Secrets behind the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds organisation will be revealed in St Albans when the founder visits the city.

Peter Holden MBE, the founder of the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, will visit to St Saviour’s Church Hall in Sandpit Lane on Tuesday, January 14 to give a talk entitled The RSPB’s Natural Secrets.

He will use unique material from the RSPB film and photographic archives as well as his own observations.

In advance of his visit, Mr Holden said: "I am very much looking forward to visiting the St Albans RSPB Local Group. Among other things, I will look at the very first RSPB reserves and I will be considering why these places are called nature reserves and not bird reserves. I will also be showing three short film gems that the RSPB is so good at making."

One of the RSPB’s longest serving staff members Mr Holden has authored more than a dozen books which have together sold over a million copies.

His most recent title, Birds: Their Hidden World, was published in February 2012 and will be available on the night.

In the past Mr Holden has joined Bill Oddie to present the BBC TV series, Birds in the Nest, and he runs courses on birds and wildlife for Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuous Learning at Madingley Hall.

Mr Holden started working for the RSPB in 1969 and was responsible for setting up the RSPB's Young Ornithologists Club. He was instrumental in developing and promoting the first ‘citizen science’ project in the UK, Big Garden Birdwatch, in 1979.

The meeting will take place at 8pm and will be hosted by the St Albans RSPB Group.

Entry is £2 for RSPB Members and £2.50 for others.

For more information contact Group Secretary, Peter Antram on 01923 678534 or peter_antram@hotmail.com.