WWT Festival of Birds welcomes thousands of visitors and new Slimbridge Zeiss Hide
WWT Slimbridge was the destination for thousands of people over the weekend as it held its annual Festival of Birds, which this year featured TV presenter and wildlife cameraman Simon King who was there to open the reserve's renovated Zeiss Hide.
Festival highlights also included talks by experts and celebrities - such as conservationist and TV presenter Mark Carwardine and the 'Urban Birder' David Lindo – specialist stalls, a waterbird spotting challenge and wild bird feeds.
And the weekend was a huge success despite the threat of snowfall and Slimbridge's resident bittern failing to show for the opening of the new hide (he did manage to make an appearance on the Sunday, however).
The Zeiss Hide has seen a wealth of improvements to improve views for birders, including widening of windows and better sound-proofing, plus information panels telling visitors about the surrounding wetland habitat and wildlife.
A new otter holt has also been constructed outside the hide, an area where otters have been seen, and it's hoped they will take up residence there.
The result is a transformed hide giving excellent views of the best birdwatching spot at Slimbridge, if not the best in the region.
Simon King unveiled a plaque to mark the re-opening then joined visitors for a birdwatching session. He voiced his support for the spoon-billed sandpiper project WWT has recently been an integral part of and said that joining an organisation like WWT was the best way for people to support conservation.
It was a sentiment also voiced by Mark Carwardine at a sold-out talk which took place at Slimbridge on Friday evening, at the start of the festival.
Carwardine's talk was about his most recent book, Ultimate Wildlife Experiences, in which he describes his 20 favourite locations in the world to see wildlife. But he also highlighted the pitfalls of wildlife tourism, when too many people could literally “love the wildlife to death”, and said people could do their bit by supporting sustainable tourism and a conservation charity such as WWT.
Slimbridge's Zeiss Hide is now open to all visitors. WWT is very grateful to Carl Zeiss for their continued generosity, which has enabled these improvements to take place and benefit the tens of thousands of people who visit WWT Slimbridge each year.
Companies interested in helping WWT to provide quality facilities for visitors to our sites, as Zeiss have done, should contact John Creedon at john.creedon@wwt.org.uk.
