To ensure our longer-term sustainability, the RSPB has been reviewing its operations across the UK so that everything we do aligns to our charitable and strategic aims and delivers the most impact for nature and wildlife possible. We must focus on what we do best and where we can do this most effectively, with the resources available to us.
Our most recent challenge has been the global and domestic financial pressures of the past two years which have had an ongoing impact; not only on our finances, but also on the finances of our partners, members, and supporters, who are so crucial to helping us save nature.
As part of this review, we looked at our nature reserve operations, and RSPB Dungeness was part of this review. The outcomes of the review have been shared with our site staff and volunteers, and they involve changes to the way we operate run the reserve.
First and foremost, the RSPB will continue to own and manage the reserve. It is and will continue to be a great place for wildlife and people, and core to the RSPB’s work to restore nature in the UK.
It will also remain open to the public to enjoy. Places like Dungeness are vital spaces where people can connect with nature. However, we do need to make changes to focus our resources where they can have the most impact for nature and wildlife.
As a charity, it is essential that we generate income to fund our work. We cannot afford to subsidise loss making facilities at the expense of our important charitable and strategic aims, especially at a time when nature and climate are in crisis. This means that we will be closing the site shop at Dungeness early in the new year. There may also be some changes to the visitor centre and shop opening times in the coming weeks.
While the shop will be closing, the visitor centre will remain open, and we will be seeking comments from our visitors on how we might best use our visitor spaces going forwards.
Change of course is always challenging. Since the RSPB began 135 years ago, we have been working to help create a world where wildlife and people can thrive. As a responsible and prudent charity, we monitor the external environment closely and for the RSPB to continue to tackle the nature and climate emergency, we need to be able to adapt and evolve to the ever-changing external environment around us.
Thanks to the generosity of our members, supporters, partners, funders and volunteers, the RSPB is the UK’s leading charity for nature conservation. For this to continue for years to come, we will be even more focused on where this generous support can have the biggest impact – boosting numbers of birds and wildlife, restoring the vital habitats they need, creating better nature havens for members to visit, and bringing more people together who love birds and wildlife and who want to take action to restore the natural world.