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Slimbridge Wetland Centre, Gloucestershire

Bewick Swans at Slimbridge

Established in 1946, Slimbridge Wetland Centre is a large area of estuarine wetland on the eastern banks of the river Severn in Gloucestershire. Peter Scott, the son of polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott, visited this area in 1945 and became fascinated by the migratory birds which would use the Severn as their winter quarters. The following year Scott founded the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust as a conservation organisation dedicated to preserving these environments. As part of this scheme a centre was created at Slimbridge with visitor facilities and protected environments for birds and wildlife. Slimbridge is in fact a characteristic development of the idea of a zoo. The world's first zoo, London Zoo, opened in Regent's Park in 1828. These institutions illustrated the growth of one of the most important preoccupations of the modern world, an increasing interest in the natural world. At somewhere like London Zoo, the approach was to take animals out of their natural environments and present them to people in viewing enclosures. Zoos then began to evolve, enclosures becoming bigger and trying to mimic natural habitats. Eventually this would lead to the wildlife park idea, where giraffes would wander around in big paddocks in places like Wiltshire. However, the most welcome change was not to take animals out of their usual environments at all, but to give protection to those environments, and then allow people access in a controlled way to view wildlife. At Slimbridge there are elements of a zoo. Some collections of animals are not native to Britain, such as extensive and beautiful communities of flamingoes. These animals need special care to allow them to live in Gloucestershire, and are displayed to the public from purpose built enclosures. But essentially Slimbridge is an effort to manage and protect a natural environment which wildlife is using anyway. The migratory Bewick swans which originally inspired Scott to create Slimbridge, spend their summers in Siberia, and only fly in to meet the tourists in winter. Wildlife at Slimbridge changes every season due to its diverse range of habitats. Near the visitors centre there might be enclosures for otters, and incongruous flamingoes, but on the edge of the property there are a series of hides where visitors look out over wetlands where wildlife is doing what it will.

 

 

Visitors Centre at Slimbridge

Slimbridge claims that the centre is "the birthplace of modern conservation". It is true that the British conservation movement dates back to the late 1940s. It was the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949 which established the idea of habitat conservation through site designation. It should be said, however, that the Americans had been designating sites of special environmental interest since the 1870s - Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872 as a means of preserving the natural environment in a large area of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. This was followed by the establishment of California's Yosemite National Park in 1890. In Britain there had long been pressure to designate certain environments as deserving special protection from private commercial interests. In the first part of the nineteenth century William Wordsworth was famously calling for such protection to be given to the Lake District. There was also an increasing feeling that certain parts of the countryside were too valuable to be held by private owners, and should be managed in the interests of their preservation, and for the enjoyment of all. In 1932, for example, there was a mass trespass on Kinder Scout in the Peak District, by people who felt this was an area that should be set aside for conservation and general enjoyment. It was this public feeling which was finally answered by 1949's National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. So it is not quite right to call Slimbridge the birthplace of conservation, but it is certainly true that Scott's efforts at Slimbridge anticipated British government legislation on the designation of certain environments as deserving protection. The area of wetland Scott identified and moved to protect was one of the very first areas to be treated in this way in Britain, and is an important milestone. The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust now has nine centres in the UK.

Finally it is interesting that the estuarine wildlife studied at Slimbridge includes humanity. Coasts and estuaries have been favoured locations not only for bird life, but also for humans for long periods of their history. During the period when humans lived by hunting and gathering, in the mesolithic era, estuaries were good places to live. Estuaries offered opportunities to supplement a hunter gatherer diet with fish. Slimbridge has recreated a human settlement as it might have looked in the mesolithic era. This was a time of wandering, of following herds, searching out roots and berries, finding a river to fish. The settled time of farming, which began in northern Europe around 5000BC, was still to come. In fact the delay of a settled farming culture in Britain could be due to plentiful marshlands which offered rich food supplies. The wetlands meant that people in what is now Britain did not have to turn to farming until long after people in the Middle East or Asia (see for example Europe's First Farmers by T. Douglas Price).

The Slimbridge centre has over 325 hectares to explore, a large children's play area, Landrover rides and canoe safaris. There is a large shop, and a restaurant with great views over the flamingo enclosure.

 

Opening Times: Open every day, except Christmas Day.

November to March, 9.30am - 5pm, last admission 4pm. Christmas Eve open 9.30am - 3pm.

April to October, 9.30am - 5.30pm, last admission 4.30pm.

The canoe safari runs daily from Easter to September.

 

Address: WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, GL2 7BT

Directions: Exit the M5 at junction 13 or 14 and follow the brown signs. Click here for an interactive map centred on Slimbridge Wetland Centre.

Access: Paths are firm and level. There is good access to virtually every part of the centre, including the viewing hides, except the top floor of the Holden Tower. It was amusing to see visitors kitting themselves out with hiking boots in the car park. There isn't really the need. The Centre has a selection of manual and motorised wheelchairs available. Telephone 01453 891900 to book one. Six adapted toilets are available.

Contact:

telephone: 01453 891900

fax: 01453 890827

web site: http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/slimbridge

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