Wilder Kent Blog

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

What is flying ant day & when is it?

Sara Booth-Card, ecologist, peatlands and Action For Insects campaigner at The Wildlife Trusts, looks out for the telltale signs of flying ant days and shares her love for the underground world of ants.

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.

Protecting nightingales & turtledoves through collaborations in Kent

In the last fifty years, both nightingales and turtle doves have suffered a population decline of over 90%. The usual threats of habitat degradation and climate change are partly to blame, but these two species are also at risk from a few more specific challenges.

How a wet spring at Hothfield has benefitted the dragonflies

The wettest winters and springs on record have had at least one benefit. The ponds and pools across Hothfield Heathlands are full of water! Ponds and pools are important to many animal species, but I always associate them with our spectacular dragonflies.

Talk on the Wild Side

The not-so-common nightingale at Moat Farm, Kent

Rob Smith heads to Moat Farm Kent to visit a farmer who's lucky enough to live in a stronghold of a rare and elusive bird species - the nightingale. Find out the facts about Nightingales, listen to their beautiful song and learn how Michael Bax makes sure they have the right habitat to keep coming back year after year.

Nightingales at Hothfield Heathlands in June

On 19th May one hundred years ago the first outdoors broadcast by the BBC was of professional cellist Beatrice Harrison playing to and with nightingales in the garden of her Surrey home. Around a million listeners tuned in to the midnight broadcast, and she performed for similar outdoor broadcasts over the next twelve years.