Pictures of the saline lagoon development
Members and regular visitors to WWT Washington will have noticed that our wildlife reserve is undergoing some major redevelopment work at the moment, with the creation of a new saline lagoon.
The lagoon will flood the land in the foreground, with the fenceline moving up to the top of the meadow
This is a three-year project designed to improve the biodiversity of the area currently known as Sandpiper Ponds and in 2010, essential surveys were carried out to establish exactly which species are currently present on the site, ensuring that no vital species would be lost in the redevelopment.
The next stage, which is currently going ahead, is the landscaping and construction of the saline lagoon itself and work is now well-underway on tree felling along the river path.
The old fence on the left will be repositioned and this area allowed to flood
Once the trees are cleared, the plan is to then move the fence-line running along the river back to the top of White Meadow and open up the landscape to allow tidal water from the Wear to flood onto our site through a controlled sluice.
This will provide the perfect salinity levels for a unique range of wetland species and will be a haven for waterbirds that thrive on the brackish nature of the water.
The spoil from the landscaping will be deposited at either-end of the lagoon (at the river reedbed shelter and near the jetty), raising the area substantially and creating fantastic views of this exciting new habitat and along the river.
This project is aimed at strengthening the connection between the reserve and the river. It will allow us to develop fish populations within the lagoon, which will hopefully, in turn, attract species to feed on them, including cormorants, kingfisher, grebes, goosander and otter.
In fact, as we already know that we have breeding otter living on the river, there is a strong possibility of being able to able to sit at one of the newly-created vantage points and actually see a family of otters playing in the lagoon. Watch this space!
