2015年经济学人 鸟类观察 群情激动（在线收听）

Bird-watching

All aflutter

Britain's largest conservation society is ruffling feathers

ON January 24th and 25th around half a million people were expected to take part in the “big garden birdwatch”, 

an annual event run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Since 1979, when the event began, 

people have peered into their gardens to spot feathered creatures and log their sightings in a centralised database. 

But as well as looking out for wrens, collared doves and blackcaps, this year, for the second time, they are being encouraged to spot squirrels, badgers, deer and even worms.

Since the RSPB was started in 1889 by a group of women worried about the use of feathers in hats, its remit has widened. 

The charity now runs 212 nature reserves and lobbies the government about broad issues such as climate change and renewable energy. 

It has also started to emphasise that its main focus is far broader than just birds. 

In 2013 a TV advert showed a young girl watching for frogs and hedgehogs in her garden; the same year the RSPB magazine Birds was rebranded Nature's Home.

 People expect all of Nature to be connected, says Mike Clarke, the RSPB's chief executive. 

“If you go on about birds,” he adds, “you become associated with a bird-watching club.”

Despite its popularity, bird-watching has a “slightly geeky reputation” ventures Kevin Cox of Devon Birds, a local birding society. 

Nature programmes presented by men wearing khaki shorts and tight-fitting T-shirts make searching for frogs and the like seem rather more glamorous. 

Having grown quickly during the 1990s, membership of the RSPB began to slow later; it even fell slightly between 2011 and 2013. 

The recession may have squeezed some birders. But membership numbers at other organisations such as the Wildlife Trusts and the British Trust for Ornithology have continued to rise, albeit from a smaller base. 

The Wildlife Trusts, an umbrella organisation of 47 different wildlife organisations, has over 800,000 members. 

“Back in the day, the RSPB was it,” recalls Martin Garner, a birder. Now there is strong competition.

The RSPB's strategy, along with a more active marketing campaign, seems to be working. 

Between 2013 and 2014 membership numbers increased by 3% and exceeded 1.1m for the first time. And the RSPB's membership is changing. 

Families accounted for 15% of all members in 2007, but now make up 30%.

Some worry that, by broadening its appeal beyond birds, the campaigning mission of the charity as set out by its Victorian founders will be lost. 

It risks becoming “muzzled by its fear of losing members”, says Mark Cocker, an expert on birds and birders, 

perhaps preventing the charity from taking a hard political stance. It also risks alienating the most dedicated birders. 

Many enthusiasts are already turning to more specialist bird organisations that take “hands-on action” to help preserve wetlands or campaign against the hunting of rare species, 

says Steve Kirk of BirdForum, a website. Their migration may be more permanent than those of the creatures they track.