WWT to tell story of Sir Peter Scott thanks to National Lottery
The public are set to step inside the home of the ‘patron saint of conservation’ – Sir Peter Scott - for the first time, thanks to an investment of £4.4m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) towards a £6m Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) project.
Sir Peter’s pioneering TV career in the 1950s inspired many broadcasters, including Sir David Attenborough, who commented:
Peter Scott and David Attenborough in the Scott house in 1962
“Peter is and always will be the patron saint of conservation. Long before words like ‘biodiversity’ were coined, Peter looked out from that huge window in his house at Slimbridge and realised our lives are so linked with our natural world that we have to learn to love it and look after it. I think it’s wonderful that absolutely anyone will be able to sit in that same window in future years and feel just as inspired.”
The home of Sir Peter at Slimbridge wetland centre in Gloucestershire was the site of the BBC’s first ever natural history programme which Peter presented live from his studio lounge in May 1953. The house is also a key part of the story of modern conservation – the global system for designating species as threatened, endangered or extinct was largely devised there by Scott as he helped to found the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust (WWF), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the IUCN Species Survival Commission and many other organisations that have stopped many animals from going extinct.
The Scott house from across the Rushy pen
HLF’s grant will help renovate the house and enable the public to see the world of fascinating history within it. The Scott tour will continue out into the grounds, among the world’s biggest collection of water birds including species like the Hawaiian goose that Scott saved from extinction. There will be new attractions including: an aviary and theatre; more hides overlooking the wild nature reserves; and access to WWT’s world-renowned conservation breeding duckery.
Environment Minister Rory Stewart said:
“The Wildfowl & Wetland Trust do really important work looking after our landscapes and wildlife, and I’m delighted the Heritage Lottery Fund is supporting the Trust to honour the memory of the great Sir Peter Scott.
“Sir Peter changed the way we think about conservation and the new centre at Slimbridge will bring his legacy to life and continue the truly excellent work already underway to protect our wildlife.”
HLF Trustee Jim Dixon said:
“Sir Peter Scott inspired a generation of conservationists across the world. His studies on the migration of wildfowl made him a firm believer in working across national boundaries for conservation. I can’t think of a more fitting way to use National Lottery players money than by marking his global reputation and giving Slimbridge a renewed role to celebrate the work he pioneered and loved.”
The grant includes projects across Slimbridge wetland centre including plans for a new aviary and amphitheatre
HLF has awarded an initial up front £360,000 to help WWT develop plans for the new heritage tour of Slimbridge wetland centre, starting from Scott’s house. In addition to HLF’s £4.4m grant, WWT will need to raise a further £1.6m towards the full £6m project cost. Work is due to begin in late 2017.
WWT Chief Executive Martin Spray CBE said:
“We want everyone in the area to feel proud of how important Slimbridge is to wildlife conservation across the world, and to enjoy getting close to wildlife in a beautiful, watery landscape. We’re inviting local people to be part of sharing that pride, and to inspire the young conservationists of tomorrow.”
Sir Peter Scott - a ‘Renaissance Man’ – fast facts:
- Only child of Antarctic explorer Captain Scott who famously instructed his wife to “make the boy interested in natural history”.
- Named after Peter Pan – his godfather was author JM Barrie.
- Famous broadcaster: commentated on the Queen’s coronation. He presented many radio programmes including Nature Parliament in the 1940s, and presented the first BBC nature television programme Look from 1955 to 1981, including the first BBC wildlife documentary filmed in colour in 1963.
- Artist and inventor: He invented the trapeze that racing crews use to hang from a sailing boat, the rocket net which catches birds, and he helped design the camouflage used by British World War II warships. His best-known painting, Taking to Wing, was printed 350,000 times as a picture or on Christmas cards and table mats.
- Conservationist: Scott was the first person to be knighted for services to conservation, in 1973. As well as being a founder of WWT and WWF, he drew their respective swan and panda logos.
- Sportsman: British gliding champion, won a bronze Olympic medal for sailing and a national championship standard ice skater.
Peter Scott's last unfinished painting of his vision of what London Wetland Centre would look like, still on easel (finished by Keith Shackleton)
Sir Peter was taken ill at Slimbridge in 1989, and died in hospital in Bristol. Slimbridge was the blueprint for wetland centres across the UK and the world. Peter saw eight of WWT’s nine wetland centres open before he died. He left a part-finished painting of what the final wetland centre in London would look like, which still sits on the easel in his studio lounge.
Peter Scott's famous studio overlooking the Rushy pen
