The UK’s newest nature reserve was opened in east London over the weekend by Sir David Attenborough. Overshadowed by council tower blocks and swanky high rise developments, the 11 hectare (27 acres) site which includes a reservoir that supplies water to millions of Londoners, has become home to some of Britain’s more threatened birds including kingfishers, bitterns and Cetti warblers.

London Wildlife Trust has transformed the once barren wasteland into Woodberry Wetlands, with teams of dedicated volunteers planting dense reedbeds, hedgerows and wildflower meadows to attract birds, bees, butterflies and other insects.

Attenborough, who celebrates his 90th birthday later this week, officially opened the free-to-visit nature reserve, which has been closed to the public for 200 years. “Being in contact with the natural world is the most precious inheritance that human beings can have. If you lose that contact, you are losing your birth right.

A wren at Woodberry Wetlands. Photograph: Penny Dixie

“Being able to see beautiful birds, some of them coming here all the way from Africa, is a great pleasure everyone in cities should be able to enjoy,” he said as chiffchaffs, among the first migrant songbirds to arrive in the spring from western Africa, sang noisily from the treetops above.

“I’ve spent the last 60 or 70 years hearing about this disaster or that disaster – and ‘how can we stop this further catastrophe happening?’ and ‘we’re losing this species, we’re losing much that is so precious’... So it’s marvellous to be here seeing the reverse – seeing things getting better,” he told a crowd of volunteers and supporters.

Originally built in 1833 to store drinking water for the capital, the reservoir was pumped full of chlorine and sodium phosphate gas between 1955 and 1980, to disinfect the water, preventing almost all wildlife from living there.

LWT began work to create a public nature reserve six years ago as part of the regeneration of the Woodberry estate in Hackney. The £1m project was funded by the heritage lottery fund with support from the reservoir’s landlord, Thames Water, private housing developer, Berkley Homes, Hackney council and Veolia Environmental Trust.

London City landmarks visible in the horizon. Photograph: Penny Dixie/Woodberry Wetlands

Gordon Scorer, LWT’s chief executive, said: “Access to nature is incredibly important for people’s wellbeing, especially in built-up cities. Bringing nature within reach of a huge urban audience, demonstrates that nature and all its benefits can be successfully weaved into the fabric of London and other cities as they develop and grow.”

Millie Williams, 18, is one of the youngest of the 70 local volunteers who gives up their weekends to pick litter, scythe reed beds, make fences and plant trees and flowers on the site.



She said: “Volunteering here is the highlight of my week. I love it. It’s rare to find a place in the city where you can have a quiet walk and hear the birds. There’s a lot of pressure on young people with exams at school. Here you physically feel less stressed and anxious.” Asked why there aren’t more young volunteers, Millie said: “It’s not seen as a cool thing for young people to do.”

Coal House reservoir plaque. Photograph: Woodberry Wetlands

Jonathan Law, 56, and partner Geraldine, moved to their flat in Lincoln court overlooking the reservoir three years ago because of the bird-spotting potential. This winter Jonathan says he saw a bittern – one of the UK’s most threatened birds which is dependent on reedbeds to nest. Jonathan and Geraldine have volunteered as litter pickers. “It’s on our doorstep and we wanted to help clean it up for everyone to enjoy,” says Jonathan.

David Mooney, Woodberry Weltand project manager, promises that anyone who comes on the wetlands’ dawn chorus walks will catch a glimpse of a brightly-coloured kingfisher, described by Attenborough as “one of the most wonderful sights that Britain has to offer”. The site also attracts shovelers, tufted ducks, wades and terns. It is Hackney’s first breeding ground for Cetti’s warbler.

On the day of the opening, elegant great crested grebes glided by, which were once hunted almost to extinction in the UK for their ornate head plumes, while a gull was repeatedly dive bombing a couple of nesting Canadian geese in a scene that wouldn’t have looked out of place on an Attenborough wildlife programme. The naturalist said the great crested grebe’s breathtaking courtship ritual was as beautiful as any bird of paradise. “It’s a sight which , put on television, people say it’s fantastic ... but it’s out there [on the wetlands].”

The site is also close to council tower blocks. Photograph: Woodberry Wetlands

The urban nature reserve also provides foraging and roosting for bats, and habitat for frogs, toads and newts and a wide range of insects including the rare red-eyed damselfly and moths. The reedbeds were created with channels of water to protect the birdlife from more unwelcome city visitors such as cats and foxes. Alongside the conservation work, a Grade II-listed coal store has been resorted and turned into a visitor centre and café, and on the far side is a classroom and learning area with pond dipping and bee hives.

Berkley Homes provided support for a boardwalk from the entrance to the café and a bridge to connect the wetlands to its new homes, which are being sold from £425,000 up to £1.24m for a penthouse.

Asked if it housing developers should be obliged to do more to improve the natural environment for local residents, David Mooney said “Yes, it should be more incumbent on every developer to participate in projects like this.”

Attenborough said Woodberry Wetlands was a “win, win situation.”

Forty-seven separate wildlife trusts manage 2,300 nature reserves across the UK. Woodberry Wetlands is the 42nd nature reserve in London.