Staff at Kent Wildlife Trust spend hours cleaning up after bonfire night celebrations across the county

The annual post-bonfire night clean-up operation across Kent Wildlife Trust’s nature reserves involves staff spending hours clearing up sparklers, rockets, beer bottles and litter after revelers held several unauthorised fireworks displays on nature reserves across Kent.

Perhaps most alarming was the display that involved bangers and rockets being set off in Darland Banks, Gillingham, next to a herd of longhorn cattle who help to naturally manage the nature reserve through conservation grazing.

Area Manager Alison Ruyter, who cleared the mess left behind by the party, said: “Thankfully by morning, the longhorns were all calm and had not been injured, but they would have suffered distress when the display was ongoing. The people behind this are incredibly selfish and their actions irresponsible.”

Following on from her livestock check at Darland, Alison visited the Bluebell Hill nature reserve in Maidstone where she cleared more rockets, sparklers, and a sack full of cider cans that had been dumped on the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Alison continued: “It was disappointing to see how revelers had left Bluebell Hill; they had created a bonfire which damaged an area of the reserve and sparklers had been left everywhere. This area is popular with dog walkers and the sparklers had been poked into hedgerows in a way that could stab and injure a dog running around the area.”

Kent Wildlife Trust has also reiterated a request for people to refrain from dumping their post-Halloween pumpkins in the woodland after a number of them were placed around the trail in Cromer Woods, Sittingbourne. Well-meaning people have been discarding their pumpkins like this since a viral social media post suggested it was helpful for wildlife, however they can make wildlife unwell, often attract rats and upset the balance of the ecosystem.

An appeal has been launched for those who want to help the Trust offset the cost of fly-tipping, vandalism and theft on the charity’s nature reserves. Anyone who wishes to help can donate to the Nature Nightmares appeal online.