London Wetlands Centre, Barnes

Sir Peter Scott by the entrance of the London Wetlands Centre

With the weather holding hubby and I set off for the London Wetlands Centre in Barnes last Thursday. The last time we were there we took the boys who enjoyed searching for frogs. We found things had changed since our last visit. Parts had been re-landscaped and they now have otters!

I loved watching the otters play, run and swim making little squeaking noises. So cute. The pathways are well signposted and good to walk on. They have a great Lego animal trail for the kids (though I rather liked it too!). We visited all the hides and tried our best to identify the birds. I'd bought the booklet and referred to that for identification purposes as I'm pretty hopeless and still struggle to tell a moorhen from a coot! Dragonflies were everywhere too, pretty turquoise flashes. We walked the west route first then returned to have some lunch in the cafe. Afterwards we went into the observation tower overlooking the main lake, took in some of the indoor education areas and then set out to walk the south route. I particularly loved the rain garden and the bat house on this side. On returning we had a well earned cup of tea and sat outside in the sunshine. Of course I had to visit the shop. Somehow I managed to get out of there without buying anything - a miracle.

It was a lovely day - peaceful and warm. I can never get over the fact that just down the road is London and then there's this in the middle of it all. I keep telling people that there is far more to London than just it's centre. It covers huge areas and is diverse. I'm still only scratching the surface and I've lived here all my life. Anyway, I'm sure we will back at the London Wetlands Centre again sometime and maybe explore it in a different season. Here are a few photos of the day.