Our Committee Members
Joining the South East Essex Local Members Group
Volunteering for the Southend Members Group
Other Groups in Essex
Joining the RSPB
Volunteering for the RSPB
The Future of the RSPB

Our Committee

Joining the RSPB South East Essex Local Members Group

The South East Essex Group of the RSPB is a semi-autonomous group of members of the RSPB whose purpose is to support the RSPB in carrying Out the Society’s objectives in the Southend-on-Sea area. Those objectives are:

• Promoting the conservation of wild birds and their habitats.
• Informing and involving the RSPB's members in conservation issues.
• Researching conservation issues and developing policies and practical actions to protect important wildlife habitats.
• Working with central and local government to create and implement solutions to conservation problems.
• Working with industry, landowners, the public and other conservation bodies to provide a better future for wildlife and the environment.
• Acquiring and managing land as nature reserves for key birds of conservation concern.
• Placing strong emphasis on youth and education.
• Assisting the Police on wildlife law enforcement.
• Working with Birdlife partners to conserve migrating bird species throughout the world.

The group recruits new members to the RSPB and raises funds to contribute directly to projects undertaken by the RSPB selected by the Groups Committee on behalf of its members.

The Group also provides activities for its members to give better access to our birdlife such as organising local field trips, day long coach trips to more distant nature reserves and to well known wildlife locations and by arranging weekend holidays in the UK and Europe.

Please see our calendar of events page for details of our indoor evening meetings, we will be very happy for you to join us at these meetings

Members who belong to the RSPB have free access to over 100 RSPB nature reserves. Members also receive four times a year the RSPB award winning full colour magazine BIRDS.

Members Of our Wildlife Explorers, the junior section of the RSPB, receive the BIRD LIFE magazine six times a year. Bird Life is packed with photos, special offers and prizes plus free entry to over 100 RSPB nature reserves.

South East Essex RSPB Membership Rates:

£2.50 Single

£4.00 Family.

Admission charges for indoor meetings South East Essex RSPB Members £3.00, Guests £4.00.

We would prefer group members to be RSPB members.

Click here for details of membership rates to the National RSPB.

Volunteering for the South East Essex Local Members Group

The Southend Group holds a varied programme of events for its members including indoor meetings every month (based on guest speakers presenting talks based on slide shows etc.), coach outings, local walks and other events.

The group has also been active at local shows and has held coffee mornings and jumble sales to promote the RSPB and to raise funds. The Group would also like to find new opportunities to raise public awareness about conservation and the RSPB, and to recruit new members.

Amongst its members, the South East Essex RSPB Members Group is constantly looking for individuals to support its work.

At any one time there are usually vacancies on the Group's committee and for volunteers who can carry out specific roles.  An individual's commitment can be as extensive as they feel comfortable with, helping with a single event or taking a significant role on the committee.

People with specialist skills and some free time are particularly welcome to discuss how they can help the Group, in whatever capacity.

In the first instance please contact the Web Author or the Treasurer:

Web Author
Graham Mee
Tel: 01702 297554
Email:

Other RSPB Groups in the Essex Area

Chelmsford
Contact Mike Logan-Wood
Website: www.chelmsfordrspb.org.uk
 

Colchester
Contact Veronica Owen
Tel: 01206 735006

Joining the RSPB   

If you would like further information about membership of the national RSPB please contact them at the address below or, alternatively, click here for the main RSPB website.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
The Lodge
Sandy
Bedfordshire
SG19 2LD
England
Telephone 01767 680 551

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds registered charity number 207076

Come and help us . . . Volunteer for the RSPB    

If you care about the environment, you may have thought about volunteering to help the RSPB. Here we answer some of the questions you may have about how you can help.

Have I got what it takes to become a volunteer for the RSPB?

The RSPB is Europe's largest wildlife conservation charity with over 1,500,000 members. We already have over 9,000 committed volunteers who:

• play a vital role in protecting ospreys and red kites in the UK
• help to manage over 150 RSPB nature reserves for wildlife - click here for list of RSPB reserves
• help tens of thousands of people enjoy our wildlife at first hand
• carry out important scientific research
• run a network of RSPB local groups for adults and young people across the UK.

Whatever your background, the RSPB would like to hear from you. You can contribute as much or as little time as you wish.

You will be able to support the RSPB even if you do not know much about birds and the environment - many people help out at special fundraising events, carry out administrative work or collect donations from the public.

Are there any benefits for me?

The RSPB needs its volunteers to play an effective part in its organisation, but you will not be thrown in at the deep end. When you become a volunteer you will have a full introduction to the RSPB, its work and your role along with specialist training for the work you are going to do. As a volunteer for the RSPB you could gain important transferable skills in conservation, team raising, campaigning, finance, teambuilding or management, all of which could benefit you in your working life.

Our volunteers also gain from the social life associated with their work for the RSPB - what better way to meet like-minded people with a variety of skills and ideas to contribute?

How can I help?

There are many ways of volunteering for the RSPB. There could be something that you could do that will make a real difference for wildlife.

Volunteering on nature reserves

There are opportunities for residential and non-residential work on our nature reserves. It's not all practical conservation work - volunteers also work in our visitor's centres and help with education and carry out research and monitoring work on the wide variety of wildlife on RSPB nature reserves.

Join your local group

There are almost 170 RSPB members' groups throughout the UK, from Belfast to Orkney and Cardiff to Southend. Members' groups are an ideal way to get the most from your RSPB membership, and find out more about the RSPB and its UK and international conservation work. They also provide for RSPB members - whether novice or expert - who want to know more about birds. An RSPB members' group is very much a two-way thing: it can help you, but you can help in lots of ways:

• experience
• business-sense
• bird knowledge
• making the tea
• booking speakers
• dreaming up new ways to promote and support the work of the RSPB locally and involve the group in the community.

In short, groups need your enthusiasm, expertise, ideas and time. They will be happy to welcome you to their meetings.

Fund raising

The RSPB is a charity. Without membership subscriptions and donations, we couldn't do our vital work of protecting wildlife and special habitats. Our fund-raising takes many forms, and everyone can get involved. It doesn't have to be a chore. 

Work with young people

The RSPB has 180 local youth groups, all run by volunteers - without these volunteer leaders, we would be unable to involve, encourage and nurture the enthusiasm of young people for wildlife and the environment.

Team challenges

RSPB team challenges provide an opportunity for groups of 10-30 people, from companies or other organisations, to contribute to our wildlife conservation work in a very direct and practical way. The RSPB can provide one-day or longer challenges that contribute to the management of internationally important wildlife sites.

For companies, it is an opportunity for employees to have an unusual and memorable day out and to apply teamwork in a very different environment from the office. Benefits to you include:

• opportunity to develop skills and boost team working and staff morale in a novel situation
• heighten awareness among staff and the public of your company's charitable support and environmental responsibility
• opportunities for positive media coverage. Previous RSPB team challenges have attracted media coverage including BBC TV Look East, Anglia TV Countrywide, BBC Radio 4 Farming Today, local radio and local news.

Using specialist skills

Many people help us by using their specialist skills. An electrician carries out health and safety checks on our nature reserves, translators work for our International Department, and artists create displays for our nature reserves and special events. There are thousands of ways to help conservation - whatever your skill, we may need it!

How it will help you

It's not just conservation that benefits when you volunteer. You will meet like-minded people, gain valuable skills and have a lot of fun too!

The Future of the RSPB    

The RSPB champions the conservation of birds and other wildlife, in the UK and worldwide, in the interests of wildlife, the natural environment and people. It promotes the diversity, populations and distribution of birds and other wildlife, through the protection and re-creation of habitats.

This task is far greater than the RSPB's resources would allow, so we have to set priorities. In particular, these are birds or habitats under threat from national or international viewpoints. By tackling these larger threats - such as those posed by modern farming policies or planning issues - we have our influence on local problems, such as the removal of old hedgerows, or the spread of towns. The species the RSPB will pay particular attention to over the next five years are: corncrake, Scottish crossbill, bittern, white-tailed eagle, hen harrier, black grouse, capercaillie, stone-curlew, black-tailed godwit, skylark, song thrush, cirl bunting, arctic tern, lapwing and chough.

The habitats we will concentrate on are native pinewood, lowland heath, lowland wet grassland, reedbeds and active blanket bogs, the sea, estuaries, lowland farms, lowland raised mires, machair, chalk downland, upland heath and grasslands, montane and lowland rivers and catchments. These habitats are all important for our rarest birds, suffering large scale decline in extent or quality, are important internationally and will benefit from RSPB conservation action.

That is quite a mission, so the RSPB has set itself underlying themes to help plan its work for the next five years. These are:

Birds to biodiversity
The RSPB will build on its excellence so that it is recognised as the foremost bird conservation organisation and one that enjoys considerable expertise in broader nature conservation and environmental policy matters. We will be led by bird conservation priorities, but will pay serious attention to the implications of our work for other species. We can make a real difference for biodiversity, the abundance and variety of all life.

Biodiversity and sustainability
The conservation of biodiversity is a key test of sustainability. If the diversity of wildlife is disappearing because of human action, we are not living sustainably. The RSPB will promote national and international biodiversity conservation as part of the sustainability process.

A local presence for national issues
We will operate effectively throughout the UK, and adapt to increasingly devolved policy and political systems. We will promote our work as relevant regionally and locally. We will work more closely with local communities and be sensitive to their needs. We will resource our country and regional offices to meet these challenges.

Collaboration
The RSPB will continue to work with a range of partners, while recognising that resources and support for nature conservation may be finite. Recent initiatives such as the success of the Biodiversity Challenge Group set the tone for our developing closer working relationships with these organisations.

Volunteers
We will encourage those members who wish to use their local knowledge to support our conservation priorities. The increasing use of volunteers is a way of delivering conservation results 'beyond our means.'

In addition, we will continue to work towards the goals we have already set: the expansion of our international work; the in influencing local and national policies that impact on conservation; and maintaining our land acquisition programme.

We have set objectives for all areas of our work. These are:

Conservation in the UK
We have reaffirmed our objectives to safeguard and enhance priority species, habitats and sites. We will continue to implement species and habitat action plans and will draw up new plans to reflect our expanded role of conserving biodiversity. We will promote UK Biodiversity Action Plan priorities at national and local levels.

We will acquire land, focusing on major extensions to our existing nature reserves. In general, the larger blocks of habitat that result are better for wildlife than an equivalent amount of land in separate parcels. We will fight for better protection and management of wildlife sites not in conservation ownership. We will also place greater emphasis on rural land-use policy and work to encourage farming that is more sensitive to the environment. We will operate by well-researched, reasoned argument.

International conservation
We will continue to expand our international conservation programme, working as the UK Partner of BirdLife International. Europe and Africa will remain our focus because of their importance for birds migrating from and through the UK. However, we will also operate in other countries that are important for global biodiversity or that have historical links with the UK. We will develop closer links with aid and trade processes.

We will encourage BirdLife International partners by helping them to develop strategies to collect data, to safeguard Important Bird Areas, to devise and undertake conservation and development projects and to build and strengthen their organisations.

Youth and education
We will help to develop awareness, commitment and an understanding of biodiversity among young people by influencing environmental education policy. We will support our conservation work with community education, field teaching, environmental education resources and support to teachers.

We will seek to influence agricultural education and the training of other key professionals, such as planners and land agents. We will expand the Wildlife Explorers and RSPB Phoenix, our young people's clubs, and will develop specific activities for children under eight.

Membership
Members are fundamental to our success. They give financial and popular support, and their time to our work. We will continue to encourage the support of as many people as possible. We are committed to maintaining excellent standards of service and communication with our members. We will keep in close touch with their opinions about our work. We will increase the opportunities for volunteering and continue to improve our support to local groups. If you are not already a member of the RSPB, please join us. The birds and habitats need our help, for all our sakes.

Click here for a history of the RSPB

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