Wilder Kent Blog

Learn more about the wildlife and wild places in Kent and beyond.

Wildlife Gardening

Summer flowers for a wildlife-friendly garden

Looking to create a garden that’s not just beautiful but also provides a range of benefits for wildlife, as well as ongoing summer flowers? There’s lots of consider when choosing plants. I’m the Wild About Gardens Officer at Kent Wildlife Trust and these are my favourite summer plants that are blooming in my garden this season.

Wilding
©Philip Precey

Poisonous plants & grazing animals' natural instincts

In Kent, our grazing animals roam the reserves using their instincts and experience to guide them towards delicious nutritious vegetation and away from potentially toxic plants. This deep-rooted wisdom is a product of evolution and survival instincts passed down from generation to generation but particularly prevalent in the old-fashioned breeds that we use.

Nature Reserves

Early spring plants & whitethroats: April on Hothfield Heathlands

The writer H E Bates moved from Northamptonshire to Little Chart Forstal in 1931. His deep knowledge of the countryside coloured all his writing. In ‘Through the Woods’ (1936), with fine wood engravings by Agnes Miller Parker, he wrote in loving detail about the plant and animal life in Coldham Wood, which lies due west of the Extension section of Hothfield Heathland.