Lancashire’s Martin Mere Wetland Centre will be reopening its doors this month enabling visitors to experience hundreds of rare species of birds, otters, fish, reptiles, amphibians and some of the country’s rarest plants.
Lancashire is fortunate to have many outstanding green spaces and wildlife habitats. Having these beautiful natural areas should not be taken for granted. Keeping these important spaces is becoming more difficult, particularly with property developers seeking to build on greenbelt land and councils scared to fight them due to high legal costs.
One of England’s and Lancashire’s finest wildlife habitats is the Martin Mere Wetland Centre and the conservation charity WWT has revealed it will be reopening on Wednesday 10th June.
For those eager to visit Martin Mere, it’s not going to be quite the same as before, i.e. turn up pay and enter. If you’re planning to pay it a visit, you will need to pre-book online for the day you want to visit.
This extra measure was put in place to protect visitors, staff and volunteers. The daily numbers will be limited, and both WWT members and non-members will need to book digitickets beforehand so that the charity can monitor numbers. Social distancing and additional safety measures will be in place.
WWT’s Chief Operating Officer Kevin Peberdy said: “We are delighted to be able to welcome people back to our wetlands after this extended period of lockdown.
“The lockdown has forced many of us onto the sidelines while spring’s great spectacle plays out, and what better way to catch up, than with a visit to our wetlands to see what nature’s been up to. It’s certainly been busy – above water and underwater; our wetlands are teeming with wildlife.
“We’ve made a number of changes to help everyone stay safe. Most importantly, we’re asking everyone to book online so that we can limit numbers and make sure there’s plenty of space to enjoy the wetlands in peace and comfort.”
In line with government guidelines, Martin Mere Wetland Centre’s indoors areas and areas where people may gather will remain closed; this includes play areas, cafes and shops. Also, all events, presentations, activities and talks are postponed until further notice.
The charity’s wetland centres in Arundel (West Sussex), London (Barnes), Slimbridge (Gloucestershire), Washington (Tyne and Wear) and Welney (Norfolk) will also open their doors to the public on June 10.
WWT hopes to open its wetland centres in the devolved nations: Caerlaverock (Scotland), Castle Espie (Northern Ireland) and Llanelli (South Wales), once permitted.
For more information on planning a visit to Martin Mere or any of the other WWT wetland Centres, visit wwt.org.uk/visit.
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