I have been a card-carrying member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds for about 15 years. In that time I have seen some great successes and a variety of challenges faced by the society. The RSPB is the largest nature conservation charity in the UK (with over 1 million members) and also the oldest. Originally set up in 1889 by a group of women who were concerned about the hunting of birds for their feathers (which were a la vogue – especially the decorative use of grebe skins and egret plumes in the hats of Victorian ladies).
The ‘Birds’ component of the RSPB’s moniker is still very relevant today as they continue to work on species protection projects that focus on individual UK bird species which are in decline or under threat such as stone curlews, black-tailed godwits, corncrakes and lapwings. In fact this strategy proved highly successful in the past as with the red kite re-introduction project which saw numbers of a globally threatened species rise to 1,800 breeding pairs in Britain between 1980 and 2011. This methodology has, however, led to some criticism of the single-species approach for tending to select high-profile charismatic species, and employing management practices that may disadvantage non-target species. It also raises the question of why a particular species should receive conservation preference over any other. To this end the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species was established to help assess the conservation status of species by identifying threatened species and promoting conservation action. We aren’t even aware of the totality of extant species, nor do we have a full understanding of which of those are, or me be, under threat. Insects are a good example; with only 6,051 insect species listed in the IUCN Red List database (of somewhere between 1 million known species and up to 8.5 million expected to be found) there is still an enormous amount of work to be done.
The RSPB’s conservation work, does however involve more than the protection of individual species. Another component of this work is habitat management which is undertaken at more than 200 reserves maintained by the society. This presents the RSPB with opportunities to work towards conserving other (unfeathered) species either on their own or in collaboration with partner organisations. At a time when environmental protections in the UK are likely to be significantly eroded and underfunded, there is some small comfort to be drawn from the fact that there are many conservation organisations like the RSPB that will continue to work to maintain, manage and support wildlife and wild places. But conservationists will need to be focused and their priorities will need to be very clear.
In 2013 the RSPB added the tagline “Giving nature a home” to its logo exemplifying how it has become a conservation charity that now also focuses its attention on wild spaces and the plight of all the other featherless organisms. Though this could be seen as a large charity cannibalising and intervening in the work of smaller (and more focused) organisations in the sector, the sheer scale and associated land-area that the RSPB maintains does allow for a more holistic approach with regards ecosystem and habitat conservation – effectively creating opportunities for protecting and conserving a wide range of species through landscape-level management. What is significant here, though, is that we need to be able to maintain an interesting matrix of connected habitats of varying sizes in order to be able to support as much biodiversity as possible.
RSPB Rainham Marshes is one of the reserves in the society’s portfolio which was established in 2000 in an area of Essex along the river Thames that was formerly Ministry of Defence land and closed to the public for over 100 years. Part of the Inner Thames Marshes SSSI that stretches over an area of 479.3 hectares this area is a haven for wetland birds. On my recent visit I got to see some of these including swans, lapwing, oystercatcher, marsh harrier, shoveler, shelduck, mallard, canada geese, little grebe, grey heron, redshank, sedge warbler, reed bunting, as well as swifts, linnets, goldfinches, kestrel, sand martins and a displaying skylark. Hauled out on a sandbar on the far bank of the river was a group of 7 harbour seals. As fantastic as these were, why I really came to Rainham was for the invertebrates. The low-lying grazing marsh with wet grassland, ditches, scrub and reed beds on an urban and light-industrial fringe make for a complex habitat mix with a number of interesting ecotones.
It was for the most part a beautifully sunny afternoon, but quite windy at times making some of the photography quite challenging (as you’ll notice from a few rather blurry shots in the following slideshow). I’ve also made note of a few additional butterflies that I was just too slow to photograph – small heath, large white, peacock, red admiral and large skipper – as well as a broad-bodied chaser that zoomed past my head.
All of the invertebrates featured were found through observation and searching by hand because I wanted to photograph them as undisturbed and in as natural a setting as possible. This has meant that species that would have been found by using a pooter, sweep net or beating tray are lacking from my finds. Nonetheless, I was delighted with the dazzling green of the swollen-thighed beetle (Oedemera nobilis) perfectly placed at the heart of a dog rose its femurs bulging like metallic pantaloons, found quite soon after leaving the visitor centre. A leisurely walk along the bank of the river skirting the reserve presented many empid flies, jumping spiders, bumble bees and my first record of a knobbed shieldbug (Podops inuncta) scuttling for cover across a concrete embankment where I chose to stop for my ploughman’s lunch.
Please feel free to send me corrections if I have misidentified anything or if you can get closer to species with those I’ve only managed to identify to genus.
I then cut away from the river, crossing a channel of pebbles and loose rock aggregate where a mix of stonecrop, bramble and ragwort pushed up through the gaps. Here were more bees and another personal first of a couple of black-striped longhorn beetles (Stenurella melanura) on bramble flowers. This area also had a scattering of detritus washed up from the river: bits of plastic, wood, a child’s sky-blue bicycle lying on the mudflat. Beneath a plank I found a scuttling centipede and a cluster of earwigs all with abdomens raised and forceps flailing in defence. Then on along a grassy path and down an embankment, stopping to investigate the umbels of giant hogweed for ants, flies, wasps and other insects taking advantage of this high-energy nectar source. A bit of a detour through the grass saw a flurry of sightings: common blue (Polyommatus icarus), small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) and a summer chafer (Amphimallon solstitiale). Unfortunately a bit early in the year for the now fairly well-established and easily recognisable wasp spiders (Argiope bruennichi), but I think another visit in late Summer should do the trick.
I dropped in at the visitor centre for a fruit juice and then headed off into the reed beds along the boardwalks where I saw a female scorpion fly (Panorpa sp.) with her particularly oddly-shaped extended mouthparts and chequered wing patterns. Here too, on thistle, were 6 hairy shieldbugs (Dolycoris baccarum) sporting Art Deco-like purple and green thoraxes, and black-and-white banding along their antennae and laterotergites. Disappointingly, I only managed to get one photograph of a dragonfly, a blue-tailed damselfly (Ischnura elegans) before closing time. And as I made my way to the exit marvelling at all the wonderful creatures I had been fortunate enough to see I was surprised by a female mallard leading her ducklings along the boardwalk who, on sight of me, dropped over the edge and disappeared into the reeds.
