🎙️ New Episode: A Walk Through Time at Downe Bank 🌿🦋

Join Talk on the Wild Side as Rob Smith meets Kent Wildlife Trust Warden Paul Glanfield at the breathtaking Downe Bank Nature Reserve in Bromley! Once a favourite retreat of Charles Darwin, this rare chalk grassland is now under consideration as a World Heritage Site, and for good reason.

Discover the vibrant biodiversity of this historic site, home to rare orchids and fluttering meadow brown butterflies. Learn how hardy sheep help maintain this precious ecosystem through careful autumn grazing. From the wonders of chalk grasslands to the fight against invasive species, this episode is a must-listen for nature lovers, conservationists, and history buffs alike.

Did you know the site Sir David Attenborough himself filmed the series opener of Planet Earth III at Downe Bank?

🎧 Tune in now and take a walk on the wild side!

#Podcast #TalkOnTheWildSide #DowneBank #KentWildlifeTrust #CharlesDarwin #PlanetEarthIII #Biodiversity #Conservation

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this exciting episode of Talk on the Wild Side, Rob heads to the stunning Pegwell Bay to chat with Adrian Pierssene from National Grid about their ambitious Sea Link Project.

This multi-million-pound initiative aims to supercharge the Grid's renewable energy capabilities by connecting Kent and Suffolk with an underwater cable. But there’s a twist—plans for a massive converter station at Minster Marshes, a cherished Local Wildlife Site, and a landfall point at Pegwell Bay, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, have Kent Wildlife Trust sounding the alarm.

Adrian shares National Grid’s vision of boosting biodiversity as part of the project, but can cutting-edge infrastructure truly coexist with nature? Tune in for a candid conversation as we dig into the details, debate the possibilities, and explore the balance between progress and preservation!

Update: Since the recording of this episode, the proposed mitigation site has been revised. On this update, National Grid states:

“Following ongoing discussions with stakeholders including local authorities and Natural England, we have removed the wetland from our proposals. Instead, we have identified an area of existing arable farmland, approximately 10ha in size. In this new location, it is proposed to adapt existing arable farming practices in a way that is beneficial to important bird species such as golden plover. This will include measure such as maximising the amount of time that bare ground is maintained over winter, so that the foraging environmental is enhanced. We are also proposing skylark plots in these areas, which are unsown areas within arable crops, providing skylarks with access to nesting habitats throughout their breeding season.”

Kent Wildlife Trust remains concerned about the suitability of this mitigation, saying:

"The new site is situated near a busy A-road, with considerable noise and light pollution from the bustling Discovery Park. Furthermore, it lies outside the flight range of the Golden Plover, a species that thrives in large numbers at Minster Marshes. As a result, the Trust remains doubtful about its suitability as a refuge for wildlife."

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