Arundel Riverlife

WWT Arundel covers 26 hectares of mixed wetland habitat, forming part of the Downland Arun Valley character area identified by West Sussex County Council. Converted from commercial watercress beds and opened as a visitor centre in 1976, it nowadays attracts nearly 100,000 visitors each year. This project will restore the main lagoon in front of the visitor centre building into an important wetland in keeping with the Arun Valley and the water meadows that the site historically comprised. The project will improve the biodiversity of 1.4ha of lowland fen (contributing to the regional BAP target for this habitat), and of surrounding plant communities, providing habitat for a wide range of wildlife, including six priority BAP species (water vole, hazel dormouse, soprano pipistrelle, noctule bat, grass snake and reed bunting). The new habitat will present visitors of all abilities with a spectacle of important wetland habitat and enable them to learn at close quarters about the wildlife heritage of the region.