Plastic: while this modern material can be highly useful in many contexts, its durability is also a curse. When it’s discarded it’s a blight on our wild spaces, and a threat to our wildlife - both as litter, and when it breaks down, as microplastics which pollute ecosystems and weaken or kill organisms when ingested. A disheartening thought – but remember that taking action to pick up litter, however small, could help save an animal’s life.
Listen to the rolling waves on the sand and shingle, breathe in the saline scents of the saltmarsh, and watch the wonderful wildlife this very important and sensitive National Nature Reserve has to offer.
In the winter, South Swale welcomes migrating birds such as brent geese, turnstones, dunlin, avocets, osytercatchers and ringed plovers. In the summer, it's home to carpets of flowers which attract butterflies and some rare bee species!
Skip the town beach and find an untamed shore to explore. Wild sand and shingle beaches are great places to see the variety of natural habitats and the amazing force of the elements that help shape them.
Over the next two weeks, we will be discussing everything marine-related in Kent!
With its wide-open expanse of shingle beach, Dungeness is a unique wildlife habitat and makes for a family day out with a difference, writes Zoe Rawlins
