Humble Traveller: London Wetland Centre

The London Wetland Centre, despite it's name, is not where pre-Thatcherites go to play.

There is a statue to Sir Peter Scott at the entrance. He was distantly related to this loser and went from shooting stuff to building places were stuff can go - and then painting it. His Slimbridge place is just brilliant but, when you live in London, you need something a little closer.

This was built to attract birds. Some stay all year but many use it as a staging-post during migration. So as to attract the critters, everything is in natural colours.

There's plenty of plant-life around, too.

And insects. This might not look like much to you but it's the first time I've managed to photograph a dragonfly in flight. They're jumpy little buggers.

Some flowers, and one of my favorites; bullrushes.

It's THIS close to the city - actually it's within the London built-up area.

There's one of the hides where the twitchers go.

A smaller hide overlooking the lake.

Dicky-birds.

Here's what this one thinks of you.

A water-level controller thingy. Locked, sadly.

Baby Moorhen not falling through the water-lillies.

Flying ants ready for take-off. All the wingy ones are pregnant females who will go off to try and start a new nest. Bloody typical - as soon as life ain't chocolates and roses, she takes off with the kids.

Lots of insent attracting plants.

Couple of Kiwi-magnets that somehow escaped from the New Zealand enclosure. Wales, thankfully, was not represented.

Serbia, or something.

Swans having a clean-up.

Choo looking at me?

Good eating?

Couple of swans having a kip.

Heron waiting for fish. Don't fish-pond owners just love 'em.

Indonesian Swans, apparently. Looks like they got the bottom half of an English swan and stuck the top half of an Australian one on it. I leave the debate as to whether it would have better the other way around to the reader.