We’re delighted to announce we have now opened the Welcome Building at RSPB Ham Wall along with the car park and toilets! You’ll notice we’ve made some changes to help keep you and our staff and volunteers safe.
The Welcome Building will have reduced opening. We will be open from 10 am until 4 pm on weekends and during the week when we have a volunteer available. We will be delivering our usual warm welcome on the decking outside the Welcome Building, which itself remains closed to visitors. Here, light refreshments are also available to buy from the new serving hatch between 10 am and 4 pm, with the last hot drink being served at 3:45 pm. We will not be refilling reusable cups or other containers at this time. Please note that payment is now by card only for both refreshments and car parking, with contactless card facilities available. We’re supporting the Government test and trace scheme, so you will be asked to securely provide your contact details for us to submit to the NHS if requested, but this is voluntary. There are picnic benches available in the Mini Marshes to sit and enjoy a drink, snack or lunch.
The toilets continue to operate on a one in, one out basis. This is to ensure that social distancing can be maintained inside. When waiting to use the toilets please queue behind the lines on the ground behind the planters rather than on the steps, ramp or into the car park both for your own safety and to maintain social distancing. The toilets are cleaned on a regular basis.
The viewing platforms remain open as they have been since the reserve re-opened. We ask that if the reserve is busy you limit your dwell time in these areas so that everyone has a chance to use this facility.
Inevitably, we are regularly asked when the hides and Walton’s screens will re-open so it’s worth explaining where we are at with those. The volunteer team are hard at work on replacing the Walton’s Screens and hopefully only have a couple more weeks of work before these are finished and signed off to be opened. The team is also hard at work to reopen the Avalon Hide, but this has been set back by wind damaged trees on the path to the hide, after the recent storms, we hope to have the Avalon Hide open by the end of the month. The Tor View Hide requires some structural work to the hide itself and the path to the hide does not lend itself to social distancing so we are unable to give an idea when we will be able to open the Tor View Hide.
The play sculptures in the Mini Marshes remain closed but we are working on cutting back the vegetation in this area to re-open them soon. The body of the Willow Eel need to be rebuilt and it will be a while below it is open again.
The Wardening team is also beginning their winter work programme which means that reed cutting will begin again soon and the views that are hiding behind the reeds, which have been aided in their growth by the rain and the heat we have had, will reappear. Please be aware that this process will take longer than normal as we are not back up to strength on our volunteer team, who help us with so much of this work, yet.
Although we’re still a long way from being back to normal, we want to thank you for your patience, understanding and support over the past couple of months as we’ve worked out how to apply the required safety measures and new ways of working to gradually re-open our facilities whilst keeping everyone safe. We’re keen to continue improving your visit, and will react to further guidance from RSPB HQ as it comes and when we have the capacity to implement it.
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We can’t wait to welcome you on your next visit (from a safe distance of course! )