Wildlife lovers flock to bay display
More than 700 visitors flocked to Kent Wildlife Trust’s largest nature reserve over the weekend and enjoyed a stunning array of wildlife.
The Trust’s ‘This is Your Wildlife’ event at Sandwich and Pegwell Bay ran over Saturday and Sunday and was the second event of its kind to celebrate the Trust’s 50th anniversary and encourage greater interest in Kent’s wildlife.
Families, dog walkers, bird watchers, cyclists and tourists all turned out for the free celebration and took part in guided walks around the reserve. Chairman of the Kent Mammal Group, Ken West, led a small mammal identification tour, with pygmy shrew, common shrew and water shrew all turning up, along with bank and field vole, wood mice and other creatures.
Saturday was particularly eventful with a brand new bird watching hide opened to the public by GrantScape, an environmental charity that assists with biodiversity improvements for Sandwich and Pegwell Bay. The bird hide is a converted steel shipping container measuring 9m x 2.4m x 2.8m. It weighs almost four tons and will accommodate up to 28 people with access and viewing facilities specially adapted for those with disabilities.
The addition of the bird hide is just one element of The GrantScape Biodiversity Enhancement Project. Other recent improvements at Sandwich and Pegwell Bay include the restoration of five hectares of internationally important inter-tidal mudflat habitat and the provision of one mile of ‘access for all’ footpath at the country park.
Kent Wildlife Trust was delighted with the turn out: “we were especially thrilled to see so many children learning about local wildlife and enjoying themselves,” said Press Officer, Ray Lewis.
Sandwich and Pegwell Bay - Kent Wildlife Trust’s biggest and busiest nature reserve - is of international importance and boasts a complex mosaic of habitats.
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