Shovelers breed at WWT London Wetland Centre for the first time

You wait for 13 years... then 3 come along at once!

Shoveler brood - Mike Caiden
Shoveler brood - Mike Caiden

Visitors at WWT London Wetland Centre have been enjoying watching Shoveler ducklings out on the reserve’s lakes this summer.

Shoveler ducklings - Catherine Beazley
Shoveler ducklings - Catherine Beazley

These large billed ducks bred at the Centre for the first time this year.

Shoveler and Gadwall ducklings - Catherine Beazley
Shoveler and Gadwall ducklings - Catherine Beazley

And with not one but three separate families of ducklings spotted, the comparison with the typical arrival pattern of London buses seems fitting for a species finally raising their young in the capital’s urban wetland oasis.

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