The Last of Winter at Washington Wetlands

 

We took a spur of the moment trip to the Wetlands on March 9th and the signs of Spring were bountiful!
It's understandable that people think that Spring is in full swing when we are having 14°C weather and so much colour is returning to the trees, but at this point we still had another couple of weeks until Spring Equinox and I'm forever against wishing time away. I tried to make the most of what little Winter we had left during March and it made me sad to have such typical late-Spring weather. How are people still denying Climate Change and the terrible effects it is having on our poor planet?

Anyway, this was my last WWT Washington trip for the season, and here are the photos I took.

World Wetlands Day 2026

 '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, which means thankfully this year it fell on a Monday! Mr H now works weekdays, so instead my Mam accompanied me to Washington Wetlands. It ended up being busier than expected and where there are noisy children, there are not as many birds, but we still managed some cool sightings and on the whole a nice walk to appreciate our wetland areas. See below for my photos from the day.

Read more here about What are wetlands, and why are they so critical for life on Earth?

And visit the  Official website of World Wetlands Day here.

Other posts of interest:
World Wetlands Day 2024
World Wetlands Day 2025