Wilder Kent Blog

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

Nature Reserves Ragwort with a Thick Knee Beetle sitting on top
David Rayner

August on Hothfield Heathlands: Tree pipits and ragwort

Pigs and tree pipits have returned to the reserve. Hazel and Beech, the pair of Large Black pigs who in the winter made their mark on the small compartment below the concrete causeway, returned to that fenced-in compartment in mid-July continuing, as Area Manager Ian Rickards says, ‘their quest to snuffle across the site, creating bare ground, rooting up bracken and creating lots of opportunities for our wildlife to capitalise on’.

Species A flat periwinkle snail on a frond of seaweed.
© Tracy Sutton

Seabed secrets: 6 lesser-known marine species

National Marine Week is our celebration of UK seas! From 26th July - 10th August 2025 we'll be showcasing the 'Secrets of our Seabeds'. One of these secrets are lesser-known marine species.

Families and Schools pond dipping finds as tutor looks into water with kids on a wilder holiday club

What is Wilder Education?

Our Education Manager explores the full range of Wilder Education experiences offered by Kent Wildlife Trust - from Nature Tots and Forest School to school visits, holiday clubs and birthday parties. Find out how we’re connecting children and young people with nature, and why your support is vital to keep it going.

Wilding earth worm
Lauren Heather

The importance of dung

One of the many benefits of using grazing livestock in conservation management is that they produce dung. Their dung acts in various ways to enhance the landscape and provides benefits for a range of organisms that would otherwise be excluded in a machinery-based site management scheme.

Families and Schools Storytelling workshop

Bison and Butterfly storytelling workshop - Creativity and Conservation hand-in-hand

This week, pupils at Herne Junior and Herne Infants were treated to a very special experience as part of their journey to connect with local wildlife and the natural world. Kent Wildlife Trust’s education team joined forces with New York Times bestselling children’s author Alice Hemming, who visited the schools to lead creative storytelling workshops based on her book The Bison and the Butterfly.