Wetland wildlife
Bewick’s swans knock on the doors at WWT Slimbridge
The first Bewick’s swans have arrived in the UK following their annual migration from Russia.
12 November 2024
Warming climate and storms see Bewick's make latest arrival since 1965
Today the first of this year’s Bewick’s swans have arrived at WWT Slimbridge, the latest they have arrived since 1965. Experts are linking their delayed arrival to climate change, combined with a mixture of stormy and mild weather in recent weeks.
16 November 2023
Mini-wetland revolution could help wildlife beat the heat and boost urban biodiversity
This summer, we are calling for everyone to build their own tiny ponds, drainpipe wetlands and bog gardens in backyards and on balconies to help nature thrive in soaring temperatures and help reverse the UK’s devastating decline in biodiversity.
11 July 2023
Returning birds are a ray of hope for UK curlew numbers
Four curlews hand-reared from eggs by WWT staff have returned to the Severn Vale and Avon Vales and bred with wild birds, representing a ray of hope for the threatened species.
26 May 2023
Wild Isles – UK Wildlife gets the Sir David Attenborough treatment!
A new Sir David Attenborough wildlife series hits our small screens in ultra-high definition this Sunday evening (BBC One at 7pm). Some of the UK’s most iconic wetland wildlife will feature including the high speed life of the Kingfisher in episode 1.
10 March 2023
WWT urges people to listen to a quirky alternative this International Dawn Chorus Day
From the song of warblers to the pee-wit of lapwings, we are urging people to get out into local wetlands and listen to the unusual and often outlandish sounds of wetland birds this International
29 April 2021
Storm Darcy forces Bewick’s swans to make rare migratory U-turn
A flock of Bewick’s swans which had begun their epic migration from Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire to the Arctic tundra have turned back to avoid the latest ‘Beast from the East’. Conservationists at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
12 February 2021
WWT welcomes steps towards removing lead ammunition from the environment
WWT has welcomed a voluntary ban on the use of lead ammunition by UK shooting organisations. The new initiative means that hunters are expected to transition from lead ammunition in favour of non-toxic alternatives by 2025.
24 February 2020
Start of winter brings first 'swanfall' at WWT Slimbridge
More than 50 swans have arrived at Slimbridge heralding the arrival of winter.
9 December 2019
The leucistic goose – giant flocks and the glorious glitches within them
Barnacle geese visit the Solway each year in their thousands and amongst the flock are a handful of rare birds that are a result of a genetic flaw.
28 October 2019
Funding helps support our work in Cambodia
WWT has been awarded a grant by the Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) for our work to conserve the globally Vulnerable sarus crane in the Lower Mekong Delta in Cambodia.
11 October 2019
Endangered ducklings hatch at Arundel Wetland Centre
The first scaly-sided merganser ducklings ever hatched at any Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) arrived at Arundel mid-May 2019 and are thriving.
7 June 2019
Wetlands key to ecosystem restoration
A specific wetland programme under the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration would help the world reach its ambitious goals of sustainable development, halting biodiversity loss and tackling climate change, says WWT.
22 March 2019
History made as world's rarest bird released into the wild
21 Madagascar pochards, a duck thought to be extinct for 15 years, has been brought back from the brink and given a new home on a remote lake in Madagascar.
28 December 2018
It could become legal to kill wild barnacle geese in the UK in the future
It could become legal to kill wild barnacle geese in the UK in the future, if a proposal by Norway to the EU is adopted. The reason is that the species has increased through conservation efforts to stop it sliding towards extinction. UK numbers of Sval
26 November 2018