Winter brings its own special beauty to our wetlands.
As the centre is currently close, we have decided to show you, a bit of what is happening behind the scenes. Get a snapshot of our reserve management work and uncover the fascinating wildlife.
Get a snapshot of our reserve management work and uncover what our fascinating wildlife is up to.
As the temperature drops, our wetland world is transformed. The hard frost that follows a chilly, clear night can make even the ordinary appear extraordinary. Winter is a perfect time of year for wildlife photography, below is our favourite’s image so far during this cold snap.
This past week the Grounds and Reserve teams have been really busy working with the wood chipper. The chippings will be used across the grounds to mulch flowerbeds. In addition, they are renovating the hedgerow blocks throughout World Wetlands. The benefits are the provision of more shelter around our bird enclosures, improved habitat for passerines and invertebrates, and flowers and fruit at eye level for everyone to enjoy.
Some of the late winter/early spring flowers are out now – Snowdrop (Galanthus Nivalis), Winter Aconite (Eranthis Hyemalis), and Hellebores (Helleborus Niger and H.Foetidus). And, with all this wet weather, mosses really do come into their own. The images below show Mosses on a drystone wall and Snowdrops along pedestrian paths
Our Magpie Geese have always been very shy and elusive, keeping their distance from people at all times – but not anymore. It was quite a surprise to us she came right up to us to feed! She now comes up and feeds from the scoop, and occasionally by hand. This has been unexpected, and hopefully, she will continue this new behaviour as time goes on.
We’ll keep you updated with another round-up when winter will nearly be done with us and spring is just around the corner. In the meantime, be sure to keep up-to-date with wildlife news on our centre social media channels.
