Country & Garden: Urban Jungle - We like it wet and wild round here

Urban Jungle

Forget the turn-of-the-century bash at the Dome - the best millennium party in town is already up and running and causing a stir in a little- known part of south-west London. Huge numbers of foreign visitors are pouring into the area behind Castelnau on the former Barnes Elm reservoir site in Hammersmith, as the Wetland Centre, the largest wetland creation project in Europe, opens its doors to a vast array of wildlife migrating in from all corners of the globe.

The Wetland Centre is spread over 105 acres and will be completed and open to the public in May 2000. It is a truly impressive set-up - impressive for the site itself, but also because of the way in which a partnership has been forged between commercial and conservationist interests.

The three main players are Thames Water, WWT (Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust) and Berkeley Homes. Thames Water owned the site and, when it became redundant after the construction of the Thames Water Ring Main, began looking for ways to use the land sympathetically.

Sir Peter Scott (1909-1989), the founder of WWT, was on the lookout for a site to make his dream of a wetland centre in the heart of London come true. House builders Berkeley Homes put profits directly generated from the sale of homes on the site into getting the scheme under way. They even incorporated wetland areas to tie in the general landscaping of the residential scheme.

The fact that these three sides have come together should give us all hope for the future of urban development. Property developers aren't the first group that springs to mind when considering the conservation of nature and the introduction of wildlife into an urban area. Yet this project proves that the benefits gained by seeking solutions through collaboration are much greater than merely going through the motions of consulting a conservationist in order to jump safely through the planning hoops. Of course, the Wetland Centre is no ordinary site - it was a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) due to the important wildlife it already supported - but it is encouraging to think that other, more average, sites could be treated with similar understanding.

Open-water lakes, reed beds and mudflats have been carved out of the existing reservoirs and designed to encourage the feeding, roosting and breeding opportunities of as wide a range of water birds as possible. In May 1999, long before the doors are officially opened next year, meticulous monitoring showed a total of 94 different bird species in the area, a number which is expected to keep on rising. These birds range from wildfowl and waders, such as herons, grebes, swans and ducks, to green sandpipers, pintails, swallows, parrots, owls and woodpeckers. There is even a resident kingfisher. And it is not just birds, either. Already there are bats, frogs, newts, beetles, butterflies, moths and 20 different species of dragonfly.

The centre consists of three areas: the Peter Scott visitor centre with a lecture theatre, art gallery and restaurant; the exhibits; and the reserve itself. There is also a glass observatory overlooking one of the lakes - a great place to view the live action in comfort.

Incorporated into the Wetland's grand design are three innovative gardens made by Cleve West, Arnie Maynard and the Landart group, proving that gardening can be ecologically aware as well as bold and exciting. You can sense the fun that has been had in designing these gardens: wood and steel sculptures set against a mass of spiky yuccas; log installations which provide homes for a huge range of insects, lying amidst copses of silver birch.

CCTV has been installed in the main hides all round the site, not to catch intruders but so that pictures of nesting, roosting and feeding birds can be relayed on TV monitors. And, when the centre goes on to the Web next year, you will be able to make a virtual visit on the Internet.

Attention to detail is the watchword of the project. All the different habitats have been precisely planned to attract as wide a variety of wildlife as possible. Everything on-site has been recycled, including all the concrete edges from the existing reservoirs, and half a million cubic metres of spoil has been divided into six different types, relocated and then sculpted to form the new landscape of 30 re-formed lakes, ponds and marshes. There is wheelchair access throughout, including a lift in the three-storey hide, a bus - which will run from local railway stations to encourage the use of public transport - and a restaurant to keep you there all day.

A pool of 90 local volunteers from all walks of life (with many more waiting in the wings) has been an essential element in the development of the area - in the planting, as well as in keeping the area under control by selective weeding out of invasive plants, such as bullrushes. Fifty per cent of the site has been devoted to native species, while the other half has been left to colonise itself.

Doug Hulyer, the director of WWT and a driving force behind this project, is a realist as well, having a long-term vision for urban regeneration. "The first thing we aim to do for visitors is to make this place a great day out," he says. "The emphasis is on education through entertainment. Adults as well as children always learn loads when they're enjoying themselves. If they can come here, learn something and take home some of the ideas to try out in their own gardens, then that will be a great achievement."

It will be a great day out, too. This place isn't only for professional twitchers: it's for all of us, and I can't wait till next spring when I'll be able to take my children and show them there's some serious wildlife in the city that isn't locked behind bars at the zoo.

Creating this wetland area and then sitting back to await the arrival of the inhabitants must have been something of a worry for WWT - rather like spending a fortune on food and drink for a party for which you've forgotten to send out any invitations. Luckily, the birds aren't hung up on social etiquette, and didn't need an invite.The party has well and truly started.

Joe Swift is a garden designer and owner of The Plant Room, 47 Barnsbury St, London N1 (0171-700 6766)