The RSPB will make staff redundant as it is set to close or transfer ownership of facilities at some of its nature reserves.

The bird preservation charity said it had completed a comprehensive review of its operations to ensure its longer-term sustainability, with seven sites potentially affected by changes. 

The charity had a record income of £169.9m in its latest accounts for the year to the end of March 2024 and an expenditure of £125.3m for the same period. Costs of managing its nature reserves was £53.2m, the accounts show.

The charity said today its income was growing but not fast enough to keep up with rising costs.

“To give a sense of this, it took £150m to deliver our work two years ago,” the charity said. “Today that same work will cost us £165m, a 10 per cent cost rise.”

The charity said its nature reserves made up the largest proportion of its financial spend each year and it had been looking at its reserve network and other “small pieces of land” it owned or managed to make sure what it was doing in these places made sense in terms of protecting and restoring nature financially in the longer term.

“Our staff who work on these sites and our incredible volunteers who do so much are the beating heart of what we do,” the charity said.

“But to remain strong and viable we need to make some changes.

“To be clear, it doesn’t mean selling off large areas of land to the highest bidder and it doesn’t mean that any of our flagship reserves will disappear.”

The charity said it did not know the exact number of staff that would be affected by the proposals because it would depend on factors including the decisions that affected staff may choose to make.

“We are working hard to reduce redundancies wherever possible and will be meeting all affected employees on an individual basis to explore other suitable roles within the RSPB or provide guidance and support with finding alternative employment,” the charity said. 

Flatford Wildlife Garden in Suffolk and RSPB Rye Meads in Hertfordshire are some of the reserves at risk, with the charity reviewing its options including a potential change of management at these sites.

The nature reserve in Rainham Marshes, Essex, will remain open but the retail facility and cafe will close.

Other locations that will close include Loch Garten Nature Reserve in Abernethy, Scotland, RSPB Newport Wetlands in Wales, RSPB Dungeness in Kent and RSPB Fairhaven Lake Visitor Centre in Lancashire.

“At others, we are reducing our work in order to do more elsewhere,” the charity said.

“At these sites, totalling less than one per cent of our landholding, this will mean working in partnership with other charities, community groups or local councils to find sustainable futures for these places.”

The RSPB said it was committed to keeping its members informed about the changes and would provide more updates in its December magazine.