Wetland and Wildfowl Trust

 

 

Address: Hundred Foot Bank, Station Road, Welney, Cambridgeshire.

 

 

Client: Wetland and Wildfowl Trust

 

 

Status: completed 2006

 

 

Project Description:

 

 

Peter Scott was the son of Antarctic explorer Captain Scott who, in his dying letter, urged Peter’s mother to “make the boy interested in natural history”. Peter became an Olympic sailing medallist and a well-known painter and broadcaster. He created the IUCN red list which measures whether species are threatened or endangered. He was the founding chair of WWF – he even created the famous panda logo.

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Peter particularly loved the wild open marshes of Britain and the mysterious geese that visited from unknown shores. He started as a wildfowler and learned to protect first the birds, and then their wetland habitats. In 1946 he set up the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust as a centre for science and conservation. Uniquely at the time, he opened it to the public so that anyone could enjoy getting close to nature. Peter and his family presented the BBC’s first live television wildlife programmes from his artist’s studio from where he brought a love for the British countryside into millions of homes. The WWT grew from strength to strength. there are now a million visitors each year to nine Wetland Centres in the UK, undertaking more research and conservation projects around the world than ever.

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In 2006 a new eco-friendly £3.5 million visitor centre at Welney was opened by Chris Packham, replacing Peters original old Scout hut type buildings to help bring communities across the East of England close to the thousands of migratory birds who share the Fens with them. It was during the winter of 2006 that we helped to provide some of the new planting and habitat improvements around the car park which included ponds around the entrance walkway, reed beds and planting 40 or more unrooted Willow staves which would eventually root and grow into new Willow trees. Following the WWT teams success in providing educational visits for groups and schools at centres around Britain, in 2013 an extended project began to help even more school children connect with nature by providing schools in disadvantaged areas with free learning experiences.