RSPB, an organisation which had an income of nearly £160m last year, has just issued a call for donations after half of it reserve at Corrimony was lost during the Cannich wildfire.
There are some things the public ought to know before parting with cash to one of Europe's wealthiest conservation charities during a cost-of-living crisis.
RSPB are desperate to stop gamekeepers carrying out prescribed burning and they don't manage fuel loads at Corrimony. They say they want to 'build resilience to wildfire in the landscape by reducing the cycle of burning'.
How well has that worked?
RSPB Corrimony reserve burnt to a crisp in 1997.
In 2023 it has burnt to a crisp again. How has their ‘management’ of Corrimony increased wildfire resilience in that time period?
Where were the firebreaks? Why did staff have only one water tank (sent from Abernethy) with no pump to refill it once it was empty?
Why were gamekeepers ( whom RSPB ritually deride) left alone on their nature reserve to try to save it from further damage as RSPB staff departed the scene?
A lot of public cash has already gone up in flames. RSPB received EU, Scottish Government and Lottery pots for work at Corrimony yet the cap is extended again. How can the public trust the strategy for 'building resilience' on the land, there?
2 fires, 2 disasters: wildlife frazzled.
This is why we need land managers to take responsibility for wildfire and for Wildfire Prevention plans to become mandatory. These should include, as the recent Climate Change Committee report acknowledged, strategies for managing the build-up of fuel in our landscapes.
When do people start asking genuine questions about RSPB management and why they deserve more and more money?
Why do they have to rely on unpaid volunteers so much (85% of their work) when they have vast incomes and keep asking for more?
Would it not be an idea to pay people a wage, first, before extending the begging bowl again?
