Wilder Kent Blog

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

Nature Reserves A group of Ashford Kent Wildlife Trust volunteers standing with their Wilder Kent Award certificates.

August on Hothfield Heathlands: Barn owls & volunteers

By August, floral glory has passed from the orchids (heath spotted, southern marsh and a few large hybrids) to the heather or ling. As ever, we hope for a protracted display of purple in the heathy areas, which is likely if the cool nights persist. Orchid seed is now ripening. Dust-like, dispersed on the wind, the seed contains no nutrients to support germination so needs a mycorrhizal fungus to supply nutrients from the soil to its roots. From seed to flowering takes three years or more.

Wilder Kent Strategy Coastal chalk erosion including cliff, cave, stack, arch and chalk reef platform. Whiteness, Broadstairs.

National Marine Week: The North East Kent Marine Protected Area

The county of Kent is blessed with an extensive coastal and intertidal environment comprising elements of the eastern Thames Estuary, the southern North Sea and the English Channel. In north-east Kent, located between the towns of Whitstable and Deal, is the North East Kent Marine Protected Area (NEKMPA) which includes the previously designated North East Kent European Marine Site, the Thanet Coast Marine Conservation Zone and Sandwich & Pegwell Bay National Nature Reserve.