- 02/10/2024
The South East is a busy, densely developed place, where nature is disrupted and squeezed. But just 40 miles from the City of London you’ll find 3,300 acres of Kent coastal wilderness we have had the privilege of restoring and protecting for more than four decades.
Elmley Nature Reserve’s vast marshlands, meadows and skies teem with life as our conservationist and farming family strive to prioritise nature above all else.
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Over 40 years of nature restoration and careful stewardship has made Elmley one of the UK’s most important sites for wildlife. A haven for migrating birds. A place to see dramatic numbers of raptors and owls over a mosaic of grasslands filled with brown hare and the vanishingly rare shrill carder bee.
Whilst tragically farmland birds have been steeply declining since the 1970s, Elmley’s populations have done the opposite and the Reserve is renowned for its abundance of breeding wading birds, and the largest wintering roost marsh harriers in Europe.
When the family first arrived, Elmley’s marshes were a place of intensive arable farming. Our conservation journey begins with pioneering work to transform it into biodiverse and bird-rich grasslands through the 1980s, before Elmley was designated a National Nature Reserve in 1992, the first family owned and managed farm in the UK to have this status.
And today we are still creating habitat, regenerating the land and adapting. Venturing beyond stewarding what is already here, with nature recovery projects, such as reintroducing lost species, like our breeding curlew, or making space for newly colonising species like the cattle egret and the glossy ibis.
Our mission of nature recovery has been underway for decades, but the future presents a new set of conservation challenges for Elmley. With much of the Reserve below sea level, we are at the forefront of climate change, seeing it happen first hand, from the extreme weather, storm surges, and higher tides than we have ever seen, to the changing species on the marshes.
We need to go beyond just preserving the wonderful biodiversity created here, and ensure we are able to adapt to current and future climate challenges. While maintaining our incredible grassland habitats for the likes of the yellow wagtails and rare waders, our long term vision also allows for coastal change, restoring lost salt marsh habitats through natural processes.
Just as we welcome migrating birds to the Reserve each year as they break their immense journeys from north to south, over the past ten years we’ve also become a haven for our guests drawn by Elmley’s tranquil setting, breathtaking wildlife and unique story. It’s a source of enormous reward to be able to share the stark natural beauty of Elmley’s forgotten habitats with them.
To not just steward and shape this wild corner of Kent, but to also share it, gives us hope for the future of nature and the part we get to play in it.
