Waterlife 216 July/October 2021

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The WWT magazine | 216 July/October 2021 | £4.25 | wwt.org.uk

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Save our rivers HOW WETLANDS CAN HELP CLEAN UP OUR WATERWAYS

Waterscapes Aviary Visit Slimbridge’s new attraction – where wetlands come alive!

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Get snapping!

Our photo competition is open for entries

Dragonflies

Quack, honk, hiss

How to photograph the masters of the air

What’s the difference between ducks, geese and swans?

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Contents, 1

CONTENTS VERSION

HOW HEALTHY ARE OUR RIVERS?

Our rivers are the lifeblood of the countryside – vital for wildlife and people

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In this issue...

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5 7 18 20 22 26 32 38 40 42 45 66

Welcome Kevin Peberdy on why he has hope for the future of wetlands News The latest WWT conservation news from around the world Your views Your letters and the pick of your photos Life on our reserves How we’re giving endangered young eels a boost Spotter’s guide Do you know the difference between ducks, geese and swans?

Living Wetland Theatre Get closer to British wetland wildlife than ever before River rescue Before you dive in, find out how to spot unhealthy, unclean rivers Photo competition It’s time to enter your best wildlife images in our contest Photo masterclass: dragonflies Top tips for capturing the masters of the air Go wild Steve Backshall celebrates sensational streams and their wildlife Great days out There’s still so much to enjoy at a wetland centre near you Back chat Meet a member of WWT’s team and find out what they do

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Do something amazing – LEAVE A GIFT TO WWT IN YOUR WILL Wetlands support a huge amount of life, providing homes and food for many species, and sustaining communities. But with half of the world’s wetlands lost in the past 100 years, we need your help to protect these precious places.

To make your lasting gift to wetlands, please get in touch with our Legacy Team via giftsinwills@wwt.org.uk, on 01453 891150 or visit wwt.org.uk/gifts-in-wills

WWT is the leading global conservation organisation committed to the protection of wetlands and all that live in and around them. WWT is the only UK charity with a national network of specialist wetland centres that people can visit. It was founded in 1946 by the late Sir Peter Scott, the renowned naturalist and artist.

HEADQUARTERS

Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Slimbridge, Gloucestershire GL2 7BT wwt.org.uk membership@wwt.org.uk Registered Charity No. 1030884 and SC039410 CENTRES On the cover: Danny Green/naturepl.com

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Healthy waters are essential for people and

nature to thrive, yet new figures released by the Environment Agency last autumn revealed that none of our rivers, lakes or streams are now classed as being in good health. Chemicals, sewage, manure and plastic are polluting our waterways, invasive weeds are choking them, and climate change and overuse are drying them out. This affects our crops, our wildlife, the nature sites we love to visit, our water bills and so much more.

But how can you recognise an unhealthy river before you dip your toe in or go fishing with the grandchildren, and what can help turn the tide?

Wild swimmer and nature writer Amy-Jane Beer finds out more about the warning signs to spot and how wetlands can help turn our suffering waters into thriving blue corridors for wildlife on page 32.

This summer sees the opening of the new Living Wetland Theatre at Slimbridge as part of WWT’s 75th anniversary celebrations. This immersive experience will enable visitors to appreciate the beauty of British wetlands first-hand, and see some of our amazing water-loving birds demonstrating natural behaviours that are essential to their survival. Be inspired and find out more on page 26.

Plus, it’s time to enter your best wetland wildlife images in our photo competition (page 38), see if you have what it takes to photograph a dragonfly in flight (page 40), and finally figure out the difference between those wetland stalwarts – ducks, geese and swans – with help from Dominic Couzens (page 22).

One of the things you might have missed during lockdown is visiting our beautiful WWT shops.

But now you can help conserve, restore and create wetlands and protect wetland wildlife by shopping with us online at shop.wwt.org.uk

For full contact details, please see individual centre pages, from page 45 WWT Arundel 01903 883355 WWT Caerlaverock 01387 770200 WWT Castle Espie 028 9187 4146 WWT Llanelli 01554 741087 WWT London 020 8409 4400 WWT Martin Mere 01704 895181 WWT Slimbridge 01453 891900 WWT Washington 0191 416 5454 WWT Welney 01353 860711

WATERLIFE

The magazine of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Managing editor: Sophie Gore Browne waterlife@wwt.org.uk Editor: Sophie Stafford sophie.stafford@thinkpublishing.co.uk Chief sub-editor: Marion Thompson Art director: George Walker Contributors: Amy-Jane Beer, Paul Bloomfield, Dominic Couzens, Stuart Jackson Carter, Derek Niemann, David Tipling Editorial board: Hannah Clifford, Kate Dawson, Andrew Foot, Geoff Hilton, Baz Hughes, Rob Shore, Mark Simpson Sales executive: Jamie Dawson jamie.dawson@thinkpublishing.co.uk 020 3771 7201 Client engagement director: Clare Harris, Think Media Group, 20 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JW; thinkpublishing.co.uk

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Waterlife is published three times a year, and is printed by Walstead Peterborough on Leipa ultraMag Plus, an PEFC® certified paper containing 100% recycled content.

Views expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect those of WWT. ISSN: 1752-7392 Average net circulation for the period Jan-Dec 2020: 85,490

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Welcome, 1

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Visitors have been flooding back to their local centres to enjoy our great wetlands again now lockdown has eased ART

IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK

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As Waterlife goes to print, our preparations

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for a busy and exciting summer at our wetland centres are going full steam ahead.

After the long, hard winter lockdown, it’s fantastic to have already welcomed so many of you back, and to have received such positive feedback since reopening our sites at the end of April.

Behind the scenes, our staff and volunteers have been working hard to make your visit as safe and enjoyable as possible. We have also created additional wildlife-spotting opportunities. Find out what’s happening at your local centre this summer in our ‘Great Days Out’ section (pages 45-62) and start planning your visit now.

I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for your amazing support during these difficult times.

Without a doubt, it’s your passion and enthusiasm for wetlands and their wildlife that’s enabled us to keep going. Your generosity has meant we’ve been able to continue maintaining our sites, even during lockdown, as well as undertaking important conservation projects.

Our Two Valleys Project champions working wetlands

Slimbridge’s new Waterscapes Aviary is one of the major projects completed during the pandemic

In Somerset, we’re celebrating the successful culmination of our Two Valleys Project, which has created wonderful new wetlands to help alleviate flooding and improve water quality (page 14). We’re also embarking on an ambitious new project to safeguard the Somerset coast from the

effects of climate change. This is a vital part of WWT’s Blue Recovery plans, which put wetlands at the forefront of the fight against the crises that threaten our climate, nature and health and wellbeing. Our curlew and godwit recovery work, linked to important wetland habitats, continues to go from strength to strength, while in Madagascar we’ve taken a major step forward in our work to revive the country’s depleted wetlands (page 14).

The pandemic has been incredibly tough on all of us in so many different ways. But as I read the wonderful messages of support we’ve received, I’m hopeful that if the past 18 months have taught us anything, it’s the importance of valuing and appreciating nature. It’s clear we all now have a deeper realisation and understanding of why we need wetlands, now more than ever, for our health, our happiness and to ensure the future health of our planet.

Finally, it’s with great anticipation that we look forward to celebrating our 75th anniversary with you this year. Find out how you can get involved by sharing your personal memories and stories of wetland conservation (page 7).

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WWT/Ben Cherry; WWT/Faith Hillier; WWT/Sam Stafford

Kevin Peberdy, WWT Chief Operating Officer

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News, 1

WWT NEWS How we’re working to protect wetlands and wildlife around the world

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It’s our anniversary!

Samuel Walker/WWT

WWT turns 75 years old in November – and to mark that amazing milestone, we’d love to hear your stories of wetland conservation.

In 1946, Sir Peter Scott founded the Severn Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge as a centre for science and conservation. Today it’s the home of WWT and our flagship wetland site.

Since his early efforts, we’ve worked at home and abroad to protect and nurture wildlife, their wetland habitats and the people who live and work in those special places. We’re now the world’s leading international wetland conservation charity.

We continue to forge ahead with efforts to create, restore and manage healthy wetlands, and to inspire people to cherish and protect these habitats across the world.

The success of this work is founded on the efforts of dedicated staff, volunteers and valued supporters – you.

To celebrate WWT’s 75th anniversary, we’re inviting you to share your memories of wetland conservation, and the people and experiences that inspired them – stories of how you got involved, or a connection with someone whose efforts and achievements sparked your own involvement.

This might take the form of a photo or a piece of art, poetry or lyrics, anecdotes or accounts of pivotal moments – hearing Sir Peter Scott’s voice on a BBC wildlife programme perhaps, or simply a happy childhood adventure pond dipping at a local wetland. Whether you’re a member, a volunteer, former or current staff, or

a student who enjoyed a placement with WWT, your words, pictures and memories will play an important part in our anniversary celebrations.

SHARE YOUR MEMORIES Please send your contributions before 10 September, either by email to waterlife@wwt.org.uk, with the subject line ‘75th anniversary’, or by post to: Waterlife, WWT, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire GL2 7BT, UK. Please note that your stories and pictures may be shared with other members and more widely as part of the celebrations. We’ll ask your permission before any such use.

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News, 2

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By Tom Fewins, Head of Policy & Advocacy

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Summer is here and some of us will be heading down to Cornwall, the venue for the recent G7 summit. As Chair of this summit and the forthcoming UN climate summit in Glasgow, the UK Government is looking to show international leadership on climate change. This is a key part of its ‘Global Britain’ strategy, but the UK’s credibility rests on its own domestic track record – where plans to reduce carbon emissions are not on track.

Covid-19 has preoccupied everyone for over a year, however this pandemic has not necessarily derailed climate action. In fact, it has offered a chance to change course and keep carbon emissions within safe limits.

This is an opportunity for wetlands.

As the concept of ‘nature-based solutions’ – working with nature to address broader societal challenges – gains traction in Government, business and wider society, could this unlock new support for wetlands?

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nature-based solutions. The saltmarshes at WWT’s Steart Marshes, for example, not only host an amazing range of species but also provide flood protection, support the local tourist industry and food producers, provide access to nature and the wellbeing this supports, and lock up prodigious amounts of carbon.

Yet despite examples like Steart, overall, the extent of saltmarsh in the UK is decreasing, as these coastal habitats become trapped between rising sea levels and the artificial structures that prevent new saltmarsh forming.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Earlier this year we published our ‘Blue Recovery’ proposals, calling for 100,000 hectares of new and restored wetlands, including saltmarshes. Imagine the scenario: from the Severn to the Humber and beyond, people and wildlife can enjoy a sparkling new network of majestic, multi-benefit saltmarshes.

These new wetlands could sit at the heart of the new Nature Recovery Network, the Government’s plans for 500,000 hectares of new joined-up wildlife habitat. But there are barriers to delivering this at scale. We are calling on the Government to address these by providing three crucial things.

1. Firstly, we need information. This means ensuring saltmarsh is accounted for and included within the UK’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory, the national list of all greenhouse gas emissions and removals that is compiled and used to report on progress.

2. Secondly, we need plans. This must

include incorporating saltmarsh restoration and creation as a nature-based solution into the UK’s Nationally Determined Contribution, our commitment to the 2016 Paris Agreement and the global effort to tackle climate change.

3. Thirdly, we need funding. This must come from both the public purse (possible sources include the Nature for Climate Fund, the Environmental Land Management scheme and the National Infrastructure Bank) and the private sector, best incentivised via a new Saltmarsh Carbon Code that sets clear standards for saltmarsh creation, restoration and management.

These measures would give a huge boost to creating and restoring saltmarsh, but we need your help to make this happen.

Please join us in calling for a Blue Recovery by visiting wwt.org.uk/bluerecovery

Sacha Dench/WWT

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Time for a Blue Recovery

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WWT NEWS VERSION

Arundel aviary expands

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Immerse yourself in the wonderful world of waders and sea ducks in the new Coastal Creek aviary at WWT Arundel Wetland Centre.

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This high-netted area is home to a diverse population of British waders such as redshanks and ruffs, as well as native and exotic sea ducks including spectacled eiders, scoters and long-tailed and harlequin ducks. The results of the ambitious 18-month development are spectacular.

“Landscaped with rocks, shoreline vegetation including pine trees and

even a couple of waterfalls, it recreates the feel of a coastline, giving the birds a more natural environment,” explains Tim McGregor, Arundel Centre Manager.

“And with waders and ducks flying around and above visitors, it’s a truly multisensory experience.”

Time your visit for one of the twice-daily feeding sessions to admire the underwater acrobatics of these agile birds through the transparent wall of a diving tank.

“This exhibit isn’t just spacious, it’s really special for WWT,” says Tim.

“It shines a spotlight on birds that have benefited from our research and conservation efforts over the years, with star species such as common scoter and scaly-sided mergansers.

“We designed both Coastal Creek and the recently opened Pelican Cove next door to be the best possible homes for these magnificent birds, while providing a brilliant experience for visitors,” adds Tim, “and it’s hopefully the first of more developments to come.”

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Spectacled eiders have made themselves at home in our new Coastal Creek aviary (left), which can be enjoyed by visitors to Arundel

PEOPLE POWER

Funding has enabled us to undertake a range of vital tasks during the crisis, from caring for the birds and animals on our reserves to tackling invasive species, improving habitats for

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resident and visiting birds, and constructing and enhancing enclosures that provide spaces in which rare species can breed safely and successfully.

It’s contributed to the creation of a new enclosure at WWT Washington for our Asian short-clawed otters, which provides these playful creatures with different types of stimulation. At WWT Arundel, the funding helped support the

Washington is just one of the centres that has benefited from People’s Postcode Lottery funding

construction of the spectacular Coastal Creek free-flying aviary (details above). It’s also enabled us to work with farmers and landowners on the recovery of breeding populations of curlews

Ian Henderson/WWT

We owe a huge thank you to players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, whose support throughout 2020 has made a crucial difference to our work conserving wetlands and the species that rely on them.

in the Severn and Avon Vales.

So thank you, players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, for raising more than £3.5m for WWT so far.

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F O C U S O N . . . S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

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The London Wetland Centre rain garden helps manage rainwater run-off by channelling the water through an attractive, wildlifefriendly space

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Amid the bustling birdlife at our wetland centres, you’ll find many pockets of peace: sustainable rain-watered gardens where you can rest, relax, enjoy colourful blooms – and, hopefully, be inspired to try similar ideas in your own garden.

Our gardens are integral to our vision of a healthy, flourishing natural world. They’re designed to support a range of species and adapt to climate change.

Water is always on our minds. Built 12

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structures in our gardens collect and channel rain, supplying water to ponds and planters for moisture-loving plants and wildlife. At Slimbridge, an upcycled shipping container shelters visitors while capturing rainwater. Elsewhere, we plant drought-tolerant native grasses and flowers. In short, our gardens are designed to cope with both too much and too little rain.

At many sites you’ll spot green ‘living’ roofs covered with vegetation that absorbs water and releases it slowly where it’s needed, while also providing habitat for wildlife.

Gardens should be home to birds and insects, so we incorporate bug hotels and habitat walls where pollinators and other

invertebrates can overwinter, raise young or shelter from predators.

Martin Mere’s bug hotel is the largest in the world!

Plants are also selected with wildlife in mind: colourful flowers that look great and provide nectar, seeds and shelter for all sorts of creatures – and, in the case of the sensory garden at Castle Espie, stimulate visitors’ smell, touch and hearing too.

Incorporating a wide range of plants, with different colours, flower shapes and blooming periods, caters for the needs of wildlife over many months.

Over winter, we leave stems and seed heads intact to provide shelter for insects and food for birds, while piles of wood, uncut stems and leaf litter host hibernating minibeasts.

All soil and compost used in our gardens is peat-free, to avoid contributing to the ongoing loss of vital carbon-storing peatlands. Instead, we produce nutrientrich compost on-site from leaves and vegetation (and, at centres such as Washington and Caerlaverock, from fruit and vegetable waste from our cafés).

With 83% of freshwater species in decline worldwide, creating wetlands at both small and large scales is vitally important – and you can do it at home, too, by adopting a few simple ideas such as installing a pond and planting for wildlife.

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When you explore our gardens, you’re not just enjoying floral displays – you’re also immersing yourself in havens designed to provide food and homes for wildlife. By Lucy Smith, Head of Sustainability

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Greener gardens

For ideas, visit wwt.org.uk/gardening

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WWT NEWS VERSION

Fresh hope for rare wetlands

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Many of Madagascar’s unique wetland ecosystems are degraded, putting species that rely on them at risk of extinction

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A new National Wetland Strategy by the Government of Madagascar and WWT signals a new chapter in the protection of the country’s vital waterscapes.

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The second-largest island country is famed as a biodiversity hotspot, with extraordinary endemic wildlife – about 90% of its animals and plants are found nowhere else. It’s home to the critically endangered Madagascar fish-eagle, pinstripe damba (a species of cichlid fish) and Madagascar pochard.

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TWO VALLEYS PROJECT ENDS ON HIGH We’re celebrating the successful completion of the Two Valleys Project in March, after three years working with communities to reduce flood risk in Somerset’s Quantock Hills.

The town of Williton and surrounding villages have periodically suffered flooding after heavy rains in the catchments of the Doniford and Monksilver streams. So in April 2018, WWT and the Environment Agency launched the project – one of 15 pilots nationwide – working with farmers, landowners, businesses and the wider community to tackle the problem through a range of natural flood management techniques.

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Yet land degradation and climate change threaten Madagascar’s habitats – notably its wetlands, an estimated 60% of which have been lost since the 1960s, with many remaining areas significantly damaged by pollution, overfishing and the proliferation of invasive species.

That’s not just bad news for the wildlife of its lakes and rivers – it also has devastating long-term effects on the people, forests and other habitats that rely on clean water for survival.

Grassroots engagement has been key from the start, with Project Manager Carina Gaertner talking to local people to identify the right interventions in the right places.

Ten wetlands, 169 ‘leaky’ dams and three wet woodlands have been created, with more than 4,600 native trees and shrubs planted, slowing the flow of water to vulnerable areas but also boosting wildlife, notably birds, bats and invertebrates.

Local people are enjoying the enhanced landscapes they’ve helped create, too.

“We know WWT has the skills and expertise to undertake this kind of landscape management, but this project is proof that we can engage with communities in a positive way,” says Tim McGrath, Senior Project Manager for Wetland Landscapes.

“It’s enabled people to make decisions and become confident in taking action that will directly benefit them.”

In just a few years operating in Madagascar, WWT has not only undertaken site-based wetland conservation projects.

We’ve also helped improve nationwide coordination and communication, sharing examples of best practice in communitybased wetland management, and supported the Government in comprehensively evaluating the island’s 21 Ramsar sites.

The new national strategy launched in April is an important roadmap outlining how Madagascar’s wetlands can be revived.

It promotes research on wetland systems and function, restoring these areas for biodiversity and people, and the sustainable use of wetlands across the island.

We’re proud to play such a crucial global role in championing wetlands – a vital habitat that’s too often neglected by international conservation organisations.

For more about our work and partnership, visit: wwt.org.uk/madagascars-wetlands The WWT Lake Sofia project is implemented with the support of the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States through the BIOPAMA Programme.

We are now working across four parishes in the area to monitor and expand these interventions – an ongoing legacy of this success.

This new phase of the work is funded by the Government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund, which is being delivered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency. To watch a film about the project, please visit wwt.org.uk/two-valleys

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WWT NEWS

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Lapwings, water voles, whooper swans and black-tailed godwits are among the species across our reserves that have benefited from generous funding awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. In addition to some £241,000 allocated to six WWT reserves, an additional £203,400 was awarded to Castle Espie from the Heritage Fund on behalf of Northern Ireland’s Department for Communities. Here are just some of the vital tasks this funding enabled us to undertake…

Martin Senior/WWT

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WETLAND BOOST Water vole

London Wetland Centre

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Managing livestock

Major works at Castle Espie included repairs on the Strangford Lough wall and sluice to control flooding of wetland areas crucial for overwintering brent geese, redshanks and godwits.

We continued caring for the cattle that graze at Slimbridge and Welney, repairing fences, maintaining water troughs and monitoring animal health. Livestock grazing ensures the grass sward is kept at the ideal level for groundnesting birds such as the rare and beautiful black-tailed godwits that breed at Welney, as well as for overwintering whooper swans.

Alec Taylor/WWT

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Controlling water levels

Kingfisher

Optimising habitats Habitat improvement work at Slimbridge included reprofiling the kingfisher bank at South Finger, providing ideal conditions for these charismatic birds – which regularly breed here in March and April – to excavate nests.

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Enhancing visitor experience NLHF funding helped us keep our London Wetland Centre open in the autumn, enabling staff to continue working and providing them with PPE, as well as paying for signs to help keep visitors safe.

This offered many people a chance to reconnect with nature after long stints of lockdown. At

Castle Espie, we’ve repaired and upgraded paths to ensure this wonderful reserve is accessible for all.

Common tern

Trimming trees Tree surgery undertaken at Martin Mere, cutting back high, overgrown crowns and boughs, helped ensure clear lines of sight for breeding birds such as lapwings, encouraging them to nest safely.

And at Washington, we addressed urgent problems with ash dieback, removing badly affected trees to ensure our woodlands continue to be diverse and healthy.

Ian Henderson/WWT

Castle Espie

Martyn Poynor/WWT

‘Slubbing out’ at Welney, part of the annual cycle of landscape work, involves using a digger to de-silt channels and ditches. This improves habitat for the nationally endangered water voles that nest in banks at the reserve.

Installing tern rafts A new artificial raft installed on the saline lagoon at Castle Espie provides a safe nesting site for common terns away from the shores where they’re vulnerable to predation by mink.

Martin Mere

Ed Waldron/WWT

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Sacha Dench/WWT

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Improving ditches and channels

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ADVERTORIAL

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Try ZEISS and experience the difference

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with a free 48-hour hire of binoculars and spotting scopes PRODUCTION CLIENT

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ZEISS advertorial, 1

IDENTITY

Your Views, 1

YOUR VIEWS

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YOUR VIEWS

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We love to hear your thoughts about wetlands, WWT and Waterlife, and share your photos, so please email them to us at waterlife@wwt.org.uk or write to the address on page 3

BUDDING BIRD ARTIST

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We’ve been WWT members for a few years and missed our visits to our local centre during lockdown.

It was utterly lovely to be back in April.

My six-year-old, Imogen, Imogen, enjoyed drawing the the birds and wanted to send them to you.

Thanks to all the staff who worked so hard to make reopening a reality.

Sophie Kay

WWT says: We are so impressed with these drawings. Thank you, Imogen!

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MOVING FROGS?

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HAVING A SPLASHING TIME

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This mute swan was making a splash at WWT Arundel. The sun broke through the clouds just at the right moment to cast lovely winter light on its antics.

Keith Humphrey, via email FAST AND LOW

I watched this sparrowhawk circling and lining itself up, head into wind, from a path area by WWT Llanelli. Then, the raptor flew in, fast and low through the brush, to attack a small flock of feeding chaffinches.

Haydn Morgan, via email

ROBIN RED BREAST?

I took this photo [right] of a juvenile robin at WWT Washington. Young robins are speckled buff-brown; they grow the red breast feathers after their first moult.

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This photograph was taken at Slimbridge on one of my post-lockdown visits last year.

I spent a long time watching this heron fish in one of the lakes. Usually it just catches tiddlers, but on this occasion the fish was a good mouthful. There was no way the heron was letting it off the hook!

A GOOD CATCH

I loved the article about blue cities in the last issue of Waterlife. I had heard of green spaces in town planning, but not of blue spaces. I live in an urban area of Cheltenham where we are lucky to have a park with several ponds. I went for a walk in March and one of the ponds was teeming with frogs and tadpoles. When I returned the next day, families were fishing them out with nets and putting them in buckets to take home. Should someone put up a sign to explain the importance of these areas and encourage people to enjoy the wildlife but leave it to thrive in the wild?

Colin Rayner, via email

Sara Hicks, via email

WWT responds: You’re right, Sara. Creating a pond is brilliant for wildlife, but taking home adult amphibians found in other waterbodies is not advised. The conditions in your pond may not be appropriate and the amphibians will probably try to return to their original home, putting themselves in danger on roads.

Even moving spawn is to be avoided as this runs the risk of spreading diseases and introducing invasive non-native plants. All wild amphibians in the UK are protected by law, and disturbing some species is illegal.

In the last issue of Waterlife (News, page 14), we stated that a beaver is depicted on the coat of arms of Oxford University. In fact, a green beaver appears on the coat of arms of the City of Oxford. Our thanks to eagle-eyed member Keith Dancey for pointing this out.

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OUR WILD WETLANDS VERSION

LIFE ON OUR RESERVES

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Thanks to a Biffa Award grant, wavy edges and shingle were added to the island (below) to create more feeding and breeding habitat for waders such as little egrets

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Brian Winters/WWT

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Better islands for birds

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NEW FEEDING GROUNDS

An exciting range of ducks has been using the area regularly, including shelduck, shoveler and teal, with wigeon also visiting the lagoon. In the Northern Lagoon we have

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Black-tailed godwits overwinter on coastal estuaries and marshes

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have increased the area of edge habitat, shallow muddy margins and open water.

These habitats provide ideal feeding grounds for waders, with good numbers of black-tailed godwits, avocets and redshanks already seen enjoying the improvements to the islands. Dunlins, grey plovers, curlews and lapwings have been recorded in good numbers, loafing and feeding in the lagoon. seen the return of species, such as the little egret, that were using it before it dried out.

Other, scarcer species have also now been recorded at Steart, including two elegant spotted redshanks in February and a blue-winged teal – a rare migrant from central North America – in March.

The lagoons offer greater protection from predators than many other areas of the reserve, so birds that nest here should have better breeding success. To support them, and attract a wider variety of nesting waders, we’ve added

shingle to the islands to create a range of substrate types. We’ll closely monitor activity to see what happens, and hope birds such as oystercatchers, avocets and little ringed plovers will decide to nest here.

Otterhampton, an area known for breeding avocet, little ringed plover, lapwing and oystercatcher, has seen higher numbers return this spring. The Northern Lagoon, which was previously too dry to attract breeding waders, has three pairs of avocets prospecting, showing the value of undertaking these works.

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ate last summer, work was completed to create and enhance the islands on the Northern Lagoon and Otterhampton Marshes’ brackish lagoons.

The Northern Lagoon lies in an exposed location just beyond the breach in the main marsh. The bund – a bank of earth that acts as a wall to hold water in place – had washed away in a couple of sections and was no longer holding water, causing the lagoon to dry up. In September, thanks to a grant from Biffa, excavators moved in to re-landscape the bund. They created a more protected windward edge and a softer fringe with fingers of land extending out into the water on the leeward side.

In addition, a new weir was installed that will hold more effectively at the lagoon’s inlet in Otterhampton Marshes.

Here, the water is refreshed throughout the year by high spring tides. The island’s new fingers and the gradual drawdown between the highest tides

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IDENTITY

In the UK, we manage over 3,000 hectares of wetland habitat on our reserves. Thanks to your support and sensitive management by our staff, our sites teem with amazing wildlife. Here are just some of the ways our reserve teams are nurturing these special places for you to enjoy Young glass eels are swept upstream by currents and tides.

Here, they change into darker elvers

Making eels welcome

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WWT

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

Th s spring, WWT worked with the Environment Agency to identify the barriers that prevent eels from reaching Slimbridge.

There are several challenges.

First, glass eels swimming up the Severn must negotiate a large, 4m-high tidal gate at the Royal Drift. This gate closes on the high tide to protect the land behind, so the young eels have to be quick!

Next, in Gilgal Brook, which connects the River Severn to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, the eels must decide whether to follow the watercourse under the canal and into the maze of farm ditches beyond – missing Slimbridge entirely – or enter a 400m-long tunnel containing a fast-flowing stream. Fortunately, the eels’ innate drive is to swim against the flow to reach fresh water, so this works in our favour.

Eels mature in freshwater wetlands like Slimbridge.

When they’re ready to migrate back to the Sargasso Sea to breed, they take on a distinctive yellow hue

Neil Aldridge/WWT; Laura Weldon/WWT

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he Severn is an important migration route for European eels, which are critically endangered due to habitat loss and lack of easy access along their migration routes.

Slimbridge is ideally positioned to support youngsters travelling from the Sargasso Sea to the fresh waters of Europe.

Our research and monitoring have shown that numbers on-site are small and mainly comprise adults, so we’re giving them a boost by creating accessible new habitat and improving water quality.

400m tunnel, with a buoy to help them float and a brick to stop them washing away. Glass eels rest among the mop strands as they would in floating vegetation. On each high tide, we carefully enclose the mop head in a net to investigate its contents before returning any fi ds unharmed.

We’re also monitoring water levels around high tide so we can calculate how long the eels have to make progress, and looking for environmental DNA

The tunnel is a raised watercourse, so the 6cm-long glass eels need a high tide if they are to swim in. But in the tunnel, the water flows fast and our experts believe there may be only one small window of opportunity with slower flow when the eels can swim its entire length before they get washed back to the start.

So this year, we’re monitoring their progress with mop-head traps. Mops are suspended in the water at both ends of the

Young eels swimming up the River Severn must overcome many obstacles to reach Slimbridge’s lagoons

in the water to detect the presence of secretive eels.

Glass eels arrive on high spring tides and, despite cool temperatures, we’ve recorded a small number of young making it to the tunnel’s seaward end.

At the time of writing, we had even recovered one darkening (bootlace) eel at the upstream end. Just half a kilometre further upstream lies the perimeter of Slimbridge! Soon we’ll know if the young eels need more help to make it all the way here.

Glass eel routes Tunnel

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OUR MAP DOESN’T GO ALL THE Drift WAY TO SHARPNESS MARINA

Tunnel entrance

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DUCKS, GEESE & SWANS

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Far from being laid-back, bread-ivorous consumers of handouts, ducks, geese and swans are a dynamic and varied family with a range of fascinating specialisms, says Dominic Couzens

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Next time you visit your local wetland centre take some time to observe the ducks, geese and swans – and really notice the differences between them.

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lmost all wildfowl are closely related and placed in the same family, but anyone can see there is a clear distinction between swans, geese and ducks. And even within those categories, there are some intriguing differences.

“Everyone can see that swans and geese are bigger than ducks,” says Kane Brides, WWT Research Officer. “This is partly related to their largely vegetarian diet. Birds that graze on plants tend to have longer guts and bigger bodies. They also have long necks, which not only help them graze, but are excellent for increased vigilance. By stretching their necks up high, they can see any predators coming from a long way away.”

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Swans are by far the largest and heaviest wildfowl. The mute swan, weighing in at on average 11kg (males have been known to weigh more than 15kg), is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world. Its size can make it intimidating when it’s aggressive, so it has few enemies. In the high latitudes where whooper and Bewick’s swans breed (the latter nests on the tundra), these birds are equally effective at defending their nests (except against wolves, bears and humans).

Perhaps this is why swans can afford to have white plumage. “Nobody is sure why some species are pure white,” muses Kane.

The plumage is not camouflage against a snowy landscape, as once thought.

The adaptable mute swan can be found in wetland habitats from urban lakes to coastal estuaries. Here, they mainly eat aquatic vegetation, with a few frogs, fish, molluscs and insects

Bewick’s swans have more black and less yellow on their bill than the similar whoopers.

They’re also smaller than both mute and whooper swans and have faster wingbeats

“Swans are aggressive, so maybe they can afford to have bright-white plumage. They are also extremely territorial, so the obvious plumage probably helps competing pairs to avoid each other and space themselves out.”

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molluscs. By comparison, geese are exclusively vegetarian.

“Geese are smaller than swans and have longer legs, affording them much better running ability and a speedier take-off when threatened,” says Kane. “Anyone who has tried to approach wild geese knows this only too well.” Though they can and do feed in the water, geese are particularly adapted to grazing on land, which is their primary foraging strategy in winter.

One of the greatest spectacles at many WWT reserves is the vast flocks of grazing or flying geese. Geese typically feed on the fields by day and roost on the water by night, and it is their commuting flights between the two that so captivate visitors.

The various species of geese differ in size, and vary subtly in diet. “The smaller species are grazers, plucking and cutting shoots and stems, while the larger species, such as Greenland white-fronted geese, like to grub

around – that is, they dig in the ground for roots and tubers,” explains Kane. Rooting around requires a bigger, stronger bill, such as those of the Canada and greylag geese.

Its close relative, the barnacle goose, has a much more delicate bill, for snipping off the tops of short swards of grass above ground, though it will also take some below-ground creepers (stolons) of clover.

“Geese have greatly changed their foraging behaviour in the past few decades,” says Kane. “There was a time when most of our wild geese would feed on marshes and grassland, as well as the intertidal zone.

Now, though, with so many wetlands destroyed, many of our geese have been forced to feed on agricultural fields, for example on sugar beet and winter wheat.

Even brent geese, which are specialised for feeding on eelgrass in the intertidal zone, spend much of their feeding hours on fields, even amenity sites such as playing fields.”

The robust bills of greylag geese are adapted for probing for bulbs and roots in marshes and grazing in grasslands

THE COMPETITIVE EDGE

The mute is the most aquatic of our swans, spending much of its time swimming on lakes and rivers. To feed, it upends and stretches its long neck to reach waterweeds and other choicest items more than a metre below the surface. Being able to reach so far down gives it a competitive advantage over other swans and many ducks. The mute swan will even pluck weeds from below the surface to provide for its young.

By contrast, in northern lakes and wetlands, Bewick’s and whooper swans feed in the water, but in winter they spend a great deal of their time grazing in fields. Anyone who has visited Welney, Slimbridge, Martin Mere or Caerlaverock will also know that swans can’t resist handouts of grain. As a whole, swans have a varied diet, including insects, frogs and tadpoles, small fish and

Female mallards don’t have the bright colours of the males so that predators don’t see them on the nest

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Everyone is aware that ducks are smaller than swans and geese, even though there isn’t much of a size difference between a mallard and a brent goose. They generally have shorter necks and – a major distinction from geese – the males and females tend to look completely different.

This is because, in contrast to swans and geese, the female is responsible for most or all of the breeding activity, such as nest-building, incubation and brooding chicks. The males’ colourful plumage is mainly for display. The females are extremely vulnerable to predation, hence they tend to be soberly clad in brown. In contrast to formidable swans and, to a lesser extent geese, the smaller-sized ducks have almost no physical defence if their nest is discovered. They must sit tight.

Ducks are generally divided into two groups: dabblers and divers. “The diving ducks tend to feed below the surface, though not exclusively,” comments Kane.

“In order to power themselves forward under water, their feet are set well back on the body. This means they are very

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As dabblers, mallards usually feed in the water by upending to graze on underwater plants.

But they are very versatile and will dive too

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The legs of wigeons are positioned to be good for walking – or even running – on dry land, but not diving

awkward on land and must take a run-up to take off from the water.” Usually, on the water, the tail points down (up is more common in most non-diving ducks).

The dabblers feed in the water, but rather than diving they usually upend, or simply feed from a swimming position.

“The dabbling ducks use a range of different feeding techniques,” says Kane, “which enable them to minimise competition. So, a gadwall mainly feeds in deep water by immersing its head and neck, while the teal prefers to feed at the water’s edge. At the same time, a wigeon likes to graze completely out of

water and a pintail uses its long neck to reach the bottom when upending.”

In this way, ducks cleverly exploit different wetland niches. In the case of diving ducks, mergansers, for example, chase fast, slippery fish under water using their serrated bills, while eiders dive for mussels and swallow them whole. Pochards may simply take vegetation from the bottom of a pond, while shovelers swing their broad bills through the water to sieve out food.

“They exhibit many specialisations but most ducks are multitalented,” says Kane.

“A wigeon can feed in the water or graze, while a pintail can turn its hand to grazing and a teal can upend if it so wishes. It’s the degree to which each bird does it that matters.”

Some ducks are simply professional generalists. Mallards can turn bill, neck and body to almost anything – upend, graze, immerse their necks, feed at the water’s edge. They can even dive if the fancy takes them. “I don’t really like to put it like this,” says Kane. “But you could say that mallards dabble in anything.”

Species to see MUTE SWAN

BEWICK’S SWAN

Typically feeds in water and can reach down 90cm below the surface by upending. Will take a variety of pondweeds and other vegetation, but also animals such as snails and insect larvae. Will sometimes graze on land.

Smaller than mute swan and with a considerably shorter neck, so it cannot successfully feed in such deep water.

However, in the UK in the winter it tends to feed mainly in fields, where it can dig for tubers with its powerful bill.

TUFTED DUCK This is a duck that specialises in diving.

Its feet are set well back on its body for propulsion through the water. On the water the tail usually points down.

Tends to consume more animal than plant matter, but it varies.

BRENT GOOSE

TEAL

The largest of the ‘grey geese’ (which are really brown), it has a powerful bill for rooting, although it also grazes.

It is content to upend to feed in the water (taking reed rhizomes), or forage in fields for beet, potatoes and grain.

The maritime goose, a specialist of the intertidal zone where it once almost entirely fed on eelgrass, algae and other aquatic plants. It now regularly feeds on fields, eating grasses and clover.

This smallest of ducks is a specialised dabbler on aquatic margins, seemingly pretending to be a wader. It catches insects and takes seeds with its bill above water, where water meets dry land. It also dips its head and upends.

MALLARD

WIGEON

SHOVELER

This is the classic generalist, the jack of all trades. It dabbles, upends, grazes and comes to grain. An excellent filter-feeder, like a shoveler it can take quite small items and eats both animal and vegetable matter.

Its short, thick bill is specially adapted for its talent: grazing grasses and other plants on dry land like a mini goose.

The length, width and height combine to give strength at the tip of the bill. It will upend, but it is a poor filter-feeder.

A specialist filter feeder that is rightly famous for its huge beak. The bill has long and dense projections (lamellae) that form a mesh to trap and eat small edible items in the water. It mainly eats animal material.

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GREYLAG GOOSE

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SPOTTER’S GUIDE TO…

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FLIGHT WORDS BY DEREK NIEMANN

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This summer, WWT Slimbridge’s Living Wetland Theatre and Waterscapes Aviary will finally open. Immerse yourself in our wetland habitats, and enjoy and understand our birds and other native wildlife as never before. Join us and let your imagination soar…

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irrrls!” A high voice with a Bristolian burr shouts up to the sky. Far above, circling magpie geese, sisters on the wing, hear the call. They have the whole Severn Estuary before them. They could fly away, even over to the Welsh shore. But instead, they come back home, gliding down to Slimbridge, to the stage of an amphitheatre that will hold 360 people.

These birds are about to share their irresistible story. All that’s needed now is an audience.

Five years in the making, WWT’s biggest project since the London Wetland Centre defies simple description. All the world’s a stage but this one has a pond at the front. The wooden seating, tiered and arced in the manner of a Roman outdoor theatre, sits under an elegant canopy.

The whole construction appears to have grown out of the ground, for its makers eschewed the use of concrete. A portal at the back leads visitors down to a pathway through one of the UK’s biggest open-air

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Living Wetland Theatre, 1

aviaries. This adjoining waterscape consists of four linked habitats, complete with diving ducks, avocets, spoonbills, redshanks...

As a two-for-one offer, this immerses the visitor in a wetland experience like nothing else, set to inspire all those who pass through. When it opens in July, it will certainly be hard to ignore.

Meet our stunning magpie geese

THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY As part of the Slimbridge 2020 project, the whole enterprise was funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund and Garfield Weston Trust (after which it is named) with help from our amazing donors. Is this a new departure, or a continuation of the pioneering spirit of the founder who set up WWT at Slimbridge exactly 75 years ago?

Far above, circling magpie geese, sisters on the wing, hear the call. They glide down to the stage of an amphitheatre to share their story

Jackie Harris, who has been project manager since the very beginning, is in no doubt: “Sir Peter Scott was a man who never stood still. Every opportunity there was to do something new and use it to benefit wildlife, he seized. He realised that it was important to invite people in to embrace the endangered nature that was inside Slimbridge. We wanted to stay in the spirit of that.

“The thing people always remember most about visiting Slimbridge is feeding the ducks, so we know they like that closeness, that intimacy. And they like the stories of the birds, so we give them intimacy, stories and fun! Folk can visit any wild wet place – such as on the Severn or Norfolk – and spot these birds. Having seen them close up here, they will know what they are looking for and why every habitat is so important.” habitat None of this theatre’s participants need to act; in their walk-on roles they do what comes naturally. It gives a memorable demonstration of what each species needs to do to survive in the wild. Pelicans

Nestling in the heart of WWT Slimbridge, our new visitor attraction features a dramatic 2,000-square-metre walk-through aviary.

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SENSATIONAL SLIMBRIDGE

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“We figure out how to get the birds to perform the natural behaviour we want them to demonstrate, and then we reward them”

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waddle out to the stage, then fly up to their allotted perches. Magpie geese take to the air for a few circuits over the arena.

Spotted whistling ducks do likewise, living up to their name by whistling to each other before landing on the stage pond.

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TRAINING THE BIRDS How do you teach ducks and wetland birds? One of their trainers is Selina Reid, a former veterinary nurse with a degree in animal behaviour, and she has a simple answer. “It’s no different to how you would train your dog. We figure out how we can get the birds to perform the natural behaviour we want them to demonstrate, and then we reward them when they do it. Our pelicans open up their beaks on cue because they have learnt that opening their beaks means they will get a fish.”

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The Living Wetland Theatre is an intimate 360-seat open-air amphitheatre, designed for viewing live and interactive demonstrations, with a floating stage area

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MEET SOME OF OUR DEMONSTRATION STARS

PINK-BACKED PELICAN This smallish grey and white pelican takes its name from the pink feathers it develops between and beneath its wings during the breeding season. In the lakes, lagoons and sluggish rivers of sub-Saharan Africa, Arabia and India, its voluminous beak gobbles up fish and amphibians.

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MAGPIE GOOSE These black and white birds from the coastal swamplands of northern Australia have a unique characteristic among geese. The long, partially webbed toes of their bright-orange feet enable them to perch in trees.

They also use their big feet to trample down grasses to get at the seeds.

AFRICAN GREY CROWNED CRANE African grey crowned cranes are one of 15 crane species, two-thirds of which are threatened, making them one of the most endangered bird families on the planet. Though not as reliant on wetlands as many of their cousins, crowned cranes are never far from water and will sometimes fish for dinner.

The aviary has been designed to take visitors on a journey of discovery and delight through a British wetland

WWT; Amy Alsop

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Living Collections presenter Kerry Hill encourages a grey crowned crane to perform a natural behaviour

the visuals, the audience can see them in vibrant high definition.

The entertainment in these demonstrations is underpinned by a serious message: to educate and inspire backdrop – a hi-tech aid that can enhance and illuminate the demonstrations. The whistling duck has beautiful spotted sides that help break up its silhouette and make it less conspicuous to predators.

The male’s vivid white spots are also an indication of its health and vigour as a potential mate. Thanks to

Rebecca Taylor

Bird welfare is paramount, as you would expect. Selina says, “All of our birds are hand-reared and we rely heavily on social imprinting. We teach them from a young age to enjoy being around people, with reward-based training methods.

And we train them to sit in particular spots. All of this requires a high degree of trust and it takes several months or years to achieve.”

The entertainment in the demonstrations is underpinned by a serious message. Every trained behaviour is designed to foster understanding of the birds’ natural behaviour. “Our display is based around educating and inspiring people,” says Selina. “We have several species that do different things, need different things from their environment, and have adapted to living in various parts of a wetland. Ducks rely on the water itself, magpie geese and cranes need the land around it.”

The stage has a giant TV screen as a

BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER The big screen is also essential for the theatre’s future multipurpose role. Jackie explains. “We realised that this would be a great place for schools, for debates, for showing films; somewhere we could hold people on their seats for 20 minutes and give them a story that they would really get. And also give them ideas that they could take away and do themselves.”

An outdoor classroom, a lecture hall, a cinema for showing films about WWT’s work in Madagascar and elsewhere, or a venue for learning how to make your own pond – this is set to be a meeting place for a Spotted post-Covid world. whistling ducks Simon Matthews, WWT’s have been Living Collections Manager, trained to fly to their leads us out of the back of trainers and the theatre to look out over perch on their arm the Waterscapes Aviary. “You JULY/OCTOBER 2021

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get an instant ‘wow, this is a big space’ feeling and see that there’s lots going on.

And you can see your journey ahead.

Ducks will be disappearing into the water in front of you, and you can look out over avocets on the lagoon, out to the reedbed and the wooded wetland at the far side.”

The aviary is a beguiling condensed version of a walk a visitor could make on a reserve – an eight-mile trek distilled down to a 250m walkway. Under a high net awning, it already has a deceptively natural feel. Beneath a bridge where visitors pass, a stream gurgles over rocks and meanders along, well vegetated on both banks. But it is a clever illusion, for it is flowing nowhere. This really is an ark, with everything self-contained, and the water is constantly cleaned, so it’s safe for the birds, and recirculated.

A MENAGERIE OF BRITISH BIRDS Simon once specialised in raising birds that are extinct in the wild, such as the Spix’s macaw and Hawaiian crow.

His charges in this aviary are all UK species – smew and red-breasted mergansers upending in the diving tank, spoonbills and little egrets foraging on the lagoon or hanging out among the pools, alders and willows of a wet woodland packed with pond life. Bearded reedlings will be straddling the stems of the reedbed as if they were standing on stilts. The bridge over the stream 30

Waterlife

“You get an instant ‘wow, this is a big space’ feeling and see that there’s lots going on. And you can see your journey ahead” leads us out to an open lagoon where a boat, huge pieces of driftwood and a groyne are set out as if we were on a beach.

There are avocets, ruffs and redshanks scuttling around.

What would Sir Peter Scott have made of the Living Wetland Theatre and

Waterscapes Aviary, developed in the place he held so dear? Jackie responds without hesitation: “He would have absolutely loved it.” And he would have loved people coming to visit and learn more about the beauty of wetlands and their incredible wildlife, as they undoubtedly will. n

SEE IT FOR YOURSELF For more information about this experience and to book tickets, go to wwt.org.uk/slimbridge

red), avocets Redshanks (pictu n scuttling see and ruffs can be lagoon around the open

Amy Alsop

Amy Alsop

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The avocets are loving their new home in the walk-through aviary and the habitats are maturing

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With summer here, many of us are enjoying being outdoors, close to water. The UK’s waterways are hotspots for recreation and reconnecting with nature. But how do you know if your local river or stream is clean and healthy? Wild swimmer and writer Amy-Jane Beer finds out…

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henever I swim in a river there’s a moment, after the shock of cold recedes, when the rest of the world is blissfully gone.

Breathing settles, skin tingles, the water takes the weight of body and thought, and the mind fills instead with surface reflections, the dance of floating feathers, seeds or leaves. This is the peace of wild swimming. Sometimes I glimpse the highvoltage blue jolt of kingfisher flight. One day I met a newt hanging below the surface.

On another day I bobbed among a host of mayflies rising like resurrected souls.

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My local river is the Yorkshire Derwent – one of the least-modified lowland watercourses in England. A dip in its cool, green water is fantastically restorative, but I’m careful not to swallow any, because this river, once celebrated for its transparency, is now far from clear. The opacity is partly down to agricultural run-off – the soil we need to grow food washing away with every rainfall. And with the soil comes whatever has been used to treat it – fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides. I’m also well aware that even protected rivers can be the recipients of domestic sewage.

Environment Agency data released last year painted a grim picture of river health in England. Just 14% were found to be in good ecological condition, and the number judged to be of good chemical status was zero. In 2020 alone, water companies admitted 403,000 occasions on which raw sewage flowed freely into the environment from their facilities.

These ‘spills’ are not accidents. So called ‘storm releases’ are permitted in extremis, when heavy rain threatens to overwhelm the capacity of treatment facilities. But far too many are happening routinely when works are running well within

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HEALTHY WETLANDS

Just 14% of English rivers were found to be in good ecological condition, and the number judged to be of good chemical status was zero

capacity, and sometimes for days or weeks on end.

A third source of contamination is litter – mostly plastic that might start as bottles, packaging, fishing tackle or silage wrap but breaks up into smaller fragments. These leach toxins into the water and find their way into the human or wildlife food chain.

SECRET SIGNS

Nobody wants to swim in a river where cloudy grey water stinks of sewage. Nor do they want to fish where the bed is choked with the furry, brown goop known as sewage fungus (actually a bacterium,

Sphaerotilus natans), or have their children paddle where the banks are heaped with rubbish and the surface is slicked with oil.

But a river can lack all those warning signs and still be polluted in less obvious ways.

Particularly lush vegetation or dominance of a single form of water weed is a sign of eutrophication caused by agricultural fertilisers or sewage. Eutrophication also leads to algal blooms that create intensely green water, displace natural growth and consume precious dissolved oxygen when they decay. Even plastic waste can be hard to see at first – wet wipes stain the colour of mud and form the basis of entire reef

structures on the bed and banks of rivers.

“We call them silent rivers,” says Rob Shore, WWT’s Head of UK Programmes. “Their abundance and diversity of life is drastically reduced, but it can take more than a passing glance to realise that all is not well.”

WWT entomologist and Wetland Science Manager Hannah Robson highlights the importance of aquatic insects. “You can usually tell if a river is healthy with the first dip of a sampling net,” she says. “At first everything is stunned, then it comes wriggling to life. You start to see things like stonefly nymphs, which really like clean water.” Many of these wrigglers are the JULY/OCTOBER 2021

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Dippers need rivers or streams that are clean enough to support aquatic invertebrates and lots of small fish

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Healthy rivers good for nature, good for people

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OVERGRAZED IMPROVED GRASSLAND SPEEDS UP RUN-OFF

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AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL WASTE IS PUMPED INTO RIVERS RIVER ENGINEERING RESULTS IN STEEPER, MORE UNIFORM BANKS. BANKSIDE VEGETATION LACKS DIVERSITY

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ALGAL BLOOMS INDICATE EXCESSIVE NUTRIENTS AND CAN BE TOXIC TO FISH

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CARP

HARDY FISH SPECIES PERSIST IN EVEN POOR WATER QUALITY

BREAM Unhealthy rivers suffer from poor water quality.

Though they may look green, they do not support a lot of wildlife

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GUDGEON SEDIMENT ACCUMULATES ON THE RIVERBED, CAUSING CLOUDY WATER

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Illustration: www.sjcillustration.com

MALLARDS SAND MARTIN

KINGFISHER SAND MARTINS NEST IN EXPOSED BANKS

LITTLE RINGED PLOVER

BROWN TROUT FAVOUR HIGH OXYGEN LEVELS

OTTERS NEED CLEAN WATER AND LOTS OF PREY TO THRIVE DACE

GRAYLING

Healthy rivers support a greater variety of life – and offer more opportunities for recreation and access to nature

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y-Jane Beer Nature writer Am her local river, swims regularly in special way a is It t. en rw the De h nature of connecting wit

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Chironomid midge larvae or ‘bloodworms’ are present in most river systems, but in bad water they might be the only wildlife you see

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IS THE WATER CLEAN? A quick guide to three insects that indicate a river or stream is clean

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Stoneflies

Shutterstock; NaturePL

Stoneflies are very particular. Most species favour well-oxygenated, swift-flowing and, crucially, very clean water. Note the adult’s long antennae and long, narrow wings, which at rest are held folded flat along the back. The larva or ‘nymph’ has two bristly ‘tails’.

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Caddisflies

Adult caddisflies resemble moths and fold their wings tent-fashion.

The nymphs of most species build protective cases of sand, shells or leaves, held together with silk.

Mayflies

Spectacular mass hatches of mayflies occur in high summer on good-quality rivers. The adult’s rounded wings are held folded back, and the twin tails are very long and thread-like.The larvae have feathery external gills on the abdomen and creep around rocks.

Carp can live in turbid water and withstand pollutants and agricultural run-off, unlike bullheads, trout and salmon

Kingfishers need rivers and streams that are clean enough to support abundant small fish, such as this roach

“Natural wetlands can drastically reduce the levels of pollutants that reach rivers” larvae of flying insects, including gnats, mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, dragonflies and damselflies.

In many ways, the best possible company on a river swim, while fishing, dog walking or during a waterside picnic, is a swarm of pesky insects around your head. They are food for myriad wild things but also, as a rule, indicators of good water.

Insects face a further acute threat from powerful insecticides such as imidacloprid and fipronil, which are banned for use in agriculture but reach rivers via pets treated with certain spot-on products for parasites.

These devastating poisons wash off while swimming or in a bath and are not removed by sewage treatment.

RIVER PROTECTORS

“Cuts in EA funding have left it to citizen scientists to fill gaps in the data,” says Hannah. “Often they are also the ones that first notice problems, such as leaks from upstream sewage works.”

WWT plays an important role here – as a source of support and information to the emerging army of activists, advocates and citizen scientists; in making the case for protecting wetlands; and demonstrating the many ways wetlands can be integrated into solutions.

There are also a number of existing initiatives that can help – the Zoological Society of London and various partners developed

the ‘Outfall Safari’ to teach would-be activists how to identify potential sources of poor water quality. Riverfly Plus also brings together a range of tools that citizen scientists can use to monitor fresh waters. These range from spotting sources of pollution to measuring water quality and examining pollution-sensitive invertebrate taxa such as stoneflies, mayflies and caddisflies.

“Obviously we’d like to see agriculture and industry clean up their acts,” says Rob. “But we’ve been showing for 30 years that natural wetlands can drastically reduce the levels of pollutants that reach rivers. Treatment wetlands at our centres already deal with effluents from toilets and run-off from our animal collections [News, November 2020/ February 2021]. We’ve also been helping to create wetland treatment systems as part of wider landscapes, via our consultancy.”

Often the measures that can help to treat water are the same as those used in natural flood management schemes designed to

Otters are indicators of clean water and healthy fish populations

slow water flow into flood-prone lower catchments. Well-vegetated banks and reedbeds reduce the amount of material that enters a river. Plants bind sediment and fix carbon. Natural partial blockages such as woody debris and beaver dams create areas of slower flow and opportunities for particles to settle.

Such features work best where rivers take natural dynamic courses. Straighten the river, or overload it with silt or nutrients, and it becomes a mere drain – lacking structure and choked with sludge. This accumulates and reduces the amount of water the channel can transport, exacerbating the risk of flooding and prompting calls for more dredging, straightening or removal of natural debris – all actions that often perpetuate, rather than alleviate, the root problem.

It’s a complicated problem. But nature loves complexity, and backed up by an alert, informed public, natural solutions can play an important part in fixing it, for the benefit of people and wildlife. n

IS YOUR STREAM SILENT? If you’re worried about the condition of a waterway near you, find out how you can help at wwt.org.uk/ silent-streams JULY/OCTOBER 2021

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As our wetland centres reopen, our annual member photo competition returns. We can’t wait to see the wetland wildlife you missed most through your images

Caribbean flamingo, WWT Slimbridge Andy Smith

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he Covid-19 pandemic shut down much of life as we know it, but thankfully nature didn’t get the memo. Flowers still burst into bloom, insects took to the wing, birds sang from hedgerows and migrants returned from distant lands.

Now our wetland centres have reopened, we know many of you have flocked to your favourite hides and haunts with renewed enthusiasm and appreciation for nature and its many spectacles. Best of all, the wildlife has been waiting for you!

Last year’s photo competition saw the greatest number of entries we’ve ever received, and every year the standard keeps getting higher. The judges were delighted by the creativity and artistry displayed in your photos. This year, we can’t wait to see how you’ve honed your skills during lockdown and how inspired you are by our amazing wetland wildlife.

As our wetland centres were closed until April, we’re accepting images of wildlife

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taken at them between April and 30 November. Remember, you must be a WWT member to take part in this competition and you’ll need your member number ID to enter. We’ve also given the rules a tweak to bring them more in line with other professional photo competitions, so please check them out.

Our new young photographer category was a huge success, and we received some incredible entries. This year, the new

The judges were delighted by the creativity and artistry displayed last year.

Now, we can’t wait to see how you’ve honed your skills during lockdown

category will return as we seek more talented members aged 16 and under.

As usual, all entries will be judged by Sophie Stafford, Waterlife’s editor and an internationally renowned wildlife photography judge, and a jury of WWT experts. A shortlist of winning and commended shots will be published in the March/June 2022 issue of Waterlife, and the overall winner will be awarded a pair of Swarovski CL Companion 8x30 binoculars worth £970.

The winner of the youth category will receive a pair of Viking Otter 8x32 binoculars, courtesy of VIKING OPTICAL. You have until 30 November 2021 to enter. For full details and the rules, visit wwt.org.uk/waterlifephoto

WIN!

Asian short-clawed otters, WWT Martin Mere Steve Liptrot

HOW TO BE A GOOD WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER TIP 1: DO NO HARM Put the wellbeing of wildlife first. Now more people are photographing nature, it’s more important than ever that we avoid damaging habitats and disturbing our subjects.

WIN!

SWAROVSKI CL 8X30 BINOCULARS WORTH £970!

Spider nest, WWT London Salwa Kamourieh

Make the most of every wildlife sighting with the Swarovski CL Companion 8x30 binoculars. These elegant binoculars are perfect for seasoned birders and novice nature lovers. They offer lightweight, rugged durability and amazing performance, and fit perfectly in your hand. Enjoy unique wildlife experiences wherever you go. swarovskioptik.com

TIP 2: BE CAREFUL WITH FLASH Animals are sensitive to light, especially crepuscular and nocturnal species, and can be scared or temporarily blinded by a strong flash.

TIP 3: DON’T GET TOO CLOSE Animals may get stressed and panic if you get too close.

Parents may even feel forced to abandon their young. Take extra care during the breeding season and learn to identify signs of stress, avoidance or alarm. Leave if you see them.

TIP 4: WATCH WHERE YOU WALK Stick to designated paths or tracks to avoid damaging habitat or disturbing vulnerable wildlife. Don’t trample other wildflowers to get to one perfect bloom. Know if you are on a protected site such as an SSSI, where fauna and flora shouldn’t be disturbed.

TIP 5: KNOW THE LAW Make sure you know the protected status of any species you are photographing and the laws that protect them.

Photographing some species during the breeding season can be a criminal offence.

Lapwings in flight, WWT Caerlaverock Chris Williams

TIP 6: DON’T USE TAPE LURES Playing calls to birds, particularly on a nest, can disrupt their natural behaviour and put chicks at risk.

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The broad-bodied chaser regularly returns to the same perch after swift flights out across the water looking for insects. This makes it easier to photograph

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SHOP WITH US

HOW TO TAKE BETTER PHOTOS...

DRAGONFLIES

Support the wetlands and wildlife you love by purchasing your optics equipment from our new online shop: wwt.org.uk/ collections/optics

In our course for nature photography enthusiasts, wildlife photographer David Tipling offers his helpful tips to improve your wetland pictures taken at our centres ur wetland centres are havens for dragonflies in summer. While these colourful insects may be easy to spot as they patrol ditches, streams and lakes on the lookout for insect prey, their fast and agile flight makes them a challenge to photograph.

A stealthy approach is required to get close to them when they are resting. But if you observe their movements, you will notice that individuals often return to the same stem or leaf.

By identifying a favoured perch, staying still and making slow movements when they arrive, you have a good opportunity to capture an image.

Images by David Tipling

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When you position yourself, think not only about the direction of light but the background too. A background without lots of distractions and unnecessary elements is best, and having the sun over your shoulder will help show off the amazing colours many species possess.

To really impress with your camera skills, try to capture a dragonfly in flight. If you are stationed near a regular perch, try pre-focusing just beyond the perch to capture the insect’s arrival or departure.

If you are photographing against clear water, try using a cluster of focus points if your camera offers this feature, as you have more chance of tracking the dragonfly with your autofocus.

Take a portrait Early mornings and evenings are often best for insect photography. With less wind and better light, dragonflies are not as active and more likely to perch, allowing you a close approach. Early morning is a good time to search for larvae that have crawled out of the water and hatched to a dragonfly.

Southern hawker

Your wild photos

Close up Dragonflies are spectacular when seen close up. If you have found an individual that is settled on a stem, try a macro lens or macro setting on your camera to get a close-up.

Remember: the closer you get, the more you’ll need to stop your lens down to get a big enough depth of field.

Migrant hawker

THE WINNER “I visited WWT Arundel in December to see the new Dalmatian pelicans. Though they were not yet in their new enclosure, it was possible to see these huge birds in their temporary quarters. At the other end of the scale was this tiny little grebe in its winter plumage, splashing in the boating pool.” Bob Brewer, via email

High speed Dragonflies can fly up to 30mph, so their wings are flapping at such a high rate you’ll need a fast shutter speed to freeze this movement. Ideally, a shutter speed of at least 1/4000 sec is required. Pictures that show movement are effective for creating a dynamic sense of motion.

Migrant hawker

RUNNER-UP “First, I spotted a solitary coot chick.

Then it was joined by its mum, which was making frequent journeys to and fro feeding her chick. It was so magical to see and watch.” Cynthia Miller WIN! WIN! WIN! Bob wins a copy of The Wildlife Photography Workshop by Ross Hoddinott and Ben Hall, worth £11.89 and available in our shops and online.

Moody lighting Shooting into the light can create a more artistic photograph, especially if shot against a dark background that then illustrates the translucent wings of the dragonfly in a more artistic way.

These effects are best achieved when the sun is low in the sky.

We love to see what you’ve photographed at our centres. Please send your best shots to Waterlife and they could be published in a future issue. Just email your high-res images and a short story about what you photographed to waterlife@wwt.org.uk.

We can’t wait to see what you can do!

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Is there a stream near where you live?

Most of us live close to water, and some of it flows! There may be fish and bugs in the water. Streams are great places for wildlife, but remember to look around them too.

There may be kingfishers catching the fish.

And dragonflies catching the bugs after they’ve emerged as flying adults (it’s tough being a bug). Take care close to the water and enjoy stream-watching this summer.

WET WONDERS

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Do you know a wetland – your local WWT centre perhaps – where you go to see ducks, geese and other waterbirds?

There’s a very good chance that it’s close to a stream or a river. And that’s not a coincidence. Many types of wetland are found in what is called a 'floodplain', a flattish area where streams and rivers run.

Rivers and streams may spill onto their floodplains to create marshes, reedbeds and ponds nearby, and top them up to

stop them drying out. They may flow into a lake and keep the water levels high.

Flowing water can be challenging for people living close to rivers and streams, especially if the floods are so high that water pours into people’s houses. That’s one reason why floodplains are important – because they catch some of the water like a sponge and stop it causing problems elsewhere. What’s good for wildlife is good for people too!

Shutterstock

Every year, people all over the world enjoy watching something that really helps them chill out. They go live streaming – and we’re not talking phones, computers or TVs! Look at the surface of a stream.

Can you see the water flow? Can you see ripples, swirls or other shapes in the water? Are there sticks or leaves floating along? Does the water glitter in the sun as if someone had sprinkled it with diamonds?

As we really look into a stream, we start to relax. So find a quiet spot and try live streaming for yourself.

Rivers bring water down from the mountains into lakes or the sea – they are all connected

Roach

CATCH A FISH...

…WITH YOUR EYES If you look very carefully at

a stream, there’s a chance you might see a fish or two (or 50). The bigger the stream, the bigger the fish. Look for minnows the size of your finger. They’ll generally stay out of the stronger currents and need to beware of perch – the striped tigers of the water.

Roach are among the commonest fish of rivers and streams. You can tell them by their brilliantsilver bodies and red fins.

Minnow

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KIDS’ ZONE

Tails ofthe river

¥• Mayflies and stoneflies

A flying insect with two or three tails that are longer than its body is likely to be a mayfly or stonefly. It’s spent all of its life in the water and has only a few days as a winged adult to mate and lay eggs before it dies.

these live on or in a Long tails, stubby tails, two tails, three tails – all of stream...

A waterside bird whose long tail really does wag, as its name says. If you’re lucky, you’ll see it flutter up and catch a fly.

A dumpy, stubby-tailed bird that you might see standing on a boulder in a fast mountain stream.

Be ready for it suddenly bobbing up and down.

Look at where you live, or maybe another place that you know well, on Google Maps (google.co.uk/ maps). It’s easiest on ‘map’ view rather than ‘satellite’ view. Can you see rivers or streams (in blue)? Are there more than you expected? Where does the water go next?

Can you follow a stream or river that you know on Google Maps all the way to the sea? Does it change its name along the way? You’ll know you’re going in the right direction when the blue line gets

LET THE WORDS FLOW

wider, as it becomes an estuary.

Of course, we can’t tell on a map which way the water is flowing. If you swim against the current, your journey will end where the stream begins as a spring, or high in a mountain bog. Following a stream to its source is much harder, because so many tiny streams join together to become bigger streams and it gets very confusing!

How many words can you think of linked to a stream?

We’ll start you off with trickle and gurgle.

Can you find 10 more?

What do you get when you cross a river and a stream? Wet!

Make an origami frog At WWT we believe that experiencing nature first-hand is the best way to learn. Whether you’re a teacher looking for pupil resources or a parent searching for fun things to make and do as a family, we have lots of materials and activities on our website. Learn about wetlands, make an origami frog or swan, take our flamingo quiz or follow our step-bystep instructions to make wildlife welcome in your garden. Outdoors or indoors, there’s something fun to do.

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Scotland: The Big Picture/naturepl.com

Sea quest

JOKE SPOT

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• Grey wagtail

• Dipper

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In July, the meadows at Arundel are an explosion of colour. Wetland wildflowers provide a changing palette of pinks, purples, yellows and white. Read the plant tags along the pathways to discover some of these brilliant blooms.

The jewel tones of dragonflies add more colour in summer, with dusty blue black-tailed skimmers and broadbodied chasers. The wings of brown hawkers glint bronze in the sun, while large green and blue southern hawker dragonflies circle the boats of the Wetlands Discovery Boat Safari. Bright butterflies dot the pathways, including meadow browns, ringlets, tortoiseshells, red admirals and peacocks.

The black-headed gull colony breaks up in July as the chicks gain their flight feathers. Instead, look for grey herons, little egrets and sandpipers on the large lagoon between the Sand Martin and Ramsar hides. Kingfisher sightings rise, with wintering residents such as snipes and water rails arriving in September.

Shutterstock

FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY

Explore our NEW Coastal Creek aviary, a walkthrough experience with a wader window, real waterfalls and a new diving duck tank. The 40m-long aviary reflects the coastline of Britain with rocky cliffs and water tumbling to a gentle, cobbled estuary.

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BEFORE YOU VISIT ple

info.arundel@wwt.org.uk WWT Arundel

wwt.org.uk/arundel

ase check our website for the latest updates at wwt.org.uk/arunde l

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Pond Explorer

The Pond Explorer station reopens for this summer for families.

Go pond dipping to fish out incredible underwater life along our mini boardwalk.

We’ve everything you need, plus our Learning Team is on hand.

Sessions are available morning and afternoon.

Wetland Explorers

Explore the wetlands using all your senses this summer! Pick up a trail postcard full of activities for families to discover the art of nature, the bee’s knees, watch the birdies and more!

The Coastal Creek aviary has diving duck tanks so you can see the birds underwater

Boat Safari

The best way to experience wetlands is by boat. Glide through the reeds on this wetlands trail, with commentary from our guides to help you spot wildlife nearby.

Boats are wheelchair accessible. Book online when booking your admission ticket.

Meet the spectacled eiders – the males have pale green heads and white spectacles WWT

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Arundel

West Sussex BN18 9PB 01903 881530

Watch avocets and redshanks from inches away. Hear the burbling waterfall where scalysided mergansers and harlequin ducks play, while spectacled eiders bob the waves.

Long-tailed ducks or common scoters?

Discover who will be diving today in the NEW daily duck tank feeds with our friendly WWT keepers.

Next door is the NEW Pelican Cove, home to

Sand Martin Hide

In July, sand martins nest in the Sand Martin Hide nesting bank.

The wings of the hide are angled, offering good views.

Darting dragonflies

While on a boat safari, look for club-tailed dragonflies, which only breed on five UK rivers.

four Dalmatian pelicans, the largest of their kind, with a wingspan of three metres. Children will love watching these big birds with big appetites catch fish from the keepers during their daily feeds.

Check the times with the admissions desk team!

The tall Tree Creepers play area has reopened for families with a surprise nearby. The trumpeter swans have moved next door in a brand new pen.

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them! Then see them swooping in and out to feed the chicks.

Listen to the chirping of swallows sat on the wires and spot their nests outside and inside the hides. Follow lolloping brown hares

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info.caerlaverock@wwt.org.uk WWT Caerlaverock

wwt.org.uk/caerlaverock

Look for swallows bringing in nest material or feeding their chicks

FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY Perfect for energetic families, we have lots of outdoor space to relax and unwind in nature. Explore our large reserve and watch for nesting birds and newly fledged chicks. Look up at the Farmhouse Tower to see the house martins’ nests. They collect mud from the ponds to build

Caerlaverock

Dumfriesshire DG1 4RS 01387 770200

Enjoy the peace and quiet of nature at Caerlaverock. Its name means ‘Castle of the Larks’ and summer is full of skylark song over the merse. Look for stonechats yellowhammers and whitethroats from the Saltcot Merse Observatory.

Cool, tree-lined avenues attract small birds such as blackcaps and long-tailed tits, and sometimes brown hares and roe deer. Tree sparrows nest in the boxes by the feeders on the Peter Scott Trail, which attract birds including greenfinches and great spotted woodpeckers.

Take a Walk on the Wildside to explore more of the reserve, including the wildflower meadow and River Lochar.

Look out for butterflies and bees on red clover, yellow rattle and buttercups.

Swallows and house martins hunt for insects over the meadow and ponds before swooping up to their nests in and around the hides.

Caerlaverock is a ‘dragonfly hotspot’, and a range of species from common darters to blue-tailed damselflies can be seen. Also look out for our cute, resident mute swan family!

down the avenues and watch roe deer in the fields.

Summer is the perfect time to find bugs; chase butterflies around the meadow, creep up on dragonflies perched in the sun, fish for pond creatures

in the Paddock and search for minibeasts among dead wood.

Look at these fascinating creatures closely to see their stunning colours, and discover where they live and what they are doing!

Become a Wetland Explorer and take on the challenges to discover more about nature.

Towards the end of the summer we look forward to the barnacle geese returning and will welcome them back in October, with the Wild Goose Festival!

BEFORE YOU VISIT please check o f

or the ur we b wwt.o latest upda site te rg.uk/ caerla s at veroc k

Mute swan cygnets can hatch any time from May through to July, so now is the perfect time to see young families

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Wetland Explorers

Become a Wetland Explorer this summer and get close to nature on our reserve. Make natural pictures and sculptures, listen and look for birds, create clever kennings about the wildlife you find and explore our ponds to catch bugs and beasties!

Wildlife Challenges

Take on the monthly challenges set by our wardens and see if you can find the three seasonal flowers, bugs and bird species that are on the reserve.

Wild Goose Festival

Join us in celebrating the return of the wild barnacle and pinkfooted geese to winter on the Solway, at the

Wild Goose Festival.

See our website for details of the exciting events planned for October half-term.

Sculpture Trail

Sculptor Geoff Forrest is exhibiting his steel sculptures on the reserve until 28 August.

Geoff bends the metal by hand, then welds it together to create forms that catch the spirit and

outline of birds and mammals.

Art exhibitions A programme of art exhibitions over the summer includes Dafila Scott, daughter of Sir Peter Scott, exhibiting in September to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of WWT Caerlaverock. See our website for details.

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CASTLE ESPIE Wetland Centre Most little grebe chicks will have hatched

by July and may be seen riding on their parents’ backs

Castle Espie

County Down BT23 6EA 028 9187 4146 info.castleespie@wwt.org.uk

WWT Castle Espie

wwt.org.uk/castle-espie

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

BEFORE YOU VISIT

from Tracey’s Farmhouse Kitchen.

Wetland Explorers

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Get ready for an outdoor adventure exploring our watery wetlands.

This summer, for two weeks in both July and August, we have a range of activities available for all of the family to enjoy.

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ART PRODUCTION CLIENT

New life is everywhere at Castle Espie this summer – look in, around and above the lagoons, ponds and shore. Bats, butterflies and dragonflies emerge, downy ducklings practise their swimming, dabbling or diving skills, and otters enjoy sunlit bathes.

Nesting swallows appear in the Roundhouse with little

Sacha Dench/WWT

FAMILY FUN Escape to the shores of Strangford Lough and discover 60 adventurefilled acres of wetland wildlife. A magical mix of wide estuaries, tidal lagoons, eelgrass mats, woodlands, saltmarshes and reedbeds provides the perfect habitat for new life

grebes on the Limestone Lake. Long-eared owls and sparrowhawks breed in the woodlands, while various beautiful orchids bloom in the wildflower meadow.

We love to see what wildlife our visitors discover at Castle Espie, so don’t forget to tag us on social media during your next visit (see social handles above).

to thrive. From bats, butterflies and dragonflies to ducklings and goslings, a world of wildlife is waiting to be uncovered.

Whether you are looking for some family fun or are passionate about nature and wildlife, there is something for everyone to enjoy this summer.

Marvel at Northern Ireland’s largest

Explore Strangford Lough on a unique paddleboarding experience led by SUP Hub NI. Then grab a net and try pond dipping under the guidance of our Learning Team. Round off your day with a minibeast hunt, and learn about the invertebrates found in woodlands and your garden.

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Wildflower Wander

Water has the power to calm and inspire, and Castle Espie is surrounded by it.

Join us on 31 July (further dates tbc) for a sunrise paddleboard on Strangford Lough, led by SUP Hub NI, followed by meditation among the trees in the mystical woodland. Round off your experience with a healthy breakfast at the Kingfisher Kitchen.

Grow and Graze

Join our expert gardening team and learn how to ‘grow your own’ followed by a traditional Irish Baking experience with Tracey

Birdwatching Mornings

Join our experts on the last Wednesday of the month

collection of ducks and geese from around the world, set off on a woodland adventure or simply enjoy a bird’s-eye

Wildwood fun for all the family

Wetland Wellness

Wildwood play

Wetland Wednesdays

WILDLIFE WONDERS

Go wild in our outdoor Wildwood adventure play area.

Test your balance and bravery on our log obstacle course, forge a den, fly high on the rope swing and try to find the secret swamp!

(Covid restrictions allowing) for an early birdwatch at the new time of 9.15-11am. Wear weather-appropriate clothing and comfortable footwear. Included in cost of admission or free to WWT members. Call 028 9187 4146 to book.

Join us for a wander in the meadow to Learn about the wildflowers, their pollinators and why they are essential to this special habitat.

Bat Night

Weather permitting, join our experts for a special late-night opening dedicated to bats, on 27 August.

Learn all about these amazing animals before heading out on the reserve to put your skills to the test, using bat detectors to identify species swooping around.

view from the discovery hides seeing what wetland wildlife you can uncover, while enjoying great views across Strangford Lough.

Once you’ve stretched your legs and built up an appetite, have a picnic on an outdoor bench or treat yourself to a hot drink with delicious home-made cake or tray bake from the Kingfisher Kitchen.

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The good weather we all love during summer is also enjoyed by huge dragonflies and beautiful bejewelled damselflies, which make good use of their limited time, hunting small insects and soaking up the sun. Look out for them hawking along the paths and dodging visitors at high speeds.

They’re in good company, with some of the UK’s brightest butterflies on the wing well into autumn. Painted lady, red admiral, peacock, speckled wood and small tortoiseshell are all some of our biggest and most beautiful insect residents – sunny days are always your best chance to spot them flitting between flowers or resting on leaves.

As we head later into the year, make your way to the British Steel Hide to survey the Marsh and Dafen Scrapes.

You never know who will be making use of these precious habitats on any given day. Godwits, dunlins, greenshanks and redshanks are all regulars, but look out for dramatic disturbances caused by patrolling birds of prey such as marsh harriers and peregrine falcons. Their presence always causes a big commotion!

FAMILY FUN Warm days at this time of year bring out the cold-blooded reptilian residents of Llanelli. Look out for beautiful slowworms, grass snakes and lizards basking in the sun to warm up. You’ll need to be quiet though – these creatures are shy and will hide if they hear you coming!

wwt.org.uk/llanelli

Butterflies such as peacocks will be out in force in July and August

James Lees/WWT

REPRO OP

WILDLIFE WONDERS

BEFORE YOU VISckITour

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Den Building

Become a wild architect and take a wetland wander down to Wiggly Wood to see if you can build a den using the natural materials you find there. What will you use your den for? A secret hideout, Wetland Explorers headquarters… or even a forest fairy clubhouse?

Your den, your rules!

Canoe Safari

We’ve got our fingers and toes crossed that the canoes will be available to hire during the school summer holidays this year, but it all depends on restrictions in place at the time – your safety is everything.

our expert-guided walks through the wetlands so visitors can ask questions and get tips on when and where to see wildlife, plants and more. We’ll update our website and social media with information as soon as we can.

Walk with a Warden

High Tide Watch

As restrictions ease we will start to reintroduce

Seeing hundreds of waders and wildfowl

colours will you count?

Can you get close enough to see their hairy legs and awesome eyes?

For energetic adventurers, run to the super-wild Explore play area and challenge your friends and families to a race! Can you complete the challenges in the fastest time? Great Female water fun in any weather, voles make piles of and the muddier droppings the better, we say! (latrines) to

Have you ever seen a Welsh dragon? Now is your chance! Kind of. See how many dazzling dragonflies and damselflies you can spot as you explore the wetlands. How many

pushed towards the hides by one of autumn’s highest evening tides (in September) is always a highlight in our calendar – and we’re really hoping we can go ahead with it this year. Please check our website and social media for announcements and updates.

Don’t forget to check out Swan’s Nest Maze – race to the middle to find the big swan’s egg and then try to find your way back out!

Then there’s Water Vole City, too! Wriggle and crawl through willowy tunnels like our furry wetland friends. Just please don’t make a territorial latrine (pile of poo) up there like real water voles do…

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LLANELLI Wetland Centre

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mark their territory

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SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT

The best place to be in the height of summer is beside the water. Not only is it cooling and soothing on a hot day, there’s always a lot of wildlife action.

Summer at the reserve is a time of wildflower meadows buzzing with insects, hedgerows beginning to fruit and waterways full of new life.

The arrival of screaming swifts heralds the arrival of the summer. We also expect to see broods of lapwings, little ringed plovers, great crested and little grebes, gadwalls, mallards, pochards and tufted ducks all over the reserve.

Common terns will be raising their chicks on the main lake rafts: the Observatory and Headley Hides are great places from which to watch the colony.

Get your camera ready.

Don’t forget to look out for some of our most popular summer migrants, sand martins, which will be nesting in the sand bank we created for them, making regular visits to feed their hungry fledglings.

Feel like you’re in the countryside without leaving the city. Explore your senses of sight, hearing, smell and touch at the Wildside. It is the perfect way to de-stress and relax, as connecting with nature is healing.

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of conservation in the wetlands environment.

A free guide helps you discover each installation as you follow the art trail.

Sheltered lagoon

Take a walk around the sheltered lagoon – one of the best places to listen to breeding warblers, including chiffchaffs and blackcaps. The

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Listen for rare marsh frogs calling to attract a mate. They spawn later than other species – as late as June – so you should see young froglets hopping in the margins of our ponds over summer.

Keep an eye out for dragonflies and damselflies, as well as common lizards basking in sunny spots, and amazing

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Wildside

BEFORE YOU VISckITour

Look for lapwings leading their chicks to suitable feeding areas, where there are plenty of invertebrates and low vegetation near damp grasslands

David Howse/WWT

REPRO OP

WILDLIFE WONDERS

SW13 9WT 020 8409 4400 info.london@wwt.org.uk WWT London

grasslands are full of meadow vetchling, tufted vetch, bird’s-foot trefoil and common knapweed, which attract butterflies and moths such as five-spot burnet and common blue.

Dragonflies are abundant on the lake, with the rarer lesser emperor and Norfolk hawker having been recorded several times in the past few years.

displays of nodding snake’s-head fritillaries on our meadows.

The long, warm still evenings offer excellent chances to spot bats hunting in the twilight. The smallest species is the soprano pipistrelle. The calls of Leisler’s bat and Nathusius’ pipistrelle are also often detected on our monitors!

Reed warbler is one of our key species to look at during summer, singing within our reedbeds

Tom Hines/WWT

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LONDON Wetland Centre

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GREAT DAYS OUT Enjoy wild outdoor play, from zip wires to climbing wall challenges – our adventure playground is great fun for young adventurers. Play in the giant water vole tunnels, get soaking wet in the flower shower, or try duckracing – go wild.

Wild Walk

Feeling adventurous?

Then journey beyond the usual paths and into the wildest parts of our reserve on our winding wetland.

Meander through different wetland habitats, ramble along reedbeds and hop across stepping logs.

FAMILY FUN

Martyn Poynor/WWT

Tom Hines/WWT

David Howse/WWT

“This peaceful sanctuary is a surprisingly large area close to the centre of London, where you can switch off and enjoy the beautiful wetlands and wild birds. There is so much to do here. It’s great for young kids” TheMartins1997

There is plenty for children to see this summer at London Wetland Centre.

From ladybirds to butterflies, the insect world never ceases to astound, providing children with endless hours of fascination.

You never know what’s around the next corner of the reedbed, and there’s always the chance of a close

Can you cross the wibbly-wobbly rope bridge?

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Wetlands Explorer

Splash, hunt and dip your way through our wetlands to become a Wetlands Explorer, with fun activities to enjoy and unforgettable close-up wildlife waiting to be discovered.

encounter with warblers, dragonflies, damselflies, kingfishers, water voles and lots more.

Bring your family and test your balance and bravery with our Wild Walk. Negotiate your way across balance beams, Nene stepping logs geese pose and muddy for the meadows. See camera if you can cross the wobbly rope

Make a splash and try your balance on wobbly bridges – great fun for big kids too!

Pond Zone

Roll up your sleeves and explore life below the surface at our ponds. Discover amazing underwater life – you never know what you might find. Then check your crazy catch of critters with your magnifying glass or our microscope.

GIANT LEGO® Brick Animal Trail

The GIANT LEGO® Brick Animal Trail is back! LEGO brick fans will enjoy exploring the grounds to find all of the characters.

In total, 253,728 LEGO bricks were used to make them.

A brand new creature has joined the flamingo, otter, mallard and other favourites. What is it? You’ll have to come along to find out!

bridge without getting your feet wet.

Our Wetlands of the World are a relaxing way of getting deep into the heart of our conservation work, absorbing the sights and sounds of each habitat and exploring its rich wildlife. Discover some of the animals we work to protect, such as the world’s rarest goose – the nene.

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Adventure playground GIANT LEGO® Brick Animal Trail

Martin Mere

SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT

Summer is a feast for the senses at Martin Mere. Wildflowers grow in abundance around the reserve, providing a rich source of nectar for myriad brightly coloured butterflies, including peacocks, red admirals, large and small whites and the declining wall butterfly. June onwards is a great time to see and photograph hundreds of butterflies and dragonflies. The best places to see insects are on the reedbed walk, canoe safari, wild walk and eco-garden.

Young barn owls will be fledging

by July. If you’re lucky, you can enjoy amazing views from the Ron Barker Hide as their majestic white silhouettes float over the mere, hunting for small mammals, later in the day. This is a great time for photographers. Look on our website for details of our Bat and Barn Owl event nights in July and August.

At the end of the summer, water levels start to rise, and haymaking on the fields becomes a familiar sight once more, as work begins to prepare the mere for the arrival of up to 40,000 pink-footed geese in late September. Then the skies will be filled with the recognisable honking sound of thousands upon thousands of geese passing overhead. Evenings and mornings are the best time to view this breathtaking spectacle.

BEFORE YOU VISckITour

As evening falls, barn owls float, ghost-like, over the mere or hunt from a perch

he please c st r the late fo website .uk/ rg o t. w at w updates ere martinm

James Lees/WWT

REPRO OP

WILDLIFE WONDERS

WWT Martin Mere

wwt.org.uk/martinmere

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Adventure playground

Test yourself in the adventure playground – will you be able to cross the stepping stones, make a den or travel along our zip wire? Finish up a delightful day out with a drink, a piece of cake or an ice cream in our café.

Come and discover pond life or hunt for giant yellow ducks

Giant Duck Hunt

Take part in a Giant Duck Hunt this summer as you explore the grounds searching for 25 large yellow ducks to win yourself a tasty treat.

Pink-footed geese fill the sky

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Pond-dipping adventures

Our ponds are full of freshwater insect life,

waiting to be dipped and discovered under a microscope. Every

weekend and every day of the holidays, grab a net and delve into our ponds (1.30-3pm). It’s free and you don’t need

to book in advance.

What creatures will you capture? A newt or a dragonfly nymph, or maybe a sludge worm!

Ed Waldron/WWT; Martyn Poynor/WWT

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MARTIN MERE Wetland Centre

Lancashire L40 0TA 01704 895181 info.martinmere@wwt.org.uk

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Longhorn cattle

Our Ross’s geese are small, friendly and perfectly white

“A very enjoyable visit to Martin Mere. There are lots of lakes with many hides from which you can see wildfowl and all sorts of other birds.

A great café and also a children’s play area and pond-dipping area. Other animals to see include otters, with talks given on lots of these subjects. Well worth a visit!” bob_liddell, Altrincham

FAMILY FUN

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Ed Waldron/WWT; Martyn Poynor/WWT

James Lees/WWT

Longhorn cattle help us manage the reserve for wildlife

Summer is an amazing time for families to get outdoors and surround themselves with nature.

The warm weather means the waterfowl gardens are a hive of activity, with lots of creepy-crawlies to find among the bright blooms.

Pick up a paddle and take to the water on our awardwinning canoe safari.

NEW SPECIES

Use our self-service jetty and explore over a mile of channels through woodland, reedbeds and grassland. You can get really close to insects as

The Inca tern is a stunninglooking bird

Admire our herd of longhorn cattle and this year’s calves as they graze close to the hides.

Known as ‘wetland lawnmowers’, the cows graze the grass short but leave divots for waders to nest in. The longer tufts also provide the waders’ chicks with protection from predators flying above and the cattle’s manure attracts insects, providing food for growing chicks.

Black-headed gulls raise their families on the mere

you can gently float by.

Can you spot mallards, moorhens or fish – or even signs of water voles!

Young birds such as ducklings and goslings are growing up fast all over the reserve, ensuring there are lots of birds waiting to nibble grain from your hand.

Get up close and personal with the nenes and Ross’s geese – a firm favourite. You might even be lucky enough to get the flamingos feeding from your hands.

Birdwatching

The mere is a hive of activity with young avocets and blackheaded gulls. Last year we had 22 pairs of avocets nesting and 509 black-headed gull nests.

We even had three nesting pairs of terns.

From the Ron Barker Hide, you may see oystercatchers, lapwings, redshanks, snipes and reed buntings feeding in the fields, as well as the resident kingfishers.

Nature Trail

The main nature trail is a treat for all your senses in summer, with wildflowers filling the air with their scent as you walk. The canoe safari, eco-garden and wild walk are some of the best places to identify and discover wildflowers at Martin Mere.

You may notice something new in the Weird or Wonderful aviary this summer.

Come along to welcome our new Inca terns.

This is a stunning-looking bird from South America with an unusual white Dali-style moustache across its charcoal-grey face. It mews like a cat and, in the wild, it likes to nest on rocky cliffs, in a hollow or in the abandoned nest burrow of a Humboldt penguin.

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GREAT DAYS OUT

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SLIMBRIDGE Wetland Centre

BEFORE YOU VISeIcTk

REPRO OP

h please c for the te si b e our w tes at a d latest up ridge .uk/slimb wwt.org

Slimbridge Gloucestershire GL2 7BT 01453 891900 Pre-book events online at wwt.org.uk/slimbridge events.slimbridge@wwt.org.uk

WWT Slimbridge

wwt.org.uk/slimbridge

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Estuary Tower

SUBS

Explore the new fully accessible Estuary Tower Hide, complete with a lift and just a few hundred metres from the visitor centre. Take in magnificent views of the Severn Estuary and a variety of wild birds, from summer warblers to autumn waders and winter ducks, geese and swans.

ART PRODUCTION

Clem Hencher-Stevens/WWT

Scott House Museum Tours

This autumn travel back in time as you The Estuary Tower Hide is the perfect spot for summer days out

Clive Dodd/WWT

CLIENT

WILDLIFE WONDERS

Summer is a time for new life across Slimbridge’s 800-acre reserve, so why not book your place on our unique Wild Safari to explore its wilder side? Look for orchids in July, including pyramidal and green-winged, as well as wetland plants such as sea arrowgrass, also known as wild coriander. On the Rushy Lake, you may see the rare, pink-flowered grass-poly – a species currently known from only a handful of sites in the UK. Safaris are available weekends and school holidays.

By July, kingfishers may be raising their second broods, and summer butterflies such as gatekeepers and common blues will be on the wing.

From August, migrant waders such as ruffs and green sandpipers will arrive on the Rushy and Tack Piece, and as the summer’s end beckons, warblers including blackcaps and common and lesser whitethroats can be seen from the Estuary Tower as they start their migration.

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During autumn, migrating birds including waders, ospreys, marsh harriers and the odd rarity will be passing through. And if it has been a successful breeding season, the common crane chicks will fledge around September. Soon it will be time to look out for the arrival of redwings and fieldfares, along with white-fronted geese. Snipes can often be seen from the Martin Smith Hide, and look for golden plovers from the Estuary Tower Hide. Towards the end of October, the Bewick’s swans will begin to arrive after their long migration from Arctic Russia.

enter Sir Peter Scott’s home, where he championed the cause of worldwide wildlife conservation through his vision for WWT. Experience the spectacular views from his studio over his beloved lake, the Rushy.

Summer Walkway

Venture out to our Summer Walkway, the perfect place to escape into the wilds of the Severn Estuary, and see the reserve from a different angle. Look out for migrant birds on the fence line, a popular spot for stonechats, whinchats and wheatears in late summer and autumn.

Will our common cranes successfully raise some chicks?

“I visited Slimbridge with a family group with young adults. We all enjoyed our day out. We had gorgeous weather and enjoyed watching the huge abundance of birds and wildlife. We ate our packed lunch sitting on two of the many benches.

A very happy day indeed!” Vrone1963

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GREAT DAYS OUT

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Bewick’s Lodge

Discover the wilder side of the reserve on a Wild Safari

This autumn, stay overnigh t at Bewick’s Lodg e in Scott Hous e, the former ho me of WWT fo under Sir Peter Scot t. With access to his viewing tower and magical views over Rushy La ke, this experie nce is a must for bird lovers, Scott fa ns or anyone wish ing to get closer to natu re.

Hire a canoe, grab a paddle and spot wildlife from the water on our fun canoe safari trail.

Cruise down our kilometre-long trail of wetland waterways with up to two friends. Sit back and relax as you look out for wildlife including water voles, dragonflies and ducks.

Wetland Heroes app

Whether you’re firsttime visitors or seasoned members, there’s always something new to discover at Slimbridge.

Download our free family app – Wetland Heroes – today, and as

See wetland birds as you’ve never seen them before at the new Living Wetland Theatre

WWT

FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY New this summer, meet some wonderful wetland wildlife at our amazing 360-seat open-air Living Wetland Theatre (see page 26). Watch birds flying overhead and discover how each species is uniquely adapted to their wetland home.

Join us through the summer holidays for science-themed sessions on beaks, feathers and pond life. Then immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of a British wetland in the Waterscapes Aviary. Look out for

elusive bearded reedlings, watch ducks diving deep underwater and learn about butterflies, dragonflies and pond creatures that rely on wetlands for their survival.

Slimbridge changes with the seasons and our new free family app – Wetland Heroes – will help you

have fun and learn something new each time you visit.

Explore the lesser-known areas of the reserve, take on challenges with the whole family and go on fact-finding missions. The more you explore, the closer you get to becoming a wetland hero!

Explore a Hawaiian landscape at our new Mission Possible exhibit and meet the nene – the world’s rarest goose. Learn how WWT founder Sir Peter Scott brought this species back from the brink of extinction, then peek behind the scenes at

you explore the wetland centre you can unlock cards to reveal factfinding missions and fun challenges that can be played by the whole family.

Arctic Adventure

Follow in the footsteps of Sir Peter Scott and discover life in the Arctic Tundra, where WWT researchers study wildlife including Bewick’s swans.

Dress up as an Arctic researcher and plan your tundra hut meal – choose from potatoes, dried fish and tinned reindeer! Use our binoculars and telescopes to see if you can identify birds by looking at their identification leg rings. Investigate what birds eat using a microscope, and measure, weigh and record our life-size swan (it’s a replica!).

our duckery to see eggs and ducklings being raised.

Find out about the amazing work WWT does around the world to save endangered species from extinction, including spoon-billed sandpipers and Madagascar pochards.

Splash about at Welly Boot Land or go wild in our Riverlife outdoor play areas. See if you can spot all six species of flamingo, count the cute harvest mice or look out for elusive water voles. Take a serene Canoe Safari through our waterways or discover the world of amphibians at Toad Hall and learn all about our watery wonders.

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Canoe Safari Now you can make new memories – come and stay with us!

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GREAT DAYS OUT

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WILDLIFE WONDERS

Avocets gather on Wader Lake

SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT

Summer is the season of plenty across our reserve, gifting us long hazy days bursting with the sights and sounds of nature.

Wader chicks abound on Wader Lake, with juvenile common terns playing on the exposed mudflats and learning to fish alongside broods of regionally rare avocets. Late-nesting grey heron chicks may also be seen peering down at the action from the heron hedge above.

An invertebrate invasion means throngs of colourful dragonflies on-site, with species including common darters and southern hawkers dancing around the wildlife ponds and black-tailed skimmers spotted on occasion. Butterflies flit among northern marsh orchid and yellow rattle in the peaceful meadows, at their blooming best in July and August.

As autumn creeps in with its changing hues, immerse yourself in the annual spectacle of migration. Geese pass noisily overhead and wading birds including common snipes and whimbrels stop to refuel, while early winter visitors include black-tailed godwits and greenshanks.

Our woodlands also become a sheltered sanctuary where jays hurriedly bury acorns to last through the winter ahead and young tawny owls disperse to look for territories.

FAMILY FUN During the warmer months, our duckery is home to all things fluffy, with a variety of young birds hatching.

Watching them find their feet in the outdoor pens is one of our cutest and most memorable experiences, especially for children. Don’t miss it!

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Ian Henderson/WWT

wwt.org.uk/washington

BEFORE YOU VISIT please

check our website fo r the latest updates a t wwt.org .uk/ washingto n

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Wetland Explorers

Families can discover the wonder of wetlands this summer, with an adventure-packed timetable of activities throughout the holidays.

Designed to teach valuable skills while having fun outdoors, these interactive challenges will reconnect visitors young and old with nature through wild play and exploration. Keep an eye

Our pink Chilean flamingos love to put on a show and can usually be Our Chilean flamingos may have chicks

online for further details and a host of exciting reasons to keep coming back all summer long!

Glorious Gardens

At the height of summer, the sunny seclusion of our insect garden provides nectar sources for bees and butterflies, as well as hot spots for basking dragonflies. The nearby Working Wetland Garden is filled with

colourful flowers, and waterlife including frogs and damselflies can be spotted, while children can play and learn in the adjoining Waterlab.

Wader Lake

Each autumn, visitors can enjoy the sights and sounds of nature on the move. Skeins of pinkfooted geese pass noisily overhead and wading birds including common snipes and

seen performing elaborate courtship displays in early summer. Will they lay eggs again this year?

Elsewhere, our Asian short-clawed otters frolic happily in their outdoor habitat all year round. They now have an enrichment frame, created by their keepers, to help them display natural

whimbrels stop to refuel at Wader Lake on their migratory passage. Early overwintering visitors include black-tailed godwits, greenshanks and common and green sandpipers, while more recently knots, dunlins and turnstones have made an appearance.

Eyes to the skies for this year’s arrivals! Check our website and social media for updates.

behaviour by reaching for, pulling down and stretching for food.

As autumn touches the reserve, our collection birds come out of their transitory eclipse plumage (when they moult all their colourful flight feathers), changing colour with the leaves, and our magical woodlands offer seasonal walks aplenty.

Ben Cherry/WWT

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Tyne and Wear NE38 8LE 0191 416 5454 info.washington@wwt.org.uk

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GREAT DAYS OUT

BEFORE YOU VISIT please che

SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT

There’s so much to see in summer, as many species are at different stages of their life cycle or breeding season and the reserve teems with life. Most waders and ducks will have hatched and even fledged their first brood of young. Others like swallows and house martins may be on their second broods. Birds that have failed to breed further north are already on their migration south by July.

The regular appearance of cranes in late summer is something special.

Numbers tend to increase after the breeding season, with the flock reaching 60 individuals last autumn. The birds often feed in different areas year-onyear, so check the views over Lady Fen from the visitor centre, and the hides and viewing points over the washes.

October sees the start of wildfowl migration, with numbers of wigeon, teal, shoveler, pintail, gadwall and mallard all rising. You’ll need keen eyes to spot the male ducks in their dowdy eclipse plumage.

During the height of summer, we see the greatest diversity of dragonflies and damselflies! Each of the 22 species recorded has a slightly different flight season – can you see them all?

FAMILY FUN Wildlife gets that little bit closer in the summer. Some of the best species to be spotted include the thousands of insects that call our wetlands home.

Bug hunting and pond dipping are fantastic ways to get a closer look at creatures below the water, in the grass and flowers, and zipping through the

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It’s worth exploring the dragonfly ponds for species such as this migrant hawker, though you could find these colourful insects anywhere in our wetlands

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Summer Walk

If your children feel they can walk a bit further, the Summer Walk provides a great opportunity to explore parts of the reserve not normally accessed.

Enjoy views over the reserve and – new for this summer – we have extended the walk at the far end to take in an extra loop through more of the scrub and grassland habitat, which is fantastic for insects

air. Welney has two pond-dipping stations, where you’ll find all the equipment you need to have a safe and fun experience. These are available to use by yourself all the time – on weekend days out, during holidays or when the kids are back at school, for home-schoolers.

During the summer holidays we’ll have activities on offer as

and small passerines.

Search for bugs and beetles not found along the footpaths and watch for young birds (including cuckoos) getting ready for their first migration south.

Check website for details.

Lady Fen Walk

You’ll be able to enjoy the Lady Fen Walk route once again from August. Nesting season has finished, but there are still plenty of birds

Samuel Walker/WWT

REPRO OP

WILDLIFE WONDERS

wwt.org.uk/welney

to see, especially those starting to pass back through on autumn migration, so check the reservoir at the back of Lady Fen carefully.

You can also enjoy getting closer to some of the herds of cattle and checking for migratory birds in the air and on the ground around them.

Stay on-site

If the wildlife spectacles of Welney are

part of our Wetland Explorers programme – these will include extraspecial things to do, such as meeting moths. Our explorer backpacks will provide you with all the kit

something you enjoy, why not enhance the experience by staying on the reserve in our very own accommodation, either Wigeon House or – coming soon – Pintail House.

This is a fantastic opportunity for new and regular visitors to experience summer evenings and early mornings surrounded by wetland wildlife.

you need for a day’s adventures, and you can borrow them during the holidays and on weekends.

By late summer, we will be welcoming back some very special birds – cranes.

As numbers increase locally, the birds become easier to spot – as well as being very vocal at times with their bugling calls.

This can be a magical experience to share with young nature lovers.

Graham Hann/WWT

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STEART Marshes

Steart Marshes

Somerset TA5 2PU 01278 651090 info.steart@wwt.org.uk

WWT Steart Marshes

wwt.org.uk/steart

REPRO OP

BEFORE YOU VISIT WWT S teart is an

July is a great time to see parent avocets out with their precocious humbug-striped chicks

SUBS CLIENT

WILDLIFE WONDERS

July and August are always an exciting and busy time to visit Steart Marshes. The avocet chicks are all grown up by now and can be seen feeding with their parents in the saline lagoons overlooked by the Quantock Hides and screens.

At this time of year, ruffs and curlew sandpipers, a passage migrant, are

EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Wildlife Walks

Explore Steart Marshes on a walk with an expert. Look for details on our website and social media.

Self-led Activities

Visit the Willow Sculpture Trail and see if you can spot

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Waterlife

the latest additions.

Leaflets available on-site. Sculptures all made by local artists.

Bring a crayon and try out our Wildlife Rubbings Trail.

Pick up a leaflet from the decking as you enter the site and create a picture.

Get the Geocache Trail app on your phone and follow directions to find hidden treasures around the reserve.

Pond Dipping

Explore wetland wildlife close up with pond dipping. Ad hoc drop-in sessions for all

ages will be available some weekends and school holidays.

Look out for further details on social media, posters and signs on-site.

Tide tables to help plan your visit are on the ‘Visiting’ page of our website.

Try our Wildlife Rubbings Trail

Sam Stafford/WWT

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Simon Fairweather

ART

July. They were the only known pair to have bred in the UK site so openlast year, and this access canno t be clo but ple sed, year we hope the ase re ad statem ent be our latest chicks will return fore vis wwt.o iting. rg.uk/ to the site where steart they were born, giving visitors great views of this incredible-looking bird.

Steart offers something for everyone, and it’s not just birds making an appearance over the summer. Anyone pausing to take in the peaceful surroundings could be rewarded with a glimpse of a roe deer with fawns hiding along the hedge lines. If the paths and surrounding grassy areas seem to be alive, closer inspection may reveal hundreds of minute toadlets clambering through the undergrowth.

Many wildflowers are looking their best in July and August, providing not just a beautiful spectacle but also an important source of nectar for butterflies and bumblebees.

The fast flashes of colour skimming across the surface of the water are dragonflies, and migrant hawkers often seen passing through in small can be seen undertaking impressive numbers on migration from their acrobatics in the air as they catch Russian Arctic breeding grounds to their prey on the wing.

Africa. They often keep company Moving into autumn and towards with greenshanks.

October, our overwintering birds will In 2020, a pair of very rare blackstart to appear, with species such as winged stilts nested in the freshwater dunlins, lapwings, little stints and marsh at Steart. They successfully merlins making a welcome return. raised three chicks, which hatched in

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Back Chat, 1

MY wild life BACK CHAT

VERSION REPRO OP SUBS

Laura monitors water levels and quality to see if the ditches on Walmore Common in Gloucestershire can support rare eels

Waterlife chats to scientist Laura Weldon about eels and exciting new techniques for monitoring wildlife, such as eDNA

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I’m excited to work with new

nervous, but the methods work well.

I’ve been hooked ever since.

groundbreaking technologies that are changing the way we monitor rare and secretive wetland wildlife.

These techniques have huge

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Environmental DNA (or eDNA) has

CLIENT

huge potential for conservation. All creatures leave traces of their DNA as they move around their environment – even fish and amphibians leave DNA traces in scales or mucus they shed in water. If we analyse the water, we can see exactly who’s living there or passed through recently.

I am passionate about the plight of the European eel. These critically endangered fish are a key part of healthy freshwater systems and a vital food source for otters and birds.

Their dramatic decline has had an impact all the way up the food chain.

To help eels, we need to know where they are. Traditionally, you’d have to catch them with a net. This meant handling the animals and disturbing their habitat. With eDNA sampling, all you need to do is collect a sample of water to analyse.

For my recent PhD, I wanted to see if

the DNA research techniques I knew worked in a lab could be applied to conservation in the field. The first day, I sampled for eel eDNA in some of the largest lakes in Ireland. I was 66

Waterlife

Laura Weldon Principal Research Scientist, Wetland Science

potential to engage more people in citizen science. We’ve developed eDNA field sample kits that are quick and easy to use. Volunteers collect and filter a sample of water and send it to me to analyse. I can confirm whether eels are present within days.

We’re keen to sample the area between the River Severn and Stroud/Frome in Gloucestershire.

The results will help us build a map to understand how eels use wetlands in the Severn Vale.

Soundscape analysis is another exciting way to assess wetland biodiversity. We use small recording devices programmed to record one-minute clips of bird sounds and other vocalising wildlife during the noisiest parts of the day. The kit can be left in position for days at a time and doesn’t disturb the wildlife.

We’re asking people to collect sound

recordings and identify the birds and other animals from their calls using their own expertise or software.

We’re even adapting some recording devices so they can be used as hydrophones to listen in underwater in our rivers, streams and ponds.

We’re using other DNA techniques

to identify the insect biodiversity in our natural flood management project sites. We want to know how slowing the flow of water using dams and wet woodlands affects aquatic and terrestrial insects. The new tech provides a list of every species present in a sample – a snapshot of the biodiversity at the site at the time.

We’ve also been trialling new ways

of recording the insects that visit our wetlands. Instead of collecting lots of flying insects, we put petri dishes coated with fly glue at our monitoring sites. They collect fewer insects, but still give us an idea of which flying insects are present.

I love working with such a creative team at WWT and all our volunteers and citizen scientists. I enjoy being outside putting science into practice, seeing how engaged people are and the impact these new methods have.

WWT is helping to change people’s attitudes towards nature and the environment. It gives me hope.

Our natural flood management work reduces flood risk and engages communities with their local wildlife.

It helps people to value the natural world around us. That makes it so much harder to ignore the plight of our wetlands and the rich wildlife that calls them home.

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