Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)
The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is a leading conservation organisation saving wetlands for wildlife and people across the world.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Service provider
- Industry Type:
- Environmental
- Market Focus:
- Internationally (various countries)
- Year Founded:
- 1946
About our work
“I want to do my little bit to save the world. And have fun doing it”.
It’s a feeling that brings together our supporters, volunteers and staff across the country and around the world.
The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is a conservation charity that saves wetlands, which are essential for life itself. Wetlands are the primary source of drinking water for people and wildlife. They also connect us with nature, and with ourselves, through beautiful landscapes and inspiring encounters with wildlife.
WWT’s ethos starts with the simple act of feeding a duck. That innocent connection with nature is more special if you’re feeding – say - the world’s rarest goose, saved from extinction by our expert aviculturists. It’s even more special if you’re surrounded by some of the UK’s top wildlife at one of our world class reserves, carefully designed and managed so wildlife will flourish.
We take this wetland expertise around the world. We rescue endangered species from the edge of extinction. We investigate what’s damaging the wetlands on which people and wildlife depend. We protect, repair and actually create exciting new wetlands for people and wildlife.
We work with communities, businesses and governments to help people live sustainably alongside wetlands, benefitting from the water, food, materials, shelter, livelihoods and enjoyment a well-managed wetland can provide.
WWT is one of the world’s leading science and conservation institutions in its field. But we’re unique because we never forget it all starts with the simple pleasures, like feeding a duck. And maybe a nice cup of tea.
WWT in numbers:
- 9 WWT Wetland Centres bring visitors and wildlife together around the most important substance in the world - water.
- 350 staff, including experts in plants, animals, health and water management, help communities and wildlife to live in harmony with the natural environment.
- 700 volunteers from local communities bring wetland nature alive for visitors to our Wetland Centres, and help to monitor wildlife and maintain wetland habitats.
- 3,000 hectares of prime wetland habitat are managed by WWT, much of it designated as nationally or internationally important for wildlife. We fence off as little as possible so you can get close to the action.
- 50,000 schoolchildren learn about water and the natural environment at our Wetland Centres every year, including 15,000 from disadvantaged areas through our free school visits scheme.
- 200,000 WWT members support our work in the UK and around the world, as part of the WWT family.
- 1 million visitors to our Wetland Centres are invited to get close to nature and find that personal connection between yourself and nature – either on your own or sharing the experience with the people you love.
Several million people, animals and plants have benefitted from WWT’s work since 1946 to save and celebrate wetlands for wildlife and people - and the number continues to grow every day.
History of WWT
WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre is often referred to as the birthplace of modern conservation. Our founder, Sir Peter Scott, is widely remembered as one of the fathers of modern conservation.
Peter Scott was the son of Antarctic explorer Captain Scott who, in his dying letter, urged Peter’s mother to “make the boy interested in natural history”.
Peter became an Olympic sailing medallist and a well-known painter and broadcaster. He created the IUCN red list which measures whether species are threatened or endangered. He was the founding chair of WWF – he even drew their famous panda logo.
Peter particularly loved the wild open marshes of Britain and the mysterious geese that visited from unknown shores. He started as a wildfowler but learned to protect first the birds, and then their wetland habitats.
In 1946 he set up the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge as a centre for science and conservation. Uniquely at the time, he opened it to the public so that anyone could enjoy getting close to nature.
Peter and his family presented the BBC’s first live television wildlife programmes from his artist’s studio overlooking the lakes at Slimbridge, from where he brought a love for the British countryside into millions of homes.
WWT grew from strength to strength during Peter’s life and since his death in 1989. We now welcome a million visitors each year to nine Wetland Centres in the UK, and we undertake more research and conservation projects around the world than ever.
WWT landmarks
1946 – Peter Scott opens Slimbridge, the first of nine WWT Wetland Centres across the UK.
1962 – The first Slimbridge-reared nene is released into the wild in Hawaii marking the start of the recovery of the world nene population, which had fallen to just 30. The world population is now over 2,000.
1969 – Plans to build a dam at the main area for breeding pink-footed geese in Thjorsarver, Iceland are dropped after successful lobbying by WWT.
1973 – Sir Peter Scott is knighted for his services to conservation.
1985 – WWT’s Martin Mere Wetland Centre is designated a Ramsar site for the international importance of the wildlife there – the Centre enables people from towns and cities in the North West of England to experience the special wildlife up close.
1993 – The main white-headed duck wintering site at Burdur Golu, Turkey is formally protected following a collaborative study initiated by WWT.
1999 – The long-term protection of barnacle geese at Caerlaverock by WWT and others enables the Svalbard barnacle goose population to reach 25,000 after dropping to just 300 in 1948.
2000 – The WWT London Wetland Centre is opened. It provides an oasis for wildlife and a place of tranquillity for people in the heart of London’s suburbs.
2003 – Carmarthen Bay is declared the UK's first marine Special Protection Area after WWT surveys show its importance for common scoters.
2005 – The Laysan teal, one of the most endangered species of duck in the world, is reintroduced to Hawaii with the help of WWT.
2006 – WWT opens a new eco-friendly £3.5 million visitor centre at Welney to bring communities across the East of England close to the thousands of migratory birds who share the Fens with them.
2010 – The Great Crane Project successfully hand-rears and releases 21 Eurasian cranes into the wild in England. The species has been absent in the UK for 400 years.
2011 – WWT begins breeding Madagascar pochard, there were only 22 left in the world. There’s now more than 80 and we’re scoping potential reintroduction sites.
2013 – A three-year project begins to give help 60,000 UK schoolchildren connect with nature by providing schools in disadvantaged areas with free learning experiences at WWT Wetland Centres.
2013 – WWT’s aviculturists hand-rear 16 spoon-billed sandpiper chicks in northern Russia, which boosts the global number of fledglings by a quarter. In case they don’t make it, a small reserve flock is being raised at Slimbridge..
