(Unexpected) Adventures at London WWT

I admit it- I'm quite a clumsy person. You could describe me as a curly-haired, eccentric girl who accidentally carries a bag of mischief around, with the intent to help. I have been volunteering at London WWT for almost two years now and have enjoyed every minute of it (ok- there have been some boiling days of hay making and freezing days of building, but still).

The other weekend, I accidentally turned up for the WWT Christmas weekend on the wrong day. I was meant to be a Bridge Greeter but ended up helping the learning team in the observatory. Children were given options of making various Christmas decorations. I helped out on the toilet roll tube stand, where I showed children how to put hay in tubes and decorate them with sequins, colouring pencils, pompoms and beads. It sounds a little odd but they make Santas and Christmas trees- they looked good, I promise! I also helped children make reefs with willow and ivy (see the photo below). Anyway, I was sent a lovely Christmas card from the learning wardens for the weekend which made me smile!

The Christmas reef I made.

Today, without really checking my emails, I turned up as usual on a Tuesday morning to volunteer with my team. I was excited because I’ve just got back from university for the holidays and missed the centre. I work on the grounds volunteer team at London WWT. Only, our manager was away on holiday and so no other volunteers were in. ‘Can I help anyone else pleaseeee’, I grinned with a cheesy, apologetic smile.

I ended up helping the reserve team today! The day started off with bird feeding, counting and cleaning. We used the trailer to lug around pots of bird feed; different birds have different combinations of dry food. Working our way around the reserves in the centre, I helped place food in the diving bird feeders (large hollow cages which sit on the water bodies), various dishes which were covered with lids or canopy, as well as on the shore line of some reserves. I also fed a friendly Robin, which apparently waits in anticipation for food every morning. Robins are territorial birds, and so along the paths, different ones were sitting down whilst singing out, marking their space.

Happy birds eating from their feeder.

We also counted the numbers of species that are not from the captive collection i.e. birds that move around. I counted the abundances of mallards and tufted ducks on each reserve, whilst the reserve warden counted some other species. The most abundant of all the species were Black-headed gulls and Feral pigeons, which kept stealing the bird food! Now, I have a soft spot for both species as my dissertation project focusses on Herring gulls and Feral pigeons but, I do understand that WWT only has so much bird feed! Some ways of avoiding them stealing food are: using diving bird cages so they can’t reach the food on the water, clapping, throwing stones in their direction, and also placing food on the shore lines.

Cheeky Feral pigeons waiting on the fence.

The water bodies were almost completely frozen over this morning, and everywhere was super frosty. We used metal poles to crush the frozen top layers, so birds could use the water. I won’t mention cleaning too much as it’d bore you! Along the way, we made sure all ‘bird muck’ was cleaned off the fences, as well as ice where possible, so the centre was all clean for all our lovely visitors! Cleaning the equipment wasn’t the nicest of jobs, especially as the pipe leading to the outdoor hut tap was frozen, meaning no hot water! We worked with it.

A frosty morning at London WWT!

11am is otter feeding time, and the public are free to watch. Unfortunately, one of our otters called Tod was a little too cheeky today, and pounced on a warden. There are three new otters on our reserve at the moment, from Slimbridge (bred in Washington), as the previous opposite sex pair were not breeding. The otters in Barnes are all brothers; Tod (cheeky, buddy with Pip), Pip and Sam (who gets left out, bullied and is receiving calming herbal medicine in his food). Basically, otters have distinct personalities! Anyway, I helped the wardens cut all sorts of fish, meat and vegetables for the otters. I was surprised that 100 mice were only 90p from a supplier but I guess they’re leftovers, perhaps from labs. Nonetheless, otters are hungry little things that eat a lot, and the wardens ensure they have a varied diet.

After a lovely cup of tea, we ventured off to the isolation pens to feed a thought to be metal-poisoned little Smew some medicine. Poor Smew. We then moved on to rake out hay from bird shelters, which were mostly damp. This has to be done approximately every couple of days, depending on the weather, to ensure all the birdies are warm and cosy.

The daily routine of a reserve warden at the centre takes longer than I thought and I was very happy to help, whilst learning, throughout the day. The wardens deserve a lot of praise for ensuring all the birds are comfortable at the centre!

The gloves I use for conservation work: RHS soft touch, picked up at Edinburgh Botanical Gardens.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.

Yours,

A Wildlife Wonderer xoxo