News - WWT

What Brexit means for nature

What Brexit means for nature

Heard much about the environment in the Brexit debate? We haven’t either. However the next few weeks turn out with the current political turmoil, Brexit is likely to have serious positive and negative impacts on our wildlife and their habitats. Ai

20 November 2018

Latest WWT science journal shines light on lives of wetland birds

Latest WWT science journal shines light on lives of wetland birds

New details of the lives of wetland birds are revealed for the first time in the latest issue of Wildfowl, published by WWT. The charity’s scientific journal, published annually and first printed 70 years ago, is a way of sharing new research that co

20 November 2018

Wetlands key to biodiversity

Wetlands key to biodiversity

Wetland loss is driving extinctions of animal and plant species, and contributing to the world’s imminent failure to reach its 2020 global biodiversity targets: But this could be reversed by creating new wetlands. That’s the message from WWT and ot

19 November 2018

Fishy goings on! Plaques highlighting river pollution snatched

Fishy goings on! Plaques highlighting river pollution snatched

Dozens of signs, fixed near drains by schoolchildren to encourage locals to protect the Salt Hill stream, have been stolen. The disappointing discovery was made in Chalvey by WWT Conservation Officer Claire Hutchison who has been working with local commu

6 November 2018

'Message in a bottle' bird found by friend over 3000 miles away

'Message in a bottle' bird found by friend over 3000 miles away

A spoon-billed sandpiper reared by a WWT conservationist in Russia was sighted by a friend in China just weeks later. The young bird was identified in Jiangsu over 3000 miles from the Russian east coast where it was raised by aviculturalist Jodie Clement

5 November 2018

First Bewick's swan returns to the UK heralding the arrival of winter

First Bewick's swan returns to the UK heralding the arrival of winter

The first Bewick’s swan of the season has landed at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, having surfed the weekend’s first blast of winter winds from the Arctic. The bird, known as Indri, is making its third visit to the famous reserve, after arriving

30 October 2018

New handbook makes waves in the wetland world

New handbook makes waves in the wetland world

Creating wetlands in cities around the globe just got easier, thanks to a new good practice manual launched this week at the Ramsar Convention in Dubai by WWT Consulting. The handbook, created with Nanjing University Ecological Research Institute of Chan

29 October 2018

WWT Snapshot September 2018

WWT Snapshot September 2018

Thank you to the astounding 600,000 visitors who took advantage of the nice weather to visit our wetland centres over spring and summer 2018. Here’s just some of the good conservation work your support has enabled WWT to achieve in the last three months

26 October 2018

Conservation heroes given Marsh Award

Conservation heroes given Marsh Award

Two unsung heroes of conservation were rewarded for their achievements today when they each received a Marsh Award for Wetland Conservation from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) in partnership with the Marsh Christian Trust. Colin Gray and Mark Smar

11 October 2018

"Can do" Kate is a President for WWT's future

Kate Humble today became President of wetland conservation charity, WWT. At the charity’s annual general meeting she promised to be WWT’s most active and most vocal supporter. WWT creates and protects wetlands to help wildlife and people to thri

11 October 2018

Vote Cambodia! Help save precious wetlands

Vote Cambodia! Help save precious wetlands

The chance to help Cambodia’s endangered wetlands is open to a public vote. In just 15 years, half of Cambodia’s wetlands have disappeared. Bergans of Norway has kindly nominated WWT’s project to save two of the last natural seasonal wetlands in th

9 October 2018

New WWT study reveals what captive flamingos get up to when the lights go out

New WWT study reveals what captive flamingos get up to when the lights go out

Captive flamingos are as active as their wild counterparts at night despite their different lifestyles, according to latest research. Although the birds were provided with food and protected from predators, footage shows that flamingos at WWT Slimbridg

5 October 2018

Enfield schoolchildren see designs for new wetland nature reserve become reality

Enfield schoolchildren see designs for new wetland nature reserve become reality

The Prince of Wales Open Space was unveiled to the public this week after undergoing a dramatic makeover with the help of local kids. The event was hosted by Enfield Borough Council, Thames Water and WWT who teamed up to breathe new life into the negle

1 October 2018

The Global Wetland Outlook: Wetlands disappearing three times faster than forests

The Global Wetland Outlook: Wetlands disappearing three times faster than forests

Wetlands are disappearing three times faster than natural forests, warns the Ramsar Convention's report ahead of a global meeting on protecting the world’s wetlands in 2018. Wetlands are as essential for our water as forests are for our air.

27 September 2018

Fish and chips: Eels microchipped to track species on the brink

Fish and chips: Eels microchipped to track species on the brink

Wild eels are being microchipped, similar to the way people microchip their pets, in an attempt by conservationists from WWT to better understand their activity. The study at Slimbridge in South Gloucester will allow scientists to monitor how eels are

27 September 2018