WWT London Wetland Centre is a wetland reserve managed by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in the Barnes area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London.
The site occupies more than 40 hectares of land which was formerly occupied by 4 disused Victorian reservoirs tucked into a loop in the Thames. These were converted into a wide range of wetland features and habitats before the site opened in May 2000. It was the first urban project of its kind in the UK. In 2002 an area of 29.9 hectares was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The site is important for resident, passage and wintering bird species, many of which can not be found anywhere else in London. In addition, there is a collection of captive wildfowl.
WWT
London Wetland Centre is a site that I visit at least once a year,
usually in winter to see 3 particularly elusive species: Bittern, Jack
Snipe and Water Pipit.
However, the main purpose of today's visit was to see the Sand Martins that had returned in recent days to breed at their artificial nesting bank. This proved to be very easy with c.30 birds at least seen flying around the wader scrape area, collecting nest material and entering the holes in the nesting bank. What wasn't easy was photographing these very quick flying birds although I did manage to get some record shots.
Sand Martin was a new addition to my 2026 UK year list taking it to 133 species
Photo: Sand Martins
Photo: Sand Martins
The most notable sightings from my visit were as follows (heard only records in italics): Sand Martin (c.30 at least), Chiffchaff (1 singing male seen and another heard), Cetti’s Warbler (3 singing males heard), Green Woodpecker (1), Great Spotted Woodpecker (1), Ring-necked Parakeet (at least 5), Lapwing (3), Grey Heron (3), Wigeon (6), Tufted Duck (c.20 at least), Common Pochard (1 male), Mallard (2), Gadwall (8), Teal (c.15 at least), Shoveler (4), Great Crested Grebe (3), Coot (c.20 at least), Moorhen (c.10 at least), Mute Swan (4), Egyptian Goose (1), Canada Goose (6), Cormorant (2), Herring Gull (c.10 at least), Lesser Black-backed Gull (2), Black-headed Gull (c.50 at least)
Here
are some other photos from my visit:
Photo: Ring-necked Parakeet
Photo: Ring-necked Parakeet
Photo: Ring-necked Parakeets
Photo: Ring-necked Parakeets
Photo: Ring-necked Parakeets
Photo: Ring-necked Parakeets
Photo: Robin
Photo: male Chiffchaff
Photo: Long-tailed Tit
Photo: Grey Heron
Photo: Grey Heron
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