It is thought the vandal’s action may be an objection to car parking charges at the site, which have been in place since 2021.
In three weeks, the vandal has struck three times using an angle grinder to cut down parking signs, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage and taking staff time which could have been better spent working for the benefit of wildlife on the reserve.
Over the same time, one person unfortunately fell victim to a scam as they attempted an internet search to find out how to pay which led them to a fraudulent site, they initially lost £50 in the incident but thankfully have now managed to reclaim their money.
Kent Wildlife Trust manages over 90 reserves and only charges for parking at seven of them, visitors bringing a car to Oare Marshes are asked to pay £2.50 on weekdays and £3.50 at the weekend to leave their vehicle all day. The money raised from the charges goes back to support the charity's nature restoration work. The Trust does not receive any income from fines, which are collected by a third-party company.
At Oare the money raised by parking has helped to carry out a range of habitat improvement and restoration works, including scrape works, ditch dredging and reed cutting; all of which improve the site for wildlife.
The site is of international importance for migratory, overwintering and breeding wetland birds, and consists of one of the few remaining grazing marshes in Kent with freshwater dykes, open water scrapes, reedbed, salt marsh and seawall. Visitors also come from far and wide to fill their bottles from the artesian well, which was fully restored in 2020.
Head of Land Management for Kent Wildlife Trust, Simon Bateman Brown says: “Parking at the reserve for a whole day costs less than a cup of coffee but brings us vital revenue which supports our work. The money is put back into nature, so we can help wildlife to thrive. In other places, you will be paying per hour what we are charging for a day but for some reason, helping us to help nature seems to cause a level of anger where we find ourselves repeatedly targeted by criminal activity.
“I would like to stress, that no matter how many times the signs come down, they will be going back up, all this person is doing is risking a criminal record as we will support Kent Police in a prosecution.”
If anyone has any information about the person responsible, please contact Kent Police or email Kent Wildlife Trust – comms@kentwildlife.org.uk