Last Friday night I slept in a tent roughly where the terminal of the ‘Cliffe airport’ would have been. That was the airport proposal of the early years of this century that was seen off by campaigning and the general realisation that it was a silly place for an airport. Not that it prevented a succession of subsequent proposals that are still at the heart of our campaigning to save nature’s home.
The place is better known as our Northward Hill nature reserve and the reason I was camping with my son Jack was we were taking part in the second Big Wild Sleepout – we did it last year in our garden; this was much more of an adventure. Big Wild sleepout is not just about spending a night getting close to nature (though the North Kent Marshes does that very effectively - its also a chance to raise funds to help save our wildlife and give nature a home.
After a midnight prowl and some bat detecting, Jack was ready to fall asleep in our new tent that I’d spent an hour and a half putting up. I’d worried our family tent would look like a grounded airship but there were a least three bigger ones in the jumble of tents in the ‘for one night only’ campsite at Northward Hill.
We fell asleep to the querulous chorus of marsh frogs punctuated by oystercatchers and avocets calling from the marshes.
Breakfast was hastily enjoyed as we watched the contents of a moth trap revealed – showy elephant hawkmoths and bufftips pretending to be sticks all delighting an audience of campers.
An eyed hawkmoth proved a great attraction - Photo Andre Farrar
A ringing demonstration gave close up views of familiar birds, local greenfinches and blue tits and whitethroats that have returned from Africa at least once.
Ringing provides vital knowledge of the the movements of birds and this demonstration held the crowds Photo Andre Farrar
Big Wild Sleepout wasn’t my first nocturnal adventure at Northward Hill this year as back in May; we tried to live-stream nightingale song from the reserve to mark the 90th anniversary of an historic BBC broadcast. It was (thanks to many colleagues) a technical triumph, but sadly without the featured soloist despite a promising dress rehearsal a couple of days earlier.
This part of North Kent is important for nightingales – just a few miles away, at Lodge Hill, a proposal for 5000 houses would wipe out the most import place in the country for them – we’re campaigning to save them.
Thankfully packing up the tent was a shorter performance than pitching it – our short visit was over with thanks to the Northward Hill team for a well organised, friendly and wildlife rich Big Wild Sleepout.
At least three of the recently hatched black-winged stilts while one of the parents tries synchronised preening with a black headed gull. Photo Robin Budgen, RSPB volunteer
Just down the road is our nature reserve at Cliffe (that would have been in the middle car parks and various airport infrastructure, as I recall) and we called in to pay our respects to the pair of black-winged stilts that have hatched four young in amongst the avocets and black headed gulls. Black-winged stilts are high up the list of birds predicted to be the next colonists – so adding to the excitement of them choosing Cliffe pools to raise their family.
Enjoying the wildlife of the Hoo Peninsula in North Kent is a reminder of just how much we stand to lose in the face of development pressures. Jack and I meet tireless local campaigner Gill Moore at RSPB Cliffe Pools. Photo Andre Farrar.
While we were watching the stilts we bumped into Gill and her granddaughter – Gill Moore has been at the forefront of campaigning to prevent the destruction of the countryside, communities and wildlife of this special area - you can follow Friends of North Kent Marshes here.
Follow me on twitter.