Conservation
Rare wading bird breeds at Somerset reserve in miracle first
A rare pair of black-winged stilts have successfully bred chicks at WWT Steart Marshes for the first time ever.
10 July 2020
Human swan calls for lead shot ban ahead of EU vote
Human swan Sacha Dench has added her voice to the call for a lead shot ban from wetlands.
29 June 2020
Lead shot ban on knife-edge
The future of lead shot in the EU is on a knife-edge after several countries indicated that they will abstain or vote against a ban of its use in wetlands. Lead is one of the WHO’s ten most toxic human poisons, and kills a million waterbirds a year.
26 June 2020
The European lead ammunition scandal: the questions that need answering
Why is key vote on lead ammuniation repeatedy delayed?
18 June 2020
Welcome home! Black-tailed godwits return to WWT Welney
It seems that home really is where the heart is, even if you’re a black-tailed godwit. With good numbers already returning to Project Godwit sites this year, the future looks bright for these iconic waders.
19 May 2020
UK crane population reaches its highest level for over 400 years
Crane numbers are a 400-year high thanks to to a conservation partership between charities.
22 April 2020
Huge nature, wellbeing and climate cost of coronavirus
Environmental charities warn health of planet at risk from coronavirus impact
15 April 2020
Flamingos form firm friendships
Flamingos form friendships that last for years, new research shows.
14 April 2020
Elroy in Estonia!
Spring has sprung and the Bewick’s swans are making excellent progress on their migration back to their breeding grounds in the Russian Arctic!
31 March 2020
If we want to bring back farmland birds, restore a farmland pond, new research shows
Researchers have shown that restored farmland ponds contained twice as many bird species and almost three times as many birds, compared to neighbouring unmanaged and overgrown ponds.
4 March 2020
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
Protecting biodiversity at WWT Steart Marshes
Life thrives in wetlands and by creating and managing habitats, we can improve an area's biodiversity. One of our shining examples of how we can do this on a grand scale is the Steart Marshes, a huge salt marsh reserve created in 2014.
2 February 2020
International Swan Census: January 2020
Internationally coordinated censuses of the Northwest European Bewick’s swan population have been undertaken across the swans’ European wintering range at approximately 5-year intervals since 1984, with the next census scheduled for the weekend of 11/
8 January 2020
The Big Brood Count!
Around the weekend of 14/15 December the Swan Specialist Group held a co-ordinated count in Europe to find out how many cygnets were born this year. The NW European wintering population has been declining since the mid-1990s. To try to understand this dec
23 December 2019
Feeding in the fields
With winter in full swing, many Bewick’s swans have arrived at their wintering sites in northwest Europe. WWT’s centres provide some of the most important roost sites for the swans visiting Britain, with WWT Welney alone supporting more than 30% of Eu
11 December 2019