'World Wetlands Day is a United Nations International Day of Importance that celebrates the value and benefits of wetlands.'
On the 2nd of February 1971, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance was signed in Ramsar, Iran and so this year marked its 53rd anniversary.
Wetlands, areas either always covered by water or for part of the year including flooded or waterlogged areas, are extremely diverse and valuable ecosystems that are sadly overlooked and undervalued.
They make up a mere 6% of our Earth's surface and have drastically declined since the 1970s at a rate three times faster than the loss of forests!
Over the years our wetlands have been underappreciated and misunderstood, used and abused, drained and filled in to provide solid ground for humans to continue their 'development' takeover.
Wetlands have many benefits but to me, the most important is that they are a home to many creatures big and small. That is surely enough to protect them?
World Wetlands Day is an important day of recognition with aims to raise awareness for the conservation and wise use of these magical places. World Wetlands Day is celebrated on the 2nd of February annually, however this year it fell on a Sunday and we don't go anywhere on weekends! Therefore we decided to celebrate a day late on Monday the 3rd. This year we visited RSPB Saltholme a former industrial land, transformed into a thriving nature reserve, focusing on restoring and conserving the local wildlife. It has many wetland areas and lots of birds! See the photos I took below.
Read more here about What are wetlands, and why are they so critical for life on Earth?
And visit the official World Wetlands Day websites here Official website of World Wetlands Day by Ramsar - 2 February - World Wetlands Day
And visit the official World Wetlands Day websites here Official website of World Wetlands Day by Ramsar - 2 February - World Wetlands Day
Saltholme is about a 1.5-hour round trip for us and we don't like to leave our old dog home alone too long so it was a bit of a shorter visit. It was still a lovely time, walking around a part of the reserve we didn't get to explore on our last visit and weather-wise it was a perfect Winters day!
There was a huge Goose presence; Cananda Geese, Greylag Geese and the sound was pure joy!!
Other highlights of the day were a lovely little Robin who welcomed us as we arrived and a really cool encounter with a beautiful female Kestrel!
Hopefully, we get the opportunity to visit Saltholme again later this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment