Arundel Wetland Centre

For my last full day in Arundel I knew that I wanted to spend my time exploring the Arundel Wetland Centre. It’s an easy walk from the town centre – simply walk by the entrance to the castle and continue all the way down the street, over a bridge then continue until you see the entrance on the right – it takes maybe 15 to 20 minutes. Do note that part of the route has no pavement but it’s a wide track and easy to navigate safely. There is of course a car park if you’re driving.

Tickets for an adult cost £14.50. On top of this is £3 for a boat safari which I was also keen to do. The boat safaris have timed tickets while the main site does not. The boats aren’t very large and hold just 8 people so there only a few sailings a day. They are wheelchair accessible for non-motorised wheelchairs. I booked as soon as I arrived since you can’t book the boat safaris in advance and since I only had 15 minutes to wait I stayed nearby the launch site which is just to the left of the entrance.

The safari takes around 20 minutes and the guide gives a history of the site and points out any wildlife. It was glorious sunny weather but we didn’t actually spot all that much wildlife whilst in the boat. Note that you can get a bit battered by the reed beds as you move through the water.

It was a pleasant way to get an overview of the 26 hectares site.

There’s lots to see and do at the Wetland Centre and I did end up spending the majority of the day there. Reed bed boardwalks allow you to walk through the very peaceful reeds, lakes and ponds and also more concrete paths leading to views of the surrounding woods – all paths are designed with accessibility in mind.

There are plenty of red-coloured darter dragonflies to see around here.

You can get a map at the visitor centre which is very handy to make sure you visit each area which I was determined to do. There are hides throughout to sit and watch the wildlife (and get a nice bit of shade), wildlife gardens, a pond zone, and an aviary and pelican cove to explore – as well as some play areas for children.

There is also the Coastal Creek area, an aviary you can walk through that has been designed to recreate the feel of a coastline.

Some of my favourites were the avocets,

and the spectacled eiders,

plus the Harlequin ducks.

There’s also lots of swans all over.

There is also an interesting little place to visit called the Wetland Secrets Plant House that is a traditionally thatched barn with displays about the traditional uses of wetland plants as food and as medicine. It’s a nice place with some lovely smells from the herbs.

The final area I visited was the Pelican Cove. It was here, after I’d had a very nice lunch at the onsite cafe, that I attended the Meet the Pelican Keeper event that takes place daily at 2pm. It was a very interesting talk about the Dalmatian pelican which are the largest and heaviest kind. The two pelicans at the site are called Rogue and Storm and have wing spans up to 10 feet. The keeper did a good job of answering questions while also trying to get the fish to the pelicans and not the other birds who were also very interested in lunch!

I had a great time at the Wetland Centre and its very easy to spend the whole day exploring.