The London Wetland Centre in Barnes is an urban nature reserve built on four Victorian reservoirs. It was opened in 2000 by Sir David Attenborough, who called it "an extra lung for Londoners". It serves as a lifeline for water voles, the country's fastest declining mammal, who have lost more than 90% of their habitat over the past 400 years.

In fact, it was a wildlife haven even before it opened. A pair of little ringed plovers famously nested on-site during construction, prompting workers to protect their eggs.

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