Quack

A few weeks ago I stumbled across the London Wetland Centre near Barnes; I say stumbled... I was on one of those exploratory walks which just happened to take me further than I'd intended when I set out several hours earlier.

Nestled in one of the Thames' west London bulges this former grey field sight now teams with birdlife with visitors flocking to hide out with binoculars, cameras and children of varying levels of interest and energy getting in a flap. Ironically it sits just up the road from Heathrow and therefore right below the frequently migrating man-made birds: their booming squark one of the few reminders that you're still in London. Aside from them it really is surprinsingly serene.

Sadly my stumbling was too late in the day to have a proper gander at the place but I dare say I'll make a deliberate attempt to get back to nature, just a few hundred yards from the Hammersmith flyover, sometime next year.