Wetlands, waders and wellies! (Slimbridge Wildfowl & Wetlands Centre)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Slimbridge Wildfowl & Wetlands Centre
Date:	20/08/09 (191 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: excellent well planned nature centre

Disadvantages: none

We had been spending a few days in Devon and decided to extend our trip by visiting the wonderful Wetlands centre at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire on our way home. This is a great place to visit if you are interested in birds or wildlife in general. It is one of a number of centres up and down the country that belongs to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT).

We were travelling up the M5 from Devon and left the motorway at junction 14. It was then very easy to follow the brown duck signs to Slimbridge which was a further ten miles. You can also leave the motorway at junction 13 if you are travelling south.

When you arrive there is a large car park which is free and good access into the visitors' centre. Here you can pay your admission or if you choose, take up membership of the trust. Admission is really reasonable with adults costing £8.75, concessions at £6.75, children at £4.80 and under fours are free. I think these prices represent really good value for a day out and at Slimbridge it is easy to spend the whole day there. However, if you are a member you don't pay any entry fee at any of the centres across the country. We are members and we pay £60 for an annual family membership consisting of two adults and two children. There are lots of different memberships on offer though, depending on your situation at the time. If you live near to any of the centres it is definitely worth considering a membership. Much of the money from the admissions or the memberships go directly towards the conservation work that takes place at the centres.

There is so much to do at Slimbridge that it's difficult to know where to start. The site is divided into different geographical areas where you can see birds from all over the world. Our favourites are the Hawaiian Nenes which are beautiful endangered birds. I couldn't help noticing that there are far less of these though than when I first visited Slimbridge about twelve years ago. There are so many other birds to see but the ones that seem to be in the greatest abundance are the fascinating flamingos. They are very noisy, brilliant to watch but also extremely smelly!

A new feature for me this visit is the otter exhibit which has only be open to the public since July 29th. These are a family of four North American female otters who are happily swimming in a large pond which can be viewed from behind a glass screen. My daughters loved watching the otters swimming around and it was such a rare treat for us too. This area is called Back from the Brink which says it all really.

For the more serious birdwatcher there are a number of hides which look out on to lakes or the Severn estuary. There are notice boards that tell you what has been sighted recently so you know what you might expect to see. Also, if you visit the website there is a list of all 393 birds that have been seen at the centre since its opening in 1945 and the present! It's a particularly good area for waders. My husband is a keen birdwatcher so he went off to the hides with his binoculars while I took the girls to the newly opened Welly Boot area.

This is a totally amazing play area but be warned because your children are likely to get very wet! There is a shallow stream that runs all the way around the area with lots of different crossings as well as slides, roundabouts, climbing structures and much, much more. Everywhere you looked children were having lots of fun and getting incredibly wet. My girls did not have swimming costumes with them (which would have been ideal) but as we had changes of clothes in the car they just ran about getting wet and then changed before going home. I do recommend taking spare clothes though if you are going to take your children here. I also couldn't help noticing just how safe the surface was. There were loads of children slipping over in the water, but not one of them seemed to get hurt and not one got upset at falling over! It was quite difficult to drag the girls away though!

Every day there are plenty of events going on at specific times. You need to pick up a leaflet which has a map on one side and all of the events on the other as you will otherwise end up missing something as it is all quite strictly timetabled. Daily events include things such as guided walks and talks, land rover and canoe safaris and bird feeding during the winter months. There is also a cinema showing wildlife films. We did not do any of these this visit due to the times not fitting in for us, but we have done things in the past and they are all incredibly good.

Children are well catered for at Slimbridge. Apart from the Welly Boot area, they can go pond dipping or go to the Visitors Centre to see Toad Hall where there are lots of amphibian displays. There is also an area here where they can do lots of art activities. On our visit, for a minimal charge they could make clay models or badges. My girls always enjoy their art activities and they loved being able to make a badge that they could bring home!

All of the areas are really well kept and it is wonderful to see all the birds mainly being able to roam free in their areas. There are no birds in cages at Slimbridge. The whole area is beautiful and just walking around is an absolute delight. A lot of the areas do get very busy though as it is a hugely popular place. The whole site is pretty large so you could do quite a lot of walking. There are plenty of benches to sit on though, mainly ones that have been donated in memory of people who loved the site. It is quite moving reading some of the plaques and it goes to show just how much people have enjoyed Slimbridge over the years.

If you get a bit hungry or thirsty you can visit the Waters Edge Restaurant. We had drinks here when we first arrived and we also ate lunch. They do specials every day which are served at a self service husband. Both my husband and I had a very tasty lasagne and our daughters had a lunch box each which had about five different items including sandwich, fruit, crisps and a drink. They also got a free mask each which they absolutely adored and wore for the rest of the visit! The food is fairly reasonably priced and including drinks, we paid just over £25 for our four lunches. They also do very nice looking cakes but for once I resisted temptation.

There is so much to do at Slimbridge and I have only just touched on a few things. If you want to get an idea of their full programme and also their special events you can visit the website at

http://www.wwt.org.uk/centre/122/slimbridge.html

If we lived nearer I am sure we would be visiting there many times. As it is, we have to restrict our visits to just one or two a year but we do love going back!

There was just one other incident on this visit that has made me think even more of Slimbridge. As we were going home after about an hour, my elder daughter suddenly realised she had left her teddy behind (even though we had told her to leave it in the car as she is always losing things!) She was quite upset so I told her that I would email the centre as soon as we got home. I did so, and within an hour I had a reply from a very nice lady telling me that Teddy's in the post! How's that for good customer service?

Summary: A fabulous day out.