Trip reports
London Wetland Centre, Barnes - by Peter Hambrook
WWT/Jorgen Tandberg and Yo Murata
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
After an easy drive through generally light traffic we arrived at the car park to find four slightly late swifts patrolling the skies above and noisy ring-necked parakeets screeching from nearby trees. A green woodpecker yaffled nearby.
Entering the reserve, the nine of us headed in the direction of the Peacock hide but it was soon apparent that there was a bit of a snag. We had unfortunately chosen to visit on a day when maintenance work was in progress and a large area in front of the first two hides was being cleared of the summer growth, ready for the wintering birds. Not surprisingly, most of the wildfowl had moved elsewhere.
Arriving at the Peacock Tower, we settled in on the top floor to see what we could find. There were still plenty of sand martins hunting over the wader scrape, close to their nests in the artificial nesting bank and a few house martins were also around. At this time of the year most of the ducks are in 'eclipse' plumage as they moult so it was quite a challenge to sort them out but we managed to find quite a few shovelers, gadwall, tufted duck and teal but could not find the recently reported garganey. A pair of great crested grebes had two well grown young in tow on one of the lakes and we also found a little grebe sitting on a nest on the edge of the reed bed. A flight of five black-tailed godwits approached but took one look at the work in progress and headed off elsewhere.
Moving on, we discovered that the loop route round the back of the lake was closed while a massive bat edifice was being built. This is to be known as the Berkeley Bat House, built to a concept by Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller and funded by Berkeley Homes. The groundwork has now been completed and the structure itself is starting to take shape. It will be built from 'hemcrete', which is made from hemp and lime and is a more sustainable alternative to concrete. It is breathable and should be ideal for bats to roost in, as well as locking up CO2 due to its organic base. Construction is due to be completed by the autumn.
After lunch we had a look around the 'Wild Side' but it was fairly quiet and we only added a wigeon or two and a stock dove. After looking around some of the country-themed areas, which are hosting an outdoor exhibition of modern art, such as a peacock with a tail made from old CDs, we headed for home rather earlier than usual at about 14:30.
Peter Hambrook