Discover wildlife on Sussex Day at Arundel Wetland Centre
June 16 is Sussex Day and Arundel Wetland Centre is celebrating the wildlife of Sussex with a series of walks and talks. The Sussex Wildlife Day event at Arundel Wetland Centre begins with WWT Guides in the Hides from 10 am, helping visitors ID birds with viewing scopes. A range of Opticron binoculars are also on display in the viewing gallery for hands on tryouts. At noon wildlife expert and WWT Arundel centre manager Dave Fairlamb is leading a walk to wildlife hides called “Gulls Galore & so much more”. At 2:30pm Dave will also give a talk on the A-Z of Arundel Wildlife in the Sandpiper Theatre.
WWT Arundel’s manager Dave Fairlamb said “Its a great time of year to see wildlife in Sussex, sometimes it helps to have someone show you what to look for to open up your knowledge to a new level. We love event days like this when we can chat with visitors and give another layer to their appreciation of nature.”
WWT Warden Paul Stevens will lead a talk on grass snakes and slow worms and hopes to have living samples to display from the wildlife surveys the WWT do on the reserve.
Paul Stevens said: “We use squares of tin to survey for grass snakes. The metal heats up with the sun and the snakes love the warmth in the morning and crawl underneath. We flip up the metal and count the snakes. 2015 has been a great year for grass snakes so far.”
WWT guide Lizzy Pearce will lead a tour of the non-native birds of the wildfowl collection at Arundel Wetland Centre at 1 pm. Visitors can enter the Sussex Wildlife Quiz to win a Flutter Butter Bird feeder for their garden or balcony. All Sussex Wildlife Day activities are included in your admission price. Arundel Wetland Centre is open seven days a week from 9:30-17:30 at Mill Road, Arundel West Sussex.
