West Blean and Thornden Woods

West Blean and Thornden Woods is a 781-hectare (1,930-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Canterbury in Kent.[1][2] It is part of the Blean Woods Nature Conservation Review site (a Grade I site),[3][4] and an area of 490 hectares (1,200 acres) is a nature reserve managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust.[5] The woods form one of the largest areas of ancient woodland in the UK, with parts of it over 1,000 years old.[6]

West Blean and Thornden Woods
Site of Special Scientific Interest
LocationKent
Grid referenceTR 152 633[1]
InterestBiological
Area781.0 hectares (1,930 acres)[1]
Notification1989[1]
Location mapMagic Map

These woods have more than fifty species of breeding birds, and the diverse invertebrate fauna include five nationally rare and thirteen nationally scarce species. There is also a population of the declining and protected hazel dormouse.[4]

In July 2022, as part of the Wilder Blean project, European bison were released in to West Blean and Thornden Woods. The reintroduction to the UK in 2022, the first time in 6000 years (apart from an unsuccessful project in Scotland in 2011[7]), is to consist of a herd of 3 females and 1 male. The bisons’ natural behaviour is expected to transform an area of former commercial pine forest into a natural woodland. Exmoor ponies, iron age pigs and Longhorn cattle are also to be released into the woods.[8][9]

There is access to the nature reserve but some areas are private land.

References
    1. "Designated Sites View: West Blean and Thornden Woods". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
    2. "Map of West Blean and Thornden Woods". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
    3. Ratcliffe, Derek, ed. (1977). A Nature Conservation Review. Vol. 2. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 45. ISBN 0521-21403-3.
    4. "West Blean and Thornden Woods citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
    5. "West Blean and Thornden Woods". Kent Wildlife Trust. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
    6. "Leonardo DiCaprio lauds birth of bison calf in Canterbury". BBC News. 26 November 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
    7. Alladale Wilderness Reserve, European Bison - Bison bonasus
    8. "Wild bison return to UK for first time in thousands of years". The Guardian. 18 July 2022. Archived from the original on 18 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
    9. "Wilder Blean | Kent Wildlife Trust". www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk. 18 July 2022. Archived from the original on 18 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
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