Sir David Attenborough turning 90: 'I'm unbelievably lucky, I have friends who can't walk'

'Lucky': Sir David Attenborough sits by the Woodberry Wetlands reservoir
John Stillwell/PA
Tom Marshall1 May 2016

Sir David Attenborough said he feels "unbelievably lucky" to be turning 90 at the opening of a nature reserve in east London.

The naturalist and TV presenter, who will celebrate the milestone birthday on May 8, was speaking at the opening of the Woodberry Wetlands in Stoke Newington on Saturday.

The public is being allowed into the 11-hectare wildlife oasis for the first time - after it was closed off for nearly 200 years.

Asked about his upcoming birthday, the legendary broadcaster said: “The truthful answer is that I feel unbelievably lucky.

"I have friends, contemporaries, relatives, people who are my age, who can't walk about. I am unbelievably fortunate.”

Sir David said access to the natural world is a "birthright" and should not be regarded as a luxury.

Woodberry Wetlands in Stoke Newington is a working reservoir which has been sealed off to the public since it was built in 1833.

Stroll: Sir David Attenborough and David Mooney walk beside the reservoir
John Stillwell/PA

The naturalist said: "It's not a luxury this, you know. If it isn't there it's a great deprivation, and if it is there, it's what human beings deserve.

"We are part of it and if we lose contact with the natural world, you lose contact with a great source of pleasure and delight which is your birthright."

He added: "There's an awful lot of people, in the cities and elsewhere, who live in a world of concrete and asphalt and brick and glass.

"So it's a huge, huge benefit."

Sir David said children - even in urban areas - are naturally drawn to the world around them.

He said: "Give a young person half a chance. You watch kids at six, eight years old, just being riveted to see what these extraordinary things are at their feet."

From 1955-1980, chlorine and sodium phosphate was used by Thames Water in the reservoir, preventing wildlife from growing - but since that practice ended, wildlife has flourished, prompting the London Wildlife Trust to turn it into a public nature reserve.

David Mooney, who led on the development of the project, paid tribute to the volunteers who "built the project from the ground up".

He said: "They come frostbitten at six o'clock in the morning in February, rain coming down, and they'll be in the reedbed managing it and helping it flourish.

"It's remarkable to see how wildlife, give it half a chance, stop pumping it full of chemicals and it will take hold again."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.

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