RSPB Badge

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Due to the large number of visitors I get to this site performing internet searches for RSPB Pin badges, I have added this information to this post for you! RSPB pin badges (including old and rare badges) can be obtained through the Collectors group. E-mail Mark on PinBadge.CollectorsGroup@rspb.org.uk for more information.
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This badge was recently, and very kindly, given to me. It is made by the RSPB (and therefore collectable) and it is a limited edition (only a few hundred made). WLO stands for Wildlife Liaison Officer. I believe that these officers are now called Wildlife Conservation Officers. I did not know this badge existed until it was mentioned to me by the person who then gave it to me. It will form a prized part of my collection.

New RSPB badges

In the post today were some badges. Strange that - one would think I had donated some money to the RSPB in return for these badges. Oh ... wait ... I did. These are the remaining International badges (rook, saker falcon & Stork) that they put on backing cards especially for the collectors group. Also included was the (only just released) Official Pin Badge Collectors Group badge featuring a magpie. Only 500 of these were made & are for group members only.

The next new badges that will be available will be of flowers, a clouded leopard and a gibbon.

The Original RSPB Badges

The original RSPB badges didn't come with any backing card. They did come in a plastic bag and with a paper insert. The paper insert tells us that many species of bird are declining in numbers and it asks us help make a difference by supporting the RSPB. On the reverse, you can input your personal details to give in.

There were 4 original badges: Puffin, Bullfinch, Red Kite and the Walking Bittern. The Walking Bittern is no longer made in the 'walking' pose. The design for the Puffin and Red Kite have also changed



Above: The original Puffin



Above: The original Walking Bittern



Above: The original Red Kite



Above: The original Bullfinch

RSPB Badges

I am a collector of RSPB pin badges. They are highly collectable - so much so that the RSPB now have a Pin Badge Collectors Group. There are many designs of badges (and backing cards) that are now not available in RSPB boxes found in shops around the country. Many are available on e-bay (some for a lot of money) but if you are a charitable person (like me) you would probably find it easier (and cheaper) to source old badges (and some specials) from the collectors group.

I am posting a few photos of some of the badges I have recently acquired and the way that I display my badges. In time, I hope to display all of them and have a complete photographic record too.



Above: A few that I aquired recently. The Chough on the bottom right of the photo is a colour error (yellow feet & beak instead of what it should be - red) on the British Wildlife backing card. The round blue badges are old RSPB logo badges (60's/70's) and there is a small YOC (Young Ornithologists Club) badge.



Above: I saw a Red Footed Falcon recently near bedford. A rare visitor to Britain & the one I saw is still there (along with another one) ... here to stay I wonder? This badge is an international one and is available with the special collectors group backing card to members of the collectors group only. There are limited numbers of this available so only one per member. All but one of these 'international' badges I recieved recently were not originally released with a backing card. The photo at the top of the post & the badge at the middle of the bottom row is an aquatic warbler - one I am quite intrigued by. I don't suppose I'd ever see one, let alone ring one!




Above: My brother kindly made the above display (a sheet of 1/2 inch foam covered in a tie-dye cloth. It is really good as a display (although quite hard ... but not impossible ... to put on the wall). If the foam and cloth was any thicker, I wouldn't be able to display them like this. It is also chockablock with badges and I could fill it twice. On the display (from the top) are the badges with numbered backing cards (e.g. 1 Hen Harrier, 2 Lapwing etc up to 32 Peregrine Falcon). Below them are the badges with # numbered backing cards (e.g. #1 Hen Harrier, #2 Lapwing etc up to #25 Snowy Owl). Then there are a few save the birds RSPB YOC badges - these were put in to plug a gap (the #numbered cards only go up to #25, the numbered cards up to 32). Below these are (what I call) the landscape cards (older than the numbered & # numbered cards). Below these are RSPB Nature Reserve Badges. They provide a break between different types of badges. Below these are some of the 'specials' (e.g. southwestengland Cirl Bunting, Climate Change Snowy Owls, Rainham Marshes Kingfisher & Scottish Wildlife Great Yellow Bumble Bee). Lastly (and there are loads of them) are all the British Wildlife badges - not just birds & includes badger, otter, butterflies, natterjack toad and many more.



Above is a close up of the numbered backing cards & badges. In the bottom right is 16 Avocet. This is a highly sought after badge as a) the Avocet is the RSPB bird (see RSPB logo) and b) the Avocet is wading in water with reeds. They no longer make this design of the badge.

I hope you can gain some insight as to what I collect (if not why). I have shown you some of the madness that is my RSPB pin badge fixation.

I have just received news of badges that I have won in Auction through the members club & some others that I have been waiting a while to receive. More posts to follow in the near future.