Buzzard
Listen out for the cat-like, 'kee-yaa' calls of the buzzard as it soars high over farmland and woodland. Once suffering from severe persecution and pesticide poisoning, it has made a stunning comeback to most of the UK.
Kentish flora & fauna in beech & yew wood habitats
Marmalade fly
Our most common hoverfly, the marmalade fly is orange with black bands across its body. It feeds on flowers like tansy, ragwort and cow parsley in gardens, hedgerows, parks and woodlands.
Weasel
Weasels may look adorable, but they make light work of eating voles, mice and birds! They are related to otters and stoats, which is obvious thanks to their long slender bodies and short legs.
Common lizard
Look out for a common lizard basking in the warm sun as you wander around heathlands, moorlands and grasslands. You might even be lucky enough to spot one in your garden, too!
Our reserves with beech & yew habitats
Old Park Hill
Old Park Hill has a range of habitats but needs to be managed and restored to return it to its early 20th century character, when most of the site would have been open chalk land.
Blue Bell Hill
Whether standing above the clouds on a winter's morning or watching the last rays of sun striking reds, purple and gold across the valley, there is always something fantastic about this place.
Bigbury Camp
Bigbury Camp is an Iron Age hillfort in Howfield Wood, a short hop from the centre of Canterbury.
South Blean
Ancient Woodland with large areas undergoing restoration from more modern commercial forestry.
The Larches
This is a site with something to see in all seasons with a fantastic display of fungi and leaf colour in the autumn, jewel bright wildflowers in the spring and summer and silhouettes of birds of prey gliding across the winter sky.
Quarry Wood
Tranquil ancient mixed woodland with a stream and ponds.
Fackenden Down
A west and south-west facing slope of the North Downs on the eastern side of the Darent Valley.
Downe Bank
Downe Bank is a uniquely special nature reserve, due to fundamental scientific studies carried out here by Charles Darwin.
Collingwood
A small woodland reserve centred around a lake
Brenchley Wood
Ancient woodland with heathland and bog
West Blean and Thornden Woods
The ever-changing wood, home to the Wilder Blean project where we have introduced European bison.
Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve and Jeffery Harrison Visitor Centre
The Visitor Centre is temporarily closed for refurbishment and opening early 2026. This 73 hectare site was the first example of a gravel pit site being developed for the purpose of nature conservation. It is home to a diverse range of plants, fungi, birds and dragonflies & damselflies.
Polhill Bank
The 'Bank' is almost four hectares of chalk grassland on a southeast-facing hillside with commanding views of the Darent Valley.
Lydden Temple Ewell - The James Teacher Reserve
Sweeping downland slopes packed with wildlife on the outskirts of Dover.
Kemsing Down
An ancient woodland with some areas of grassland with interesting associated flora.
East Blean Wood NNR
This Ancient semi-natural woodland is recognised as a site of international importance for wildlife.
Queendown Warren
As you leave the car park, you are greeted by Queendown Warren stretching from one side of the valley to the other. The reserve is a 76.5ha site containing a mixture of Chalk Grassland, open Pasture, and Woodland.
Heather Corrie Vale
Heather Corrie Vale is located in the Darent Valley, which is an extremely valuable part of the Nature Recovery Network.
Coombe Down
One of Kent Wildlife Trust’s newest Dover reserves, Coombe is undergoing management to restore chalk downland to the reserve, with a future goal to re-introduce frog orchids back to the site.
Nemo Down
Located next to an industrial estate on the outskirts of Dover, it is hard to believe a nature reserve is there when driving through the estate.
Westfield Wood
Part of an internationally important yew woodland, with steep chalky slopes occupied by a dense stand of yew overtopped in places by mature ash and beech.