We’ve been RSPB members for a few years and, although I couldn’t describe us as avid ‘twitchers’, we do enjoy a peaceful walk round Leighton Moss nature reserve which is on the edge of Morecambe Bay and only about 10 minutes’ drive from home.
The peace is broken only by the sounds and sights of the birds which include a wide variety of water fowl, some unique to the Morecambe Bay area. This is very much today’s RSPB, providing a safe environment for birds and bird watchers of all sorts.
But the early days of the RSPB were quite different. The Plumage League was established by Emily Williamson in 1889 as a protest group against the use of birds’ skins and feathers in clothing. Two years later this became the SPB and in 1904 it became the RSPB.
Emily was born in Lancaster and so, in a sense, was the RSPB. A plaque was recently mounted opposite her family home recognising her significance. Her family home, Highfield, sits opposite an entrance to Lancaster’s Williamson Park which, in fact, is nothing to do with her family. But there is a certain symmetry so I’m including a picture of the fine entrance to the Victorian park.
