Ducking Not Diving

JAMES Sharpe, manager of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Arundel, nestled down for 24 hours in the life of a duck to mark World Wetlands Day. This is his duck's diary. . .

2pm thrilled by my warm, down-filled sleeping bag, but bad weather could be coming, so I need some waterproofing. Build a small, thatched roof from reeds, just like people have done for hundreds of years.

3pm television cameraman arrives. I enjoy some wetland food: shrimp, cranberries, Rice Crispies, sushi, mussels, watercress soup, rounded off with dry Martini (gin and Martini are flavoured with wetland plants).

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6pm thankfully, still dry, though very windy. I think of eider ducks bobbing on the North Sea what a way to spend winter!

7pm WWT staff take some photographs. "Really must do this again," I think, warm as toast in sleeping bag, well fed, comfortable on soft rush matting.

Snoozing, I think about this amazing place. I'm, in the middle of one of Sussex's largest reedbeds, sleeping on the site of the old Norfolk Estate watercress beds.

Within a stone's throw, there is a crystal clear, spring-fed stream, and the river Arun, ponds, ditches rich in plant life, where water voles live, and all sorts of seasonal pools and other wet places, supporting an enormous variety and quantity of life.

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9pm there are also lots of tawny owls. Glad I recognise these sounds, it could be quite scary.

6.30am I enjoy a beautiful, warm(ish), dry morning, with melodious sounds of song thrushes, robins and Cetti's warblers. It's been a lot of fun, but the message is serious.

I want to remind people how incredibly rich wetlands are, full of life, supporting numerous plants and animals, and us, too.

Life depends on water, evolved from water and we wouldn't last very long without it. So that would make wetlands among the most valuable places on earth. Wouldn't it?