A BIRD protection charity has defended itself after being accused of spending more cash on self publicity than on its bird reserves.

Sir Ian Botham, who runs the You Forgot The Birds campaign, an organisation set up in 2014 to challenge the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), has called out the charity for the amount it spends on press officers and fundraising staff.

Sir Ian, who lives in Ravensworth, North Yorkshire, said the RSPB’s accounts show that last year it spent £57m of its £134m income on a combination of fundraising, education and inspiring support, including 34 press officers, and 685 staff working on fundraising.

He added: “By contrast it only spent £36m on its 200 bird reserves which have only 661 staff.

“The RSPB spends far more heavily on PR than any other charity of comparable size, with one press officer for every £4m of income.

"By contrast the second most prolific spender on its media image is Age UK which has one press officer for every £11m of income.”

However, the RSPB said it had just six full-time and three part-time press officers, with a further 18 who take on media work as part of a wider role.

Martin Harper, RSPB director of conservation, said: “The RSPB has two charitable objectives: as well as protecting and conserving nature, we are also required to advance the education and engagement of the public in the conservation of the natural environment.

“Our communications staff play an important part in achieving that second objective, for example organising events, writing and producing materials for use on our reserves. For the majority of these roles, assisting journalists is only a small part of their job.

“In the last financial year we invested around £15m in our fundraising activities, promotional material and marketing our events and reserves.

“We have been instrumental in saving many species that might otherwise have been lost. Our supporters want to hear how they are helping to make a difference.

“This led to around £76m in voluntary donations, crucial to support our work in saving species and managing our 200 reserves.”