About the reserve

Like many Dover reserves, Coombe Down was once open chalk downland and was an important site for frog orchid in Kent. Sadly, lack of management meant the chalk grassland was taken over by scrub and secondary woodland. A tiny remnant of the grassland remains on site. Coombe Down is currently undergoing extensive work to integrate it as a nature reserve and restore open areas of chalk grassland. Huge areas of scrub have been cleared off the slope. Livestock will be introduced to the reserve for the first time, to graze the grassland, breaking down the rank grass and allowing wildflowers to grow and grazing the scrub to keep it from expanding.

A future goal of the reserve is to re-introduce frog orchid to the site, once suitable chalk grassland has been restored. There is also hope that butterflies, such as Adonis and Chalkhill blue will inhabit the site as well. Coombe Down forms part of an important network of chalk downland surrounding Dover. From the view on the slope, you can see the KWT reserves of Old Park Hill and Lydden Temple Ewell, both managed chalk downland sites. On the other side of the hill next door to Coombe, you have Gorse Hill, an established chalk grassland site with views of Kent Wildlife Trust's Nemo Down and High Meadows, a chalk grassland site managed by White Cliffs Countryside Partnership.

Find out about the Coombe Down Project & works