Rayleigh and Wickford MP, Mark Francois, recently signed up as a member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and followed this up shortly afterwards by a visit to the RSPB’s facilities at Wat Tyler Country Park.
During a full morning, Mark was taken around the visitor facilities by Paul Forecast, the RSPB Regional Director, before being taken on to see the new nature reserve which is now being managed by the RSPB at Bower’s Marsh (inland from the oil terminal at Coryton). Mark also made a visit to the Vange marsh area as part of his morning tour.
Over the last few years the RSPB has bought up a number of marshland areas along the Thames Estuary and is turning these into professionally managed wildlife sites, that can be used by birdlife and also enjoyed by birdwatchers and by families looking for a peaceful day out close to nature. Mark, who during his first Parliament of 2001-2005 served on the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) Parliament’s Green Watchdog body, has been impressed by the RSPB’s commitment to environmental stewardship and therefore he recently personally signed up as a member as well.
Commenting on the work which the RSPB do in South Essex, and his tour of some of their facilities, Mark Francois said:
“I cannot claim to be a bird watcher but I have been impressed by the RSPB’s environmental stewardship programmes, not least with the work that they have done to help create important wildlife habitats in South Essex. In addition to the sites that I visited on this tour, I have also spent time being briefed on the major RSPB development on Wallasea Island, which is also in my constituency. I believe that the RSPB, who have over a million members, do important work in protecting wildlife and the environment, and now on top of those million members they have one more”.