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Happy World Wetlands Day – Let’s Celebrate Our Ponds Together!

Photo: WWT

Happy World Wetlands Day – Let’s Celebrate Our Ponds Together!

This month, we’re celebrating local blue spaces for World Wetlands Day, writes our Learning and Community Engagement officer, Alex Baker. Wetlands are one of the world’s most biodiverse habitats and provide homes for many endangered species. Regular habitat loss and nature degradation threaten the world’s wetlands, and it is an important time to discover more about these wonderful ecosystems and learn how to protect them. Barnes Common is part of the Community BlueScapes project, which is working with the community in Richmond to restore and protect our local wetland spaces.

5 top facts about wetlands:
1. These diverse habitats can include marshes, swamps, bogs, rivers, and fens! Each provides a unique habitat for plants and animals.
2. These natural water filters improve our water quality by trapping pollutants and sediment.
3. They play a crucial role in flood management, absorbing excess water throughout heavy rainfall.
4. They store carbon! Wetlands are carbon sinks and collect and trap large amounts of carbon dioxide. This helps mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
5. They are home to many endangered plants and animals.

Take the CBS wetlands quiz to test your knowledge!

Join us for a nature discovery walk on Sunday 2nd February to learn about our projects and how we are supporting nature in our local area.

Wildlife watch:
The water vole is a shy rodent that lives along rivers, streams and reedbeds. You might be able to spot signs of them and their burrows along the riverbank. They like to eat grass and nibble at the stem at a 45-degree angle. This iconic species was reintroduced back into the London Wetland Centre in the early 2000s.

Fact of the month:
Barnes Common is working hard to provide blue spaces in Barnes and beyond. Recently as part of the CBS project, we have increased the capacity for flood water by creating a pond and two new reedbeds.

The Community BlueScapes Project:
Working in partnership with the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (LBRuT) and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), we have been awarded £6m from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to increase flood resilience in the Beverley Brook’s catchment in Richmond and areas of Wandsworth. The Community BlueScapes project runs over 6 years and is part of the £200m Flood and Coastal Resilience and Innovation Programme, managed by the Environment Agency (EA). We were one of 25 programmes selected to drive innovation in flood and coastal resilience and adaptation to a changing climate, across the country.