Work begins on Lagoon View Hide
Now here’s a word you don’t use every day: hexadecagon.
It sounds a bit like an ungainly Transformer and would probably get you a cracking score on the Scrabble board but it actually refers to the shape of our exciting new Lagoon View Hide – coming soon to our saline lagoon!
Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund and other generous funders, we announced plans for this fantastic development back in February http://www.wwt.org.uk/news/all-news/2015/02/wwt-news-washington/people-and-wildlife-to-benefit-from-funding-boost/ and are thrilled that work is now getting underway on its construction.
The 16-sided hide will sit at the lagoon viewpoint and offer panoramas of our saline lagoon, the River Wear and our reedbed.
It will have earth banked around its perimeter and a green turf roof as its crowning glory; blending it into the surrounding environment.
We will also be improving views through the reedbed and will create a small pond, which should allow visitors to see kingfisher – an increasingly common visitor to our site.
Otter, roe deer, breeding oystercatcher and seal have all been spotted exploring this area too and visitors will be able to identify these and other species using new guide books, ID charts and binoculars or with the help of a team of specialist volunteers.
While the hide is being built the lagoon viewpoint will be closed to visitors. However, you can still enjoy the vista from the top of the meadow and the path between Hawthorn Wood Hide and the river viewpoint will remain open.
We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the Lagoon View Hide as it progresses and can’t wait to unveil this fully accessible, family-friendly facility in spring 2016!
