Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

UK charity, founded in 1889, aiming to conserve and protect wild birds, both in the UK and overseas. It has a network of reserves in all types of habitat comprising some 130,000 ha/321,250 acres), and is the largest voluntary wildlife-conservation body in Europe. Headquartered in the town of Sandy, in Bedfordshire, England, it publishes conservation lists of endangered birds as well as a members' magazine, Birds, quarterly.