Wonderful Wetlands

Shake off that winter fog and explore some of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s wetlands

- Harriet Lawrence

Spring may now only be just around the corner, but it still doesn’t feel like it. It’s still dark before 6pm, vitamin D levels are running low and we’re all feeling increasingly wistful about those long summer evenings lying on the grass watching the sunset. What we need is some excitement; some noise and colour and life to remind us that not everything is sleeping through winter, and that spring really is within our grasp. Out of all Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s nature reserves (and we have over 100 of them), we recommend a trip to a wetland to reinvigorate you out of your winter torpor.

While many mammals are asleep (and maybe we wish we were too) in winter, birds are on the move. Many species migrate to or through Yorkshire from colder climates, often travelling in huge numbers. Late February/ early March marks the close of a long winter, but Yorkshire’s wetlands are still full of birds, many stopping off on their journey home from wintering further south. In fact, this is the ideal time to visit a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust wetland reserve, as not only do you still have large flocks of migrating birds, you may also see the first signs of spring arrivals too, like the orange-billed oystercatcher and the pure black coot with his distinctive white beak.

Here are three of the very best Yorkshire Wildlife Trust wetland reserves to visit this month…

‘At times, in the centre of Wheldrake Ings, it can be so peaceful and remote you feel like the only person on earth’