Michael Walter's latest report:

It sometimes seems as though the wood is in a foreign country, so heavily has it been invaded by alien plants, from the larger sycamore, sweet chestnut and rhododendron right down to humbler species such as feverfew, New Zealand water stonecrop, Pyrenean cranesbill and stinking hellebore.  A fairly recent coloniser from gardens in Rough Common is the pheasant berry (Leycesteria formosa…

The latest report from Michael Walter:

My last routine task of each day is to go outside to take the maximum and minimum temperature readings. On the evening of 12^th October it was still a beautifully beguiling, sultry 20° at 10.15pm and a check the following morning showed that the temperature hadn’t dropped below 18.5°C during the night. With a slight mental shudder, I was instantly put in mind of the night almost…

The latest report form Michael Walter

Late summer has proved an extremely uninspiring end to the butterfly season.  Bread-and-butter species, such as gatekeeper, meadow brown and ringlet, appeared in only moderate numbers, but as they faded away in the second half of August the expected flush of colourful Nymphalid butterflies (peacock, red admiral, comma and the occasional small tortoiseshell) failed to materialise. 

The latest report from Michael Walter:

The territory maps have now been drawn up, so we can see how many birds of each species there were this spring, and compare the results to last year - and what dismal reading it makes!  Wren, nightingale, garden warbler and spotted flycatcher have all performed very poorly, and some others, while not far below the long-term average, have been present in much lower numbers than last…

The latest report from Michael Walter:

How much longer can it last? I have recorded no rain whatsoever since 7^th June, and that was only 2.8mm. The last significant rainfall was on 29^th May, nearly seven weeks ago, which is probably unprecedented in the 37 years that I’ve been keeping records here. Remarkably, most of the vegetation is standing up to the searing weather pretty well, although some of the birches are losing…

Regular visitors to Blean Woods will be aware that, while it may be famous for its nightingales and heath fritillaries, the same cannot be said for its floristic appeal. Yes, bluebells, wood anemones and primroses all occur here, but for the most part not as breathtaking displays. However, there is one plant which, while not drawing botanists from miles around, is quite a feature of the wood at this time of year, and…

You know it’s spring when you can smell the bluebells, and I endeavour to make the most of that delight in Blean Woods because they aren’t very abundant. Intrigued by their patchy distribution, in 2016 and 2017 I plotted all the colonies I could find, large and small.  The resultant map is interesting as, with a few exceptions, all the bluebells occur near the woodland…

The latest report from Michael Walter:

So far the signs for this year’s breeding season are not auspicious.  Last month I wrote about the dearth of wrens and, while their position has improved a little since then, numbers of these diminutive birds remain far lower than expected.  Another worrying species is the song thrush.  Not one to be reticent about showing off its vocal talents, on a normal spring morning you…

With bird song starting to fill the woods, it seems like the perfect time to start thinking about this years events at RSPB Blean Woods. Once again we will be hosting our annual guided walks during the spring and summer to show off some of our star species! Booking is essential for all of these, so don't hesitate to get in touch if you are interested in joining us!

Guided walks

Sunday 6th May: Dawn Chorus (5 - 7am…

The latest report from Michael Walter:

Snow is never going to be good news for birds, but the freezing rain on 1^st March may have spelt the death-knell for many.  Under abnormal conditions a warmer layer of air can develop some height above ground;   snow falling through it melts to rain, which instantly turns to ice on impact with ground that is below freezing (when this happens on roads it is referred to as lethal “black…

The latest report by Michael Walter:

Last autumn an influx of several thousand hawfinches into the country got birdwatchers excited. The breeding range of these large finches extends as far east as Japan, but they are commonest in the forests of central Europe, and it is probably from this closer area that these refugees came, forced on the move by a likely failure of crops of their favoured food – seeds of hornbeam…

The latest report from Michael Walter:

2017 ranks as the second driest in the 36 years that I have been recording rainfall in Rough Common;  only 2011 was marginally more arid.  I doubt if this will have much impact on our overwintering wildlife, but the risk is that the water table will be low going into spring and summer this year, and that if we experience the deadly combination of drought and a heatwave, vegetation…

The latest update from Michael Walter:

Some people claim that winter is their favourite season, but it beats me how anyone can enjoy days with a bare seven hours of often leaden light, when the wind is icy but wet, and the countryside is devoid of colour and life.  To my mind one of the few redeeming features of this time of year is that it becomes easier to understand the wood - summer’s barrier of foliage has been blown…

Working on a nature reserve, we tend to think of the year in two halves; the noisy and grubby habitat management season (September to February) hopefully laying the groundwork for good results in the survey season (March to August). However, as we look forward to the Christmas break, it invites us to view the year as a whole and on reflection, 2017 has been a fantastic year for our Swale reserves.

At Blean we have seen…

Michael Walters' latest update:

There can be few more stirring sights than a magnificent stag red or fallow deer brushing his antlers from side to side and bellowing in the rutting season, or marvelling at the prowess of a roe deer easily clearing farm fences like an Olympic hurdler;  just being privileged to watch these timid beasts quietly grazing is so inspiring in our largely sanitised countryside.  But man (and…

An update from Michael Walter:

For the next few months I shall doubtless be writing about fungi, cold weather and wildlife battening down for winter, so it is heartening to be able to start this article with mention of a flower – marjoram.  In Kent it is almost exclusively a plant of chalk on the North Downs;  in Blean Woods, which is on moderately acidic soil, I knew of it from just one tiny glade until this month…

On Sunday 24th September we will be hosting a 'Fungi Foray' at Blean Woods. Local expert Martin Newcombe will lead a guided walk around the woodland trails of Blean scouring the forest floor for hidden fungi of all shapes and sizes.

You will learn the facts and the fiction as well as how to tell apart the delicious from the deadly!

Booking is essential - Adult (non-RSPB member) £5, Adult (RSPB member) £3, Childen…

An update by Michael Walter:

My most pleasing recent discovery was of two heath fritillaries, on a day when it was too overcast for them to contemplate flight, and so windy that the mauve flowers of devil’s bit scabious on which they were feeding swung wildly from side to side.  In a normal year the first fritillaries appear in late May or early June, and can then be seen on any sunny day through to July.  The caterpillars…

Hello everyone,

Hope you’re all having a good summer and making the most of what’s been a very warm and dry season. We’ve had an extremely busy few months with multiple projects as well as the usual monitoring and maintenance regimes. Thanks to everyone for playing your part. I hope you enjoy the (rather long) update below. As always, if you have any questions about the bits below then do get in touch.…

The latest update from Michael Walter:

The demographics of the brimstone butterfly population at Blean Woods make for interesting reading and viewing. Back in the 1980s this large, yellow butterfly was relatively scarce here, as the graph below shows, but in the 1990s conditions for the gorgeous insect evidently improved, and numbers increased strongly, peaking in 1996, to be followed immediately by a remarkable collapse…

Michael Walters' latest report:

One of our more mysterious breeding birds at Blean, and one that most visitors won’t have seen unless perhaps they’ve been up to the wood at dawn or dusk in spring, is the woodcock.  Its nocturnal habits make it difficult to observe, but for a few weeks from April to June the male advertises his presence with so-called roding flights, cruising just above the treetops in…

Michael Walters' latest report:

If you have delicate plants or perhaps a fruit tree in your garden, you will be only too aware of the late April air frosts that killed apple blossom, leaving some growers whose orchards are in frost hollows resigned to the fact that there would be no apple harvest for them this autumn.  What will be less obvious to most people is that the damage extended into our woodlands and other…

An update composed by Blean Woods and Seasalter Levels intern, Ben Lawson:

In a slight change to the blog, I am going to introduce you to Blean Woods’ associated reserve Seasalter Levels. Seasalter is a small town located to the west of Whitstable and the reserve, while not yet open to the public, is comprised mainly of wet grassland with some patches of scrub and a reedbed.

Over the winter, we have been conducting…

Michael Walters' latest report:

The lovely sunshine of early May soon became a distant memory, and the persistent cold northerly airflow that has dominated our weather in recent weeks put rather a damper on what had promised to be a glorious spring. One benefit of the lower temperatures was that the spring flowers had an extended season, and our displays of bluebells seemed particularly fine. There is still sufficient…

Michael Walters latest report:

The classic image of a bird’s nest, seen in every child’s nature book, is of an open structure built in the fork of a tree, but over a third of the species that nest at Blean do so in tree holes, while the majority of the remainder build in dense scrub or close to the ground.  In view of the added protection afforded by hole-nesting, it is no surprise that so many woodland species…