The gate appreciation society (yes, it’s a thing) and how Kent Wildlife Trust volunteers are ‘jazzing up’ countryside gates to deter scrap metal thieves

In a bid to stop metal thieves, volunteers put their artistic efforts into painting gates at Nashenden Down. The gates have been coated in a special paint which is difficult to remove and reduces the ability to resell after theft. Rather than the sedated colour of steel, visitors to the site will be met with a pallet of purples, pinks, yellows and greens.

The action was taken after the Trust suffered a number of high value metal thefts, including a sheep handling system worth thousands of pounds from Nashenden. Not only was the incident costly, but it also put the 200 grazing animals living on the reserve at risk.

The handywork of the volunteers was posted on ‘The Gate Appreciation Society’ – a group on the social media platform Facebook, where 120,000 members can share their love of gates. Some posts are quirky and amusing whilst others showcase impressive carpentry or welding work.

Posting in the group with photos of the newly coated gates Kent Wildlife Trust Volunteer, Nigel Jennings said: “A short while back lots of our nearly new field gates were stolen. We have painted the replacements in garish colours with the intention of making their easy identification unattractive to further theft and resale.”

He jokingly added: “I just hope we haven’t created a new market for art theft.”

The post has attracted around 1,000 likes and lots of discussion with fellow gate appreciators making comments such as “Dazzlegates!” with another adding “Gate idea!”

The action was co-ordinated by Kent Wildlife Trust’s Area Warden Robert Pennington, who said: “Whilst the gates look bright and cheery and the comments posted about them are fun, we have done this because thieves have repeatedly targeted us. Over the last few months over £20,000 of items have been stolen from our reserves and when gates are removed it puts the grazing animals within our sites at significant risk.

“I would like to thank the wonderful volunteers who gave up their day to, hopefully, prevent further thefts from our wildlife sites. It is a shame their time has been spent having to deter crime, rather than using their resources for the direct benefit of nature, however they did an excellent job.”

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