Wilder Kent Experience: Cows in Conservation at Oare Marshes

On this experience you’ll meet the Reserve Warden for Oare Marshes, and one of our Wilder Grazing Rangers to explore the history of the site during its time with Kent Wildlife Trust and the role grazing cattle now play its management.

Our Reserve Warden will guide you through Oare’s natural history, and explain the conservation work that takes place here and why its important. We’ll walk around the East Flood for the opportunity to see and hear some of the bird species this special site supports, including a multitude of warblers, marsh harriers, kestrel.

After this, we will head over to the West Flood, where our Grazing Ranger will explain our grazing strategy and give visitors the chance to observe our breeding herd of cows with their calves. Due to the sensitive nature of the reserve and to protect the welfare of our livestock, it won’t be possible to get up close to the cattle, but we will do our best to find a great spot for visitors to take photographs of these charismatic working animals.

Cows in Conservation experiences are taking place at other reserves this year too, including Hothfield Heathlands (Ashford), Heather Corrie Vale (Sevenoaks) and Ham Fen (Sandwich). Check the Wilder Kent Experiences page for a full list of upcoming dates and locations.

This event will involve walking and standing for around 2 hours. You will be walking across fields grazed by cattle, so there will be uneven ground and there are likely to be muddy and slippy areas.

Please note there are no toilet facilities at the reserve, and no refreshments are available to purchase on site. You are welcome to bring your own snacks and drinks with you, and a bottle of water is recommended.

Our reserves team are used to working outdoors in all weathers, so we aim to go ahead with these experiences wherever possible. On occasion the warden may decide conditions are extreme enough to cancel the planned date, either because they'll be unable to deliver the event to a high enough quality or because it is unsafe to go ahead. If this is the case you will be offered an alternative date or refund. Unfortunately, we cannot refund tickets if the event takes place but you choose not to attend.

Please give us 30 days notice wherever possible if you are no longer able to attend. The small group sizes on these experiences mean cancellations have a large impact on the viability of the event, and it can be difficult to fill places at short notice or after an event has initially reached capacity. Thank you.

Photo credit: Jess Allam