Frog Island Farm BNG offset site

Site description

Frog Island Farm is a large 140 ha site located about 5 km north of Canterbury, just south of the seaside towns of Whitstable and Herne Bay.

It is directly adjacent to West Blean and Thornden Woods, which is the SSSI Ancient Woodland that is home to Kent Wildlife Trust's 'Wilder Blean' rewilding project, where European Bison have been introduced. Part of the farm itself falls within the SSSI designation, and as such these areas are not included in the BNG calculations due to their statutory obligation.

The landowner is keen to help buffer and enhance the SSSI with their land by converting their species-poor modified grassland fields into a mosaic of woodland, scrub, and ponds with new species-rich hedgerows criss-crossing the site.

West Blean and Thornden Woods SSSI is noted for birds, with over 50 species of breeding bird having been recorded, with the site being particularly important for rare species such as hobby, woodcock, long-eared owl, nightjar, tree pipit, nightingale, grasshopper warbler, and willow tit. The woodland also contains an important population of the red-listed hazel dormouse and supports a diverse invertebrate fauna including 5 nationally rare** and 13 nationally scarce species.

Frog Island farm is ideally positioned to help support the conservation outcomes for these species. Woodland edge habitat such as this is important for tree pipits, which perform parachuting mating displays in open spaces and landing in trees, while the nocturnal nightjars hawk for insects in open spaces at night, while camouflaging amongst scrubby ground cover during the day. Meanwhile, nightingale perch in the cover of dense scrub to perform their iconic lilting musical song.

The site also contains the Local Wildlife Site Thornden Pasture and Crow Park, which contains a mixture of pasture, scrub, and woodland shaw habitats that have been designated due to their potential for restoration. The combination of trees, scrub and grasses provides considerable interest for birds, invertebrates and small mammals, while the areas already in the process of reverting to woodland are ideal habitat for reptiles. The proposals in this project have been designed to enhance the features in the LWS.

Habitat Transitions