How many here are members of wildlife trusts in their local area? I am not a member at the moment although I have been considering it as I think they do some great work around the area, and it's always nice to support a local cause.

Not that it's about what you get at all, but do you receive a newsletter or the like from your trust if you are a member? Or even an information pack? I like to think I know most of the wildlife spots and what goes on around here but I'm sure there is plenty I miss out on!

Hi, Rianna,

I belong to the Surrey Wildlife Trust. We receive 2x quartery publications:
Surrey Nature, detailing all the county news, events and reviews.
Naturalworld, covering the whole of the UK.

We also receive a quarterly booklet listing events, talks, nature reserves and the conservation work party programme for the coming months.

When I joined I also received a membership card, car sticker and a wallchart of UK butterflies.

Although I haven't taken an active part in any of their work programmes I do get a lot of satisfaction from knowing that my subscription is directly contributing to the conservation of wildlife and habitats in the county and also towards their schools education initiatives.

I'm an active member of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. We receive three mailings a year, included in each mailing is 'Natural World', the Lincolnshire Trust's magazine 'Lapwings' and a newsletter covering your own local area. Children who are members of the junior wing 'Wildlife Watch' also receive their own magazine. I don't know what new members receive on joining, other then a membership card, as I joined seventeen years ago, something I've never regretted doing.

My 19 month old daughter is a member of the junior Cornwall Wildlife Trust!

Wow 19 months! Always good to start them early though

I'm not a member of a trust yet, although I think it is something that I would like to do in the future.

I was a member of Devon Wildlife Trust when I lived in Devon but resigned when they were somehow involved in supporting squirrel culls.

Now to cull or not to cull grey squirrels, that's a whole new debate and one that's likely to bring out great passions on both sides.

My local Wildlife Trust has so far managed to avoid getting involved in that particular controversy, but should Wildlife Trust's seek to avoid such controversies in order to avoid upsetting sections of their membership, indeed can they realistically help being involved such controversies?

Difficult one..
We are all working from our individual viewpoint of how to make things better.
As a vegan I don't kill anything..part of my desire for a peaceful, loving world and I couldn't be part of an organisation that was involved in killing creatures...especially as number one target for culling should be 'us'.. human beings!
However I do recognise and respect others see things differently and have their own ideas about protecting wildlife and habitats etc.

Does the RSPB count? I am a member of that.

I'm not a member of the RSPB, but if my memory serves me right (I'm sure RSPB members will correct me if I'm wrong) the RSPB has during recent years supported the culling of the ruddy duck, due to its tendency to hybridise with an endangered Spanish duck, and the culling of hedgehogs on certain Scottish islands, due to their tendency to eat the eggs of ground nesting birds, many of which are endangered species. Both species were introduced by man (the hedgehogs were introduced on the relevant islands) and both ruddy ducks and hedgehogs are popular and cute.

It is a dilemma that all conservation organisations have had to face from time to time when a native species has been threaten by an introduced species. Do they support the controlling of the introduced species, which may well mean culling, or do they support letting nature take its course, which may result in the extinction of the native species?

Some people have a problem with conservation groups or individuals actually being the ones who do the culling, but it is the lesser of two evils. In some cases there really is no other way.

Well, Bill, of course there is another way.
There are alternatives to culling.
A noise device to deter seals from damaging fishermen's nets.
Relocating hedgehogs from an outer Hebridean island to the mainland, rather than killing them.
Reducing the main food source available to a type of animal, decreasing their numbers, rather than killing them.

Culling is ineffective in the long term as the species will eventually repopulate the area.
Evidence suggests that some creatures, such as deer, can keep their own numbers down without the need for culling. A deer specialist has said the number of roe deer in the New Forest have halved over 20 years without culling. The deer in the area naturally had fewer fawns in response to rising numbers.
There is also the moral argument which I adhere to ...about it being specie-ist ..we wouldn't dream of culling our own species regardless of the immense damage it does to the world and yet we will kill other species that we consider to be a problem.

Er... have we gone a little off thread here chaps??

I'm a member of Sussex Wildlife Trusts. A decent magazine and info guides seem to come quite regularly. They do excellent work and it's nice to support the local area.

Sounds like being a member of a trust is a great thing to do! I will get round to becoming one sometime this summer hopefully, I know that the trust here does a lot of good work so it would definitely be supporting a good cause.