Speaker Meeting with Dr Rick Lewis, programme manager for Science Funding at the RSPB.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) was originally established in 1889 by Emily Williamson who sought to to fight the fashion for feathers and plumes that were driving exotic birds towards extinction. The Society obtained its Royal Charter in 1904. Some of you, or perhaps your children and their children, may participate in the RSPB's annual Big Garden Birdwatch, the UK's largest citizen science project. However, the RSPB does not only strive to protect our avian friends, the RSPB is also the UK's fifth largest landowner and is a central partner in the largest landscape-scale restoration project in the UK in the Cairngorms National Park. It still astounds me that when i look at the attached image of the Cairngorms that this is a degraded landscape, denuded of the magnificent Caledonian pines, and its rich and unique natural heritage at risk. In this presentation I will touch upon local, national and international RSPB projects to give you a taste of the breadth of the work the Society does in nature conservation including and beyond birds.

The picture is of a valley in the Cairngorms, it looks amazing, but 200 years ago it would have been even more beautiful....  Rick will also talk about some work in the Fens as well as one of the largest and most difficult rodent eradication projects ever attempted. Something for everyone!