The London Wetlands Centre is managed by the Wildlife and Wetlands Trust and is located on the Thames between Hammersmith and Putney, near Barnes. It opened in 2000 and offers a wetland area for wildlife around four former reservoirs. For a period it has been offering free admittance and I took advantage of this offer for a visit. I was last there in 2002 and a lot has changed.
To reach the centre I travelled to Barnes on the train and it is a mile walk from there along a fairly busy road. The main buildings around the entrance and Sir Peter Scott who founded the Wildlife and Wetlands Trust casts his eye on proceedings.
I began on the west route, a pleasant walk along footpaths past the various lakes with plenty of wildlife to look at.
More lakes and birds.
The first hide I came to was the Headley Discovery Hide where there was an animated group of watchers with their lenses focussed on the latest rare bird of the day. I was invited to look but failed to see anything other than reeds in the distance.
Some pretty ducks then another lake in the area known as the Wildside which was quite extensive.
Larger lakes in Wildside.
There are two bat encolosures, one in the Lodge on the west route and another on the south route. The latter won various prizes in an art competition to design the enclosure but I couldn't work out how the bats got in and out.
Having finished exploring the west route I returned to the entrance then did the south route. This area has various educational displays and things for the children to do like making ponds and even a couple of rope bridges, which I declined. The slate garden showed early signs of spring flowers.
The WWF hide, then a bridge over a stream.
At the far end the high Discovery tower and another large lake. Having completed my walk around I returned to the start and had a pleasant lunch in the cafe before heading back home.