Weald & Blean Volunteering Update - July 2022

Wilder Blean Update

The bison are almost here and teams across our organisation are working incredibly hard to deliver this project, support the community and showcase KWT in the best light as we enter the global stage.

All inspections (both by the Animal and Plant Health Agency and for the Dangerous Wild Animals Act by Canterbury City Council) have now been completed and passed. We have booked transportation for the bison arrival, and the corral, soft release area and first bison area and all now complete. Fencing will continue for the rest of the summer to allow the other animals to arrive as soon as possible and complete the remaining bison areas.

The new waymarkers and signage have started to be installed with more happening over the next few weeks. Plans for the arrival events are coming along, with plans to have separate events for press, VIPs and the general public. Volunteer greeters have started and been welcoming people to site, and works will begin soon to transform Pine cottage into a fully functioning office space.

Prep for bison tunnels is happening rapidly; we have a quantity surveyor on board, contractors have been visiting the site and we've been working through all the licensing with all the different agencies. We have a shiny new car park now with cabling for Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to drive more revenue to the site and help with security.
 

Staff spotlight: Kora Kunzmann

Our fantastic Wilding Evidence Ecologist, Kora Kunzmann, has spent most of the summer out and about in the Blean. Alongside her fantastic volunteer team, Kora has been collecting data on... well, everything! From soil health and vegetation structure to insect and animal abundance. You will be able to see the results of her work on our exciting new Blean Monitoring webpage soon!

We are also incredibly grateful to Kora for taking part in lots of press interviews, pushing aside her nerves, being a champion for wilding at every opportunity and blowing away top journalists with her monitoring expertise.