New National Nature Reserve for Kent announced by Defra

Kent has a new National Nature Reserve.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Natural England on Friday last week (May 30) announced the North Kent Woods and Downs NNR as the eighth of the King’s Series of National Nature Reserves.

A statement from Defra says the wider project “will leave a lasting public legacy for people and nature by creating or extending 25 National Nature Reserves by 2027”.

The north Kent reserve, which stretches from Gravesend to Medway, is home to such species as hazel dormouse, skylark, Maidstone mining bee and man and lady orchids in a landscape featuring ancient woodland, wildflower meadows and chalk grassland. Some 1,700 ancient and veteran trees are present.

The new reserve covers some 2,000 acres, but the designation should benefit nature well beyond that, with partners in the project supporting conservation work over more than 2,700 acres in the surrounding area.

The NNR, described by Kent Downs National Landscape as “a network of protected sites, managed for wildlife, conservation and people”, will be managed by partners including the National Trust, Woodland Trust, county council, Plantlife, Silverhand Estate and West Kent Downs Countryside Trust.

Affiliated partners include Gravesham Borough Council, Birling Estate, Shorne Parish Council, Tarmac and Forestry England, while there will be support from Natural England and Kent Downs National Landscape.

Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England, said: “Creating bigger, better and more joined-up natural areas is one of the most vital and fundamental steps we must take in meeting our national targets for nature’s recovery.

“This new reserve, with its hundreds of ancient trees set amid extensive chalk grasslands, lays the foundations for multiple partners to work together to improve nature across a significant area of countryside. This reserve presents one further excellent example of the progress that can be made when people decide to work together across landscapes.”

• CPRE Kent will be looking to find out more about the implications of the North Kent Woods and Downs NNR for the countryside, wildlife and people of the area. Keep an eye open for a feature in the near future.