Illuminature – a winter wander through the WWT London Wetland Centre

If you fancy a wander around a nature reserve at night surrounded by the sounds of the wildlife and winter lights, then the WWT London Wetland Centre in Barnes could be for you.

Now in its second year, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) has created a long wandering trail around the ponds that make up the wetlands and coupled with the sound of nature around (and the planes overhead), it’s a very relaxing amble.

Slightly too easy to wonder if you’re heading in the right direction as more arrows would be nice, especially as there are a lot of gates that need opening and closing to get into each section. However, even that slight sense of wondering if you’re wandering off the trail is quite pleasant in a stuck in the woods at night sort of way.

Cleverly, the signs explaining the various animals and birds to be found in different areas are themselves lit up at night so this can be both educational as well as entertainment, and in some places, there are buttons to press to bring the animal lights to life.

Elsewhere, long strings of lights guide you around, and eventually to the far corner of the site where a wooden shed hide is open to go inside. If you can find them in the darkness inside there are some infrared glasses to peer outside and see the animals in the wetlands. Not that I saw much more than the grasses waving the wind, but it was fun to try.

A lot of the lighting displays have animal themes and don’t miss the willow room covered in lights that’s worth bending down to walk inside and have a look around.

I spent an hour ambling around on my own, and a family will doubtless take a lot longer to take in everything that’s been provided.

Illuminature is open weekends through to early January, plus every night between 19th to 31st December.

• Adult £18.50
• Child £14.50
• Family £60
• Groups £14.80

Tickets can be booked from here.

If you have Tesco Clubcard points, they can also be used to buy tickets.

The WWT naturally has done a lot of work to make sure the lights don’t disturb the wildlife, and in fact, they’ve found the birds seem to quite enjoy the lights.

Getting to the WWT London Wetland Centre

It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from Barnes station. There are trains to/from Waterloo station roughly every 10-15 minutes. Alternatively, walk over the bridge at Hammersmith, and there are several buses from Castelnau to the Wetlands centre.