Chapter Ten

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Audaubon Society

10.1  One of the thirty or so varieties of bird life on Lake Annecy is the Great Crested Grebe, also known as Podiceps Cristatus, which means with feet set back and crested. Its feet and sleek, slimline design, enable it to be an excellent swimmer and diver.  It is a most elegant and distinguished looking bird, and the skill and subtlety of its everyday behaviour fully complement its fine looks. 

10.2  So taken with this regal bird was Julian Huxley that in 1914 he wrote a celebrated hundred page monograph on it.  

10.3  But it wasn't just ornithologists who appreciated this bird.  Its crests of fine head plumes were highly prized in the mid nineteenth century for their beauty. So much so, in fact, that their feathers were used to decorate hats and undergarments for fashionable English and American women.

10.4 And so the trade in grebe feathers flourished for many years until, as is the way with unfettered human enterprise, grebes were hunted almost to extinction

10.5 In 1889 Emily Williamson organised a group of women at her home in Didsbury, Manchester, now being supplied with fresh water from the Thirlemere canal, to protest against the massacre of birds purely for clothing. They merged with another group and renamed themselves the Society for the Protection of Birds. They became so successful they were soon granted a royal charter -henceforth to be known as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

10.6 It was the first ever organisation devoted to protecting animals not simply from cruelty, but from extinction. The RSPB is today one of Europe’s largest and most influential conservation charities, with a membership of one million, or significantly more than the current combined membership of all political parties in the UK. And the story of the safeguarding of the great crested grebe is one of Britain’s most resounding conservation success stories.

10.7  In America the massacre of the grebe and other beautifully plumed birds was prosecuted with accustomed industrial efficiency. Five million birds were killed for the millinery industry in one year alone.10.7 In America the massacre of the grebe and other beautifully plumed birds was prosecuted with accustomed industrial efficiency. Five million birds were killed for the millinery industry in one year alone.

10.8 And so a parallel organisation to the RSPB was set up called the Massachusetts Audubon society - after the wildlife painter John James Audubon.

10.9 In 1922 these two organisations joined forces with the French “Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux” to found the world’s first international conservation organisation, now called BirdLife International.

10.10 The grebe nests on the water’s edge at Lake Annecy, protected by the lakeside reedbeds, called Roselieres, which in turn have been protected by the campaign that Dr Servettaz initiated and is now continued by SILA. The reed beds around Lake Annecy provide a natural home and excellent protection for its young.

10.11 The RSPB, and the Audaubon Society count among the most successful environmental campaigning organisations in history – and their work has never been more important than now.

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