THE COMPLETE COLLECTION
I've written before in these weekly blogs about how many people who take pleasure in watching birds do it with the attitude of a collector. That is, they see each bird species as something to be added to their personal collection. Thankfully these days we don't do this by killing birds and keeping their stuffed remains in drawers and glass-fronted cases. We do it by adding them to lists whenever we see them. Most of us keep a life list of some kind, even if it's just in our head. We know which species we've seen in our lives and, perhaps more importantly, the ones that we haven't. The more organised of us might keep notebooks or spreadsheets of this life list. Maybe we'll go a step further and have year lists or lists of which birds we've seen at a particular site.
Part of the draw of all collecting is competition. Humans love to be able to say, “I have more than you”, even if that 'more' is simply a tick on a list. And some of us will go to extraordinary lengths to get more ticks.
There are over 10,700 bird species in the world. Exact numbers are slightly vague due to possible extinctions and arguments about what taxonomic requirements make up an individual species , but it's safe to say that you and I won't see all of them, especially if we never travel much beyond the boundaries of the Dearne Valley. And that unattainability is part of the attraction. It's practically impossible to have a complete collection, so nobody can ever claim to have 'won'. That doesn't stop people from trying though. At the time of writing there are 22 people who claim to have seen over 9,000 of the world's bird species. That's a lot of time, air-miles and money committed to what is for most of us a gentle, harmless pastime.
Of course there is another form of bird collecting that is much easier to partake in. It's numbers are limited to around 350 different items and it'll cost you much less to attain decent numbers. It's the RSPB pin badge collection and for some people the thrill of finding a new badge is just as real as that of a birder getting their first ever sighting of a new (to them) species.
In 1996 the RSPB produced four metal and enamel pin badges to celebrate their membership reaching the one million figure. Since then the charity has continued to produce and expand this range. Now there are over 350 pins to collect with some of the rarest being highly sought after. From the very beginning these badges were offered “for a donation”. There's no fixed price, although a minimum contribution of £1 has made these little mementoes affordable to just about everyone, as well as being a great fund raising addition for the charity.
The birds featured on those first four badges were Bittern, Bullfinch, Puffin and Red Kite, all species that are still available on pins today. In fact, just about every kind of British bird has been featured on an RSPB badge at some point over the last quarter century.
The series has expanded far beyond British birds though. The Bee Eater badge introduced in 2001 was the first to feature a bird not on the British List. Since then there have been badges featuring British mammals, flowers, sea creatures, butterflies, insects and more. There have even been some badges depicting exotic animals such as tigers or bears in association with a specific promotion to protect those creatures and their habitats.
It's not just the badge that matters to some collectors either, but the backing card that it comes with too. Pins in that original series came affixed to a blue card featuring the RSPB's strap line of the day - “for birds – for people – forever”. All of the early ones were on these generic cards but in the new century the badges were pinned onto cards that named the species depicted. Since then there have been many different series of pins, some with their own special backing card design. Keeping these attached and in good condition vastly increases their value on the second hand market.
Collectors of rarities will seek out special variants of the badges produced specifically for sale by a certain company who have supported the RSPB over the years, like Center Parcs or the Cooperative Bank. There are also some very limited edition badges that were only available at certain reserves for a short period of time, perhaps to raise money and awareness for a specific project or to celebrate a success or anniversary. And RSPB volunteers can claim long service badges to add to their collection, right up to a 9ct gold Golden Eagle pin for those with 40 years of service.
That particular one might be out of reach for old people like myself, but if you fancy dipping a toe into the world of RSPB pin badge collecting then I'd suggest starting with the current Christmas range. They're available from RSPB reserves, from our membership fundraisers out in the community and even from collection boxes in high street shops and pubs.
Who doesn't need a Robin wearing a Santa hat in their life?
See my weekly RSPB Old Moor blog at "View From the Shed". I usually wear a big hat.