A Trip to the Wetlands Trust

We had a lovely day out at Washington (that's Washington, Tyne & Wear - the original Washington - not Washington DC!).

We started at Washington Old Hall, a small but interesting National Trust House with connections back to the 13th century with George Washington's family.

After lunch there we moved on to the Washington Wetlands Centre (run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, WWT). To our shame, it's years since we went there and it's only a 1/2 hour drive from home. Anyway, it was a blippers' paradise!

The main photo is of an Asian Short-Clawed Otter having its mid-afternoon snack; these otters are an endangered species which the WWT is working to preserve. It was great fun watching them being fed.

(It's best viewed large for all the gory detail...!)

The extra is a rather pretty Female Paradise Shelduck.

It was a little tricky deciding on my choice of blip so there's more on flickr here if you'd like to take a peep.

(PS. Advance Notice: Tomorrow's blip will probably end up being backblipped, as we've very kindly been given tickets for the opening ceremony of the Great Exhibition of the North on Newcastle/Gateshead Quayside tomorrow evening. I'll be hoping for some decent shots, but the ceremony doesn't finish until 11pm.)