa-with their spectacular landscapes and wonderful birds. Soon Wards estate on Loch Lomond will be up there with them!