In February 2023, Mr H & I joined WWT - The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust - as members and began an ongoing obsession with our local centre in Washington. There are 10 reserves around the UK though our next nearest is about 3 hours away and we're yet to visit any other than Washington.
I'm not complaining though, we adore Washington! Only a 15-minute drive from our house and 5 minutes around the corner from where Mr H works, it's actually unbelievable that such a paradise exists in our area.
For those who don't know, Washington Wetlands is a nature reserve and wildlife haven established in 1975! Comprising of walk-through collection exhibits, a wild reserve, woodland areas and more, it's set over 103 acres and being members has given us plenty of opportunity to explore pretty much all that is accessible by now.
At this point, we have now been members for 17 months and have been lucky to see the site during every month except August (we do not visit during school holidays). We've witnessed the shifting seasons, the change in the landscape and the variety of visiting species of not only birds but insects too. I am still yet to see any amphibians, which I am sad about!
Something extra special we were lucky to experience was a Bat Evening event where we saw many Common Pipistrelle feeding among the trees and witnessed Daubenton's Bats whooshing over the water's surface in pursuit of their food. It was truly incredible and photos from that night can be found in my previous post. >(
A Year at WWT Washington // Summer)
Obviously, wherever I go my camera goes and it's common for me to take far too many photos. I have previously shared three posts with photos detailing our visits throughout Spring which I have linked below, one full of Summer photos and this is part one of two Autumn posts! I know I'm late in sharing this season as Winter is fast approaching but better late than never!
September 28th 2023
October 26th 2023
Our first visit of Autumn was only 5 days into the season but it was well seen that Autumn had arrived! Early Autumn is so beautiful, while the trees still hold their leaves and there is such a huge range of saturated colours everywhere. We stuck to the main collection area on this visit and it was lovely to spend time with some of my favourites (The Magpie Geese and Bewick Swans) as well as getting some pretty good shots of the Otters. There are also many photos of the signage because the Wetlands had recently updated them with new ones.
In October we had been on our belated Honeymoon to Disneyland so it was a busy month but I still needed to squeeze in a trip! It turned out that we chose the rainiest day ever and it was far too wet to even get my camera out hence the dire lack of photos. It was still a lovely walk through North Wood though.
As I said at the end of the last of these posts, these photos are obviously from a year ago, so it's lovely to look back on them and compare them to the sights I've experienced the past month or so in real-time. The environment doesn't just change with the seasons but is different each year too. Go support WWT and visit your nearest reserve!
