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Why biodiversity matters to the RSPB

It is just as frightening to imagine a countryside without bumblebees and wild flowers as one without birdsong.

There are many reasons for the RSPB to be involved in the conservation of wildlife as a whole, rather than just birds:

• Birds do not live in isolation. They depend on a variety of other species to provide their food - from grasshoppers and seeds to fish and rabbits. The habitats that support birds would not exist but for the activities of other forms of wildlife. All these things are part of that great variety of life: biodiversity. The conservation of birds cannot be separated from the conservation of biodiversity as a whole.
• Many of the factors that affect bird numbers affect other species too; changes in land management can wipe out plants and insects as well as the birds that feed on them. Wider issues, such as climate change, affect less-well championed species as well as birds. The RSPB shares a common cause with other conservation groups to protect wider biodiversity.
• Many of our nature reserves are important fragments of a vanishing countryside. We owe it to our children to take a wider view than just birds. It is just as frightening to imagine a countryside without bumblebees and wild flowers as one without birdsong.
• The RSPB has been developing conservation management for birds and habitats for over 60 years, making our experience and knowledge exceptional. We are uniquely placed to manage habitats for those of the UK's rarest species that live on RSPB nature reserves.      

Last modified: 02 October 2006