'We're an urban oasis sandwiched between A-roads'

A wetland centre which saw high demand for hundreds of free tickets hopes visitors will see the impact of its "remarkable urban oasis" on wildlife and wellbeing.

Five-hundred free passes to WWT Washington, near Sunderland, were snapped up in three days, as part of an initiative to mark World Wetlands Day.

Centre manager Gill Pipes encouraged people to visit year-round, saying the site, nestled in an industrial area, was the "last bastion of protected land for the wildlife that is so important".

She said entering was "a bit like Dorothy opening the cabin door into Oz," adding: "You almost forget that you're sandwiched between the A1 and the A19."

WWT Washington, which was once farmland, is placed in a natural dip in a "really industrial, well-used area", Pipes said.

Sunderland is to the east, and Washington, which was designated a new town in 1964, is to the west.

Pipes said the 42-acre (17-hectare) sitewas home to "locally and nationally important populations of really threatened species", including lapwings and curlews.

Of the characters on the site, Pipes said their father-and-son Asian short-clawed otter duo, Musa and Buster, "don't realise that they're supposed to be nocturnal".

"We see them quite a lot during the day," she said.

"They like to tell everybody they've never been fed, but they get fed four times a day."

The site also has a breeding population of willow tit birds, which are more rare than the southern white rhino, Pipes said.

She said the animals living there were not easily spooked, used to the urban environment.

The roe deer would "make eye contact with you and then just go back to munching and crunching on whatever delicious thing they've found", she said.

World Wetlands Day, on 2 February, marks the anniversary of the Convention of Wetlands in 1971, which was set up to provide the framework for international cooperation for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands.

Pipes said WWT was delighted by the free ticket uptake, but that tickets usually cost about £10 with various discounts available throughout the year.

She said they were "pretty much at capacity" in the car park next week, during the free ticket offer, but that "you could still turn a corner and be the only person there and you'll be the only person you can hear never mind see".

"It's a really great space for people to come for their wellbeing," she said.

Pipes said: "There are a lot of demands upon us, particularly in our area of the country.

"I would just really encourage people to use us as that resource because we're really close by and we really want them here."

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