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Nature Set in Reserve: 1950s–1960s Nature Conservation

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Abstract

Continuing the avocet story, this chapter focuses on the development of nature reserves. The RSPB’s management at Havergate and Minsmere nature reserves was both pioneering and crucial in the development of British nature conservation practices, making them excellent places to investigate which nature was seen in need of conserving in post-war Britain. Minsmere was key to a new phase in British nature conservation in the late 1950s, in which the survival of wild places was seen to need much more active interference, and during the 1960s, bulldozers created new feeding areas, and screened walkways and observation hides orchestrated and hid the movement of visitors. The avocets were also important to the development of the RSPB’s film unit in the mid-1950s, with the birds thus becoming visible not only to the reserve’s visitors but also to people attending public lectures and watching televisions.

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  1. Berlin, Germany

    Sophia Davis

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Davis, S. (2020). Nature Set in Reserve: 1950s–1960s Nature Conservation. In: Island Thinking. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9676-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9676-2_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-9675-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-9676-2

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