RSPB set to close cafes and scrap school visits across its 220-plus reserves - starting with Rainham Marshes

                                                           

A view across Rainham Marshes. The site will remain open to the public but the shop and cafe will close  (photo: Romfordian via Wikimedia Commons)

COST-SAVING cuts are to be made at a nature hotspot popular with Londoners.

The RSPB intends to close both the cafe and the shop at its Rainham Marshes reserve in the New Year.

The site - a former Ministry of Defence firing range on the banks of the River Thames - will remain open to the public, but the society also plans to end its programme of school visits and education sessions.

The bird charity has a network of more than 220 nature reserves all of which have been subject to what it calls a "re-categorisation" exercise.

Many other reserves face similar cuts with  the jobs of some wardens and their assistants thought to be at risk. 

In the short term,  the shops at both Dungeness in Kent and Fairhaven Lake in Lancashire have also been slated for closure. 

If takers can be found, at least two reserves -  Rye Meads in Hertfordshire and Flatford Wildlife Gardens in Essex - are likely to be disposed of.

The society, which posted a record £170-million income in 2023-24, says: "The global and domestic financial pressures of the past two years have had an ongoing impact on our finances.

"As a charity, it is essential that we generate income to fund our work. 

"We cannot afford to subsidise loss-making facilities at the expense of our important charitable and strategic aims.

"Change of course is always challenging. 

"Since the RSPB began 135 years ago, we have been working to help create a world where wildlife and people can thrive. 

"As a responsible and prudent charity, we monitor the external environment closely, and, for the RSPB to continue to tackle the nature and climate emergency, we need to be able to adapt and evolve to the ever-changing external environment around us."

The RSPB wants to get shot of its reserve at Rye Meads in Hertfordshire (photo: RSPB)

                                                 

The RSPB will soon close its shop at Fairhaven Lake on the Ribble Estuary in Lancashire (photo: RSPB)