Your views Your letters and the pick of your photos

YOUR VIEWS

SEND US YOUR BEST PHOTOS!

We love to hear your thoughts about wetlands, WWT and Waterlife, and share your photos, so please email them to us at waterlife@wwt.org.uk or write to the address on page 3

The Dalmatian pelican is the largest and rarest of the pelican family

CATCH THE FISH!

I was treated to this lovely sight [above] of the pelicans feeding at WWT Arundel in December.

Shanti Brophy, via email

WWT says: We love the way you can see the fish through the skin of the pelican’s gular or throat pouch. Well done, Shanti. Pelicans are fun to watch, but they also help us engage all sorts of visitors, who may have different interests, with wetlands and their wildlife. We aim to take visitors on a journey – showing that wetlands support amazing animals that have incredible adaptations to their watery habitat. The feasibility of reintroducing ‘lost species’ such as pelicans to wetlands in the UK is being assessed, and we hope the discussion will encourage visitors to contemplate the scale of wetland loss that made the species extinct in the first place, and the importance of wetland conservation.

BIRTHDAY TREAT

My friends took me to WWT Martin Mere in December for my birthday. We saw lots of waterbirds and had fantastic views of a black-tailed godwit and a ruff from the Swan Hide. Feeding time was amazing, with hundreds of mallards, shelducks and pochards. It was a brilliant day out.

75 YEARS YOUNG

I try to get to Slimbridge as often as I can, and always find something different to see. I enjoy the new Waterscapes Aviary built for the 75th anniversary. I feel it has an extra-special appeal to me as I celebrated my 75th birthday last year, too. Hope you like my picture of an egret [left].

Beryl Biggs, via email

WWT says: Happy belated birthday, Beryl.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

I was pleased to see this great egret [below] at WWT Arundel in October, as I have never seen this species in the UK before. I managed to catch it feeding alongside a little egret, and you can see clearly what a large bird it is compared to its smaller cousin.

Jerry Campbell, via email

Great egrets are about the same size as a grey heron

RECONNECTING THE SEVERN VALE

I’d love to hear more about efforts to open up the floodplain in the Severn Valley. How and when did the Severn come to be embanked and the plain drained? There’s now a massive drainage board in the lower Severn to keep the land dry. Knowing about climate change, it seems daft to be running pumps to drain land that, if left to its own devices, would be storing carbon and supporting wildlife.

Alistair Wasey, via email

WWT says: Healthy floodplains are vital for wildlife, and provide ecosystem services, such as floodwater and carbon storage. The construction of river embankments has a long history and continues to this day, mainly to protect residential and industrial property. Much of the Severn Vale floodplain is currently functioning suboptimally, due to embankments and other physical modifications, abstractions, land-use change and agricultural intensification.Our Waterscapes programme, in partnership with farmers, will restore floodplain habitats within the Severn Vale, monitor and protect curlews, detect European eels, provide training and reconnect people with floodplain natural heritage. Find out more at: wwt.org.uk/flourishing-floodplains

The eight marsh harriers that visit WWT Arundel are the largest roosting population in Sussex

MARSH HARRIER SPECTACULAR

I am a keen amateur photographer. Over the past 15 years, I have caught a wide range of subjects on camera. It is always exhilarating to see species such as great white egrets and kingfishers in their natural habitat at WWT Arundel. But for me, the high point is the marsh harriers [above] that fly in to roost in the reeds in the late afternoon, around 4pm.