Otters, beavers and other wetland mammals once abundant in Britain, can now be appreciated in a new home thanks to help from Valencia Communities Fund Environmental Company. Working through the Landfill Communities Fund, Valencia Communities Fund gave £106,500 to help fund a new exhibition at the Wildlife & Wetlands Trust’s (WWT) Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire.
The exhibit, called Back From The Brink, shows wetland mammals at Slimbridge Wetland Centre for the very first time. Otters, beavers, water shrews, harvest mice and water voles can all be seen; and a CCTV camera ensures that none of the beaver's antics are missed by visitors to Slimbridge.
Back From The Brink took over six months to complete and includes a viewing gallery which was built using the ancient art of mixing earth, straw, water and sand together to create a traditional cob building.
A mesolithic camp area equipped with a tree house, firepit and circular seating area is used for campfires, storytelling and educational activities. Veronica Morriss, senior operations manager at WWT Slimbridge, said: "With the help of Valencia Communities Fund, Slimbridge is now one of the few attractions in the UK where visitors can watch a beaver in its natural habitat.
"The new exhibit engages the public in important conservation issues such as wetland habitat loss, species decline and extinction and the potential reintroduction of once native species, like the beaver, into the British landscape." As well as the help received from Valencia Communities Fund, Back From The Brink has also been funded thanks to a legacy from the late Raymond Victor Safe, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Dorus Trust, The Olive Herbert Charitable Trust and WWT members.