Providing the smart solution to protecting our environment

This includes managing protected sites, working with farmers to manage and restore the countryside and, monitor species and habitats. All of these things are responsibilities of government as required under European Directives. RSPB also provides out-of-classroom education to 4,000 children annually.However despite the value of this work RPSB receives only £170k per annum from central government, raising the rest of the money from our supporters and other grant-making bodies, most of which can only fund charitable bodies like the RSPB.  The RSPB argue that with less money for grant aid to support their work, the likelihood of infraction from Brussels increase significantly and the sustainability of our community’s future is damaged.

The RSPB provides lean and efficient service as around 90% of its income on front-line nature conservation with the rest covering income generation and administration. Over 270 RSPB volunteers providing over 20,000 hours of time to nature conservation work in Northern Ireland. This amounts to around £250k of full-time salary equivalent delivery of environmental work.

The services provided by RPSB have delivered impressive results. For example, they have returned the red kite from local extinction and provide homes on our nature reserves to some of Northern Ireland’s most endangered biodiversity, like the roseate tern and Irish whitebeam.

When Fermanagh District Council was concerned that the blanket bog of the Cuilcagh Mountain and other linked habitats would be lost and prompted action to restore the area they contacted the RSPB. The Cuilcagh Mountain is one of the best preserved and most extensive peatland areas on the island of Ireland. In the late 1980s, this internationally important area of blanket bog started to suffer unsustainable pressure from mechanised peat extraction and associated drainage works. Additional impacts came from overgrazing, uncontrolled burning of surface vegetation and damaging use of all-terrain vehicles. This damage also reduced the bog's ability to retain water, resulting in flooding and abnormally high water levels in the caves downstream. This reduced tourist activity at the Marble Arch Caves, a major attraction in County Fermanagh with over 53,000 visitors in 2007.

A partnership project between Fermanagh District Council and the RSPB to protect the bog was approved in 1997. The work included filling-in and blocking open drainage ditches, modifying the land to form pools and hummocks, and regenerating new pools with Sphagnum moss. The ecosystem service provided by the restored peatland will help to maximise the tourism potential of the Marble Arch Caves visitor attraction in the future as well as conserving an important habitat that supports a wealth of wildlife, including the hen harrier and golden plover