Terms & conditions

By using the service provided by the RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL a registered charity in England and Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654; you agree to these Terms and Conditions.

Terms & Conditions specific to the RSPB Community can be found here.

Anyone may view the website to use for their own personal use only and not for reproduction on any other website or for commercial gain.

Any links to the RSPB website must be notified and approved by the RSPB before they are created.

The information contained within the website includes content that is either owned or controlled by the RSPB and content that is owned or controlled by third parties and licensed to the RSPB.

Social parts of the site are for people who love nature and want to share enthusiasm and ideas to help protect it. We hope you will share your experiences and encourage others. This part of the site is moderated and will include occasional contributions from RSPB staff, who will clearly identify themselves as such.

Be aware that users will have a wide range of interest, experience and knowledge - so please treat everyone with the respect and courtesy you would expect to receive yourself.

We appreciate that not everyone shares our views all of the time, and ask you to respect that too - this is a community to share enthusiasm for nature and helping to protect it. Please do not use it to air claims of personal or organisational grievance.

All posts have a 'Report abuse' button which you can use to complain to a moderator if you believe a post breaks these terms and conditions.

By submitting your contributions to the RSPB, you agree to be legally bound by these Terms and Conditions;

Everyone is welcome to browse the RSPB forums and is encouraged to do so before registering a user profile. You must be a registered user in order to enter a post. To complete registration, all users must submit a valid email address and date of birth. To ensure child safety and welfare, the community is only open to people over 18 years old.

Please treat fellow forum members with the respect and courtesy you would expect to receive yourself. You may not post defamatory material to RSPB forums. In particular, you must be clear that any view you express/post is your own and relevant to the forum topic. Abusive, disruptive, irrelevant postings, comments and advertising may be removed and may result in your registration being deleted.

You can flag any material you think is offensive, anti-social or in breach of these terms and conditions using the 'Report abuse' button. That will bring content to the attention of RSPB community moderators. Postings within the forum do not necessarily reflect the views of the RSPB and thus, the RSPB will not be held accountable for any postings deemed offensive in the first instance.

Please don't pass off other people’s text/images etc. as your own. Any contribution must be your own work; it must not infringe the rights of third parties including copyright, trade mark, trade secrets, privacy, publicity, personal or proprietary rights, or covered by a public access or creative commons licence.

You are welcome to attach your own images or photographs, but files may be modified or removed if there are technical or legal reasons for doing so. By uploading a file, you agree to others making a copy of that file for personal use.

Please respect the privacy of others. If your contribution features other people who are recognisable, you are responsible for ensuring that you have their permission for the contribution in accordance with these terms and conditions. Contributions featuring children under 18 or vulnerable adults, can only be accepted if you are the parent or guardian; by accepting these terms and conditions you warrant that you are the parent or guardian and that you grant permission for the contribution to be treated according to the uses set out above.

Full copyright title shall be retained by the Author of any submissions.  By submitting any contribution to the RSPB, you agree to grant the RSPB a perpetual royalty free licence to use any or all of the contributions in any of their publications, on the website and/or in any promotional material.  Permission will be sought and the Author credited where possible.  Any contribution provided will be non-confidential and in accordance with privacy restrictions set out in the RSPB’s Privacy Policy.

If you do not grant the RSPB to use your contributions in accordance with the Terms, please do not share or submit them to the RSPB.

The names and logos of the RSPB and all related trademarks are the property of the RSPB.  These may not be used without the prior consent of the RSPB.

Save as expressly provided for in these terms neither the RSPB nor its trading subsidiary(ies) shall be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage or for any costs, claims or demands of any nature whatsoever arising directly or indirectly out of the use of your contribution or any part thereof.

You agree to indemnify the RSPB and its trading subsidiary(ies) in full against all liabilities, costs, claims or expenses in relation to a third party claim that your submission or contribution infringes the intellectual property rights of that third party.

From time to time RSPB may run competitions, free prize draws and promotions.  In each case, these will be subject to additional competition terms, which will be made available at the appropriate time.

The RSPB may retain your contribution and may choose to display your postings elsewhere on www.rspb.org.uk. The RSPB may also publish your contribution in other media; where possible we will approach you directly to confirm your permission for publication. The RSPB reserves the right to remove or redirect contributions that it considers to be contrary to the spirit of the terms and conditions of submission, including submissions it considers to be objectionable, offensive or violate copyright. The RSPB reserves the right to edit and alter submissions at all times.

Publication of your contribution will be at the RSPB's sole discretion; we will try to credit authors where possible but may not always do so;

All posts are subject to moderation by the RSPB. The RSPB reserves the right to edit, adapt, move or delete any contribution accepted in ensuring users uphold to these terms and conditions. The RSPB will take reasonable steps to inform the user how or why their post is or was inappropriate, but may not always do so in every circumstance.

The RSPB takes your privacy very seriously; we will only use your personal information in accordance with the terms of our Privacy Policy. By submitting a contribution to the RSPB you acknowledge and agree that you have read and accept the terms of our Privacy Policy and these Terms and Conditions.

These Terms and Conditions (as amended from time to time) constitute the entire agreement between you and the RSPB concerning your contribution to the RSPB. The RSPB reserves the right to update these Terms and Conditions from time to time and any updated version will be effective as soon as published on the website.

You should never disclose any confidential information, especially your or someone else’s address or telephone numbers.

You may, if you wish, give some more details about yourself in 'My profile' such as location, gender and interests, which is visible to other members but is entirely optional and at your discretion.

The Privacy Policy will apply whenever you provide personal information, except as required by law, where the RSPB can pass on personal data without consent for example for the purpose to prevent and detect crime; or in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

Please report any inappropriate or excessive use of any facilities of this website to moderators.

If you wish to make a complaint about our website or the service you have received from the RSPB, please contact our Supporter Services Team on 01767 693680 or membership@rspb.org.uk. 

In the event that we cannot resolve any dispute between us, we can consider various methods of dispute resolution.  The EU provides an online dispute resolution platform which exists to assist the resolution of disputes between online traders and consumers.  The platform, and more information about it, can be accessed here: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/.

The terms and conditions and the use of the website shall be governed by English Law.  All claims or disputes arising out of or in connection with this site shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of England.

If you have any queries relating to terms of use or this website please contact us.