I'm a firm believer that if you wait long enough a lot of expensive places can eventually be visited for free. So it is with the London Wetland Centre, indeed all WWT reserves, which are offering free entry this week to celebrate World Wetlands Day. I last visited in 2006 when admission was also free, saving £6.75, and this year I've saved considerably more by flashing a barcode in a complimentary email.
Venue:London Wetland Centre Location: Queen Elizabeth's Walk, Barnes, SW13 9SA [map] Open: 10am - 5.30pm (closes 4.30pm in Winter) Admission: £16.50 5-word summary: reclaimed reservoirs, now waterfowl airport Website:wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/london Time to set aside: at least an afternoon
What do you do with four unwanted Victorian reservoirs? You grab a lottery handout and transform them into one hundred acres of reclaimed wetland habitat, that's what. And then you wait for the waterfowl to arrive.
The site at Barn Elms lies within the great Boat-Race curve of the Thames, facing Fulham across the river and accessed via Barnes. Entry is across a footbridge over a gratuitous lake, just to set the scene, past a bronze statue of Sir Peter Scott in wellies making observational notes on two Bewick's Swans. I don't think the guano smearing his hair was part of the sculptor's original vision but it did feel appropriate. Then it's into the Visitor Centre to pay up (or not, as applicable), and then you're out into the main courtyard ready to spot birds. Leave the gift shop to the end, it is indeed an integral part of the exit procedure.
What lies ahead is a complex of lakes, lagoons and reedbeds very approximately square in shape. The important thing is you can't walk all the way round the edge because the northern quadrant is kept people-free, so the two options are to walk left as far as you can go or right as far as you can go, then come back and do the other one. Before you head off check the screen with a list of daily sightings (oooh) and then look for the stairs leading to The Observatory. This is a balconied space behind a huge glass wall with a great view across the site and offers the chance to spot birds on the nearest lake. Almost all of the waterside is reed-edged so you need to take your observation opportunities when you can and this is the only elevated warm one.
Turn left for the West route which is the less developed arm. First up is the otter enclosure which is the only part of the wetlands that feels like a zoo. The two Asian short-clawed otters don't emerge from their holt that often, at least not at this time of year, but the keepers entice them out with fishy chunks at feeding time twice a day. Bob the heron knows when feeding time is because he flies down and waits in case there are leftovers, and will happily stand by the waterfall in front of an audience of 50 onlookers throughout the keeper's long spiel. These are admittedly the world's smallest otters so don't expect a sensational aquatic act, but they did eventually emerge yesterday and do some cute things with straw... and Bob flew off sadly unsatisfied.
Onwards through the Wetlands of the World, a chain of small ponds with occasional scenery and whatever ducks from whatever jurisdiction have chosen to land in that section. You get a much better close-up view here than trying to identify black blobs out on the lagoon, plus it's a considerably more abundant selection than a handful of bread attracts in your local park. I used the railside notice to confirm that the very flappy thing with a blue beak was a white-headed duck, needed no assistance to tick off mallards and moorhens and was excited to count three cranes behind the rushes.
For the serious visitor the site's true highlights are the hides, six in total, each with a different waterside aspect. If you're not familiar these are shielded spaces with slotty windows allowing birds to be seen without seeing you. If you are familiar you'll know they have seats or perches allowing lengthy periods of observation, and ledges where you can rest your extremely large lens and watch the action. I always feel underdressed when I turn up with my tiny 8×21 binoculars sourced by redeeming Orange reward points rather than the optical Alpenhorns that proper birders bring, but equally I wouldn't know what I was looking at anyway.
All the chatter in the Headley hide regarded the recent appearance of a bittern, an elusive winter visitor from Western Europe. Normally you only hear them booming, assuming you notice anything at all, but in this case it had been seen moseying along the edge of a distant reedbed and then disappeared within. I duly hung around, watched and waited, my eyes pinned on a dark brown strip across the lagoon. I have some degree of patience so lasted ten minutes before deciding that perhaps it wasn't coming out again, or had already flown off somewhere else, so it really wasn't worth wasting my day on the offchance of a rare reappearance. A proper birdwatcher can hold out much longer, ideally aided by a thermos and sandwiches, while taking great pleasure in more ordinary sightings inbetween. In this case alas once bittern, twice shy.
The South route has more of a child-visitor-focus, including a pond zone, a sound garden and an adventure playground. It's well done and also partly educational, including for example a plughole you can walk through to discover what not to flush. More active kids will appreciate the Wild Walk, a chain of planks which hugs the edge of the Fritillary Meadow and threatens a muddy denouement should you fall. At the far end is a proper rope bridge, which in the absence of small children was being enjoyed by adults and even grey-haired visitors instead. It felt perfectly fine as I strode on, then started wobbling and bouncing unnervingly as I approached the middle, and that was without anyone else stomping along to make things worse.
I enjoyed the more far-flung paths, still thankfully the right side of muddy, which weave between reeds around outer ponds. Plenty of additional points of interest have been slotted in including a bat roost and a sand martin bank you can step behind, not that anything's nesting there at this time of year. I smiled the first time I saw a 'Geese only beyond this point' sign, although by the tenth time with the fourth different animal the joke had lost its shine. I also spotted lots of catkins plus my first crocuses of the year in the Slate Garden, which were encouraging signs that spring is on its way. They'd never have allowed punters in for free if it weren't winter, obviously, but perhaps peak season should really be when migration is in full swing.
I saved the tallest hide for last, the Peacock Tower, which boasts views of lake, scrape, lagoon or marsh depending which way you look. Climbing to the second floor offers the bestpanorama, be that of water, birds or the west London skyline, and yes there's a lift should your twitching needs require step-free access. Here was the greatest concentration of serious observers, notebooks at hand, occasionally muttering "widgeon, shoveler, two teal" to a neighbour before raising their glasses again. I can see the value of annual WWT membership if waterfowl are your thing, especially at just £4.50 a month, but I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to have free rein for just one day. At time of writing £0 tickets for today and tomorrow are still available and who's to say what flapping wonders you might see.
