ABSTRACT
Has something like 120,000 members, and achieves a great deal, campaigning vigorously for the right of access. It is perhaps surprising that the membership is not greater, given that walking is cited as the most popular form of recreation in countless surveys of outdoor recreation (see UK Day Visits Survey 1998). Arguably, the groups concerned with the environment have been rather more powerful, probably because their membership has been drawn from typically better paid (and connected) membership. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Europe’s largest wildlife conservation charity, has more than 1 million members and an annual budget approaching £50 million. The RSPB clearly represents those who, amongst other things, watch birds as part of their recreation. The National Trust has more than 2.5 million members and a budget in excess of £166 million (1996/97). There are many such organisations but the different recreations and interests are not equally represented.
