Sunday's wildfowl

After a rather luxurious lie in I was setting out to make my own way across south west London. Fortunately, the directions to get from my friend Alex's to Hammersmith (where I was meeting another friend, Lauren), weren't too difficult: take a right, a left, and then another right and then just keep walking until you get to a bus stop for the 220. And indeed these directions were just right. The problem was when I got to Hammersmith. This must be one of the most complex travel interchanges I have ever experienced. Plus it was hot so that confused me even more. After several phone calls I managed to meet Lauren outside a well-known burger restaurant. From where we negotiated our way to the bus stop to get to the London Wetland Centre. 

Lauren had suggested this and I had no hesitation to agreeing because:

1. I had been before in the winter and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It now being the summer there were bound to be some different birds (maybe some baby birds)
2. It being the summer it was sunny and warm and I'd rather be outside (Lauren helped me apply sunscreen while we waited for the bus)
3. Lauren had a special offer voucher as there was a special wildlife event going on, and I love both special offers and wildlife

Before we started on any serious wildlife related activities we needed feeding so grabbed a bite to eat in the excellent café. They had my favourite type of cola. But that wasn't before I'd had a look around a few of the wildlife attractions in the main courtyard area. This included talking to a lovely lady from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and collecting some literature about hedgehogs for Matt, my husband, who thinks they're really cute; who will glance at the pictures before passing the leaflets on to my mum who developed a rather close relationship with a hedgehog last winter.

We perused the various special wildlife activities available to us over lunch and chose to join a guided World Wetlands bird feed walk. Part of the centre is organised on a geographical basis so, for example, fowl from Hawaii are in one area and fowl from Africa are in another. The guide was very knowledgeable, being able to answer all my questions about swans. Not only is it true that a swan could break your arm, but also that a swan would break your arm (if you got in its territory during mating season).

This caused me some trepidation as I negotiated a black swan. But the lure of more baby birds was enough to make me walk boldly past said black swan. The presence of baby birds meant that mostly mating season was over so the male birds tended not to be at their most magnificent, but we still saw a few handsome specimens.

 

At the end of the tour was the otter feed. They were a bit shy to start with but the lure of fresh fish brought them out. They are truly beautiful creatures and I'm somewhat inspired to try to spot one in the wild. However I think that this is unlikely as I learnt (from another knowledgeable member of staff) that the otters native to the UK (the Eurasion otter Lutra lutra)  are nocturnal. I am not nocturnal.

After the guided walk we took ourselves on a tour of the nature reserve part of the centre. The highlights of which were:

1. Observing some keener birdwatchers than ourselves (and we are not unkeen) observing a kite (not the "let's go fly a variety") and a hobby (not the craft variety). They were so enthusiastic, it was entertaining to hear them talk, but it would have seemed rude to hang around with them and we didn't have the right kit to blend in
2. Spotting baby lapwings through the knowledgeable member of staff's telescope in the observation tower. 

I don't think that I have the patience to be a good birdwatcher.

We concluded our walk with a visit to the play area. I always think that there should be some facilities for the young at heart adult provided when I see so many fun things for the under 11s. I was desperate to go on the zip wire but don't think it was designed for someone of my mass. We did have a go on the balance beam (both of us made it across successfully) and Lauren got a bit of climbing practice in.

Before catching the bus back to Hammersmith (which was just as confusing on the second pass through) I had a good time in the gift shop. Here I could indulge in the things clearly designed for the under 11s. I bought some glow in the dark lizards, some birds that are a bit like koosh balls, a frog and two snakes. Which I am looking forward to deploying in my garden.