Although you could say that all of our Sub Groups are aimed at improving the local environment, the Kent Wildlife Trust initiatives of “Guardians of the Deep” and “Romney Marsh – The 5th Continent”, cover a wide spectrum of our aims and we are involved in both.
Guardians of the Deep is a partnership of local organisations, including Kent Wildlife Trust, for the protection and monitoring of Kent’s coastal wildlife. It’s Coastal Guardians project is a network of local people who are the eyes and ears monitoring the coast. Hythe Environmental Community Group is the Coastal Guardians hub for volunteers around Hythe, organising guided walks, beach cleans and talks and feeding back information to a central database.
Coastal Guardians volunteer a couple of hours per month to log sightings of sea mammals, seabirds, fauna and coastal wildlife to build up a base line data set of our shores. They also report anything out of the ordinary and incidents that pose a danger to wildlife, such as fly tipping, spillages and ghost nets, to the relevant organisations who protect our coastline. Volunteers have access to practical learning opportunities and act as citizen scientists joining in coastal surveys such as the Shark Trust’s Great Eggcase Hunt.
Things you might spot along Hythe and Sandgate Beaches: migrating birds, native seabirds, mermaids purses, cuttlefish bones, whelk egg cases, porpoises, seals. The muddy sediment in the bay supports plenty of burrowing fauna including a rare spoonworm and mats of tiny crustaceans; as well as more familiar crabs, cockles, whelks, native oyster, blue mussel and razor clam. Shells wash up on the shingle, along with sponges, hornwrack, algae and seaweeds. A report on unusual and seasonal sightings and findings are particularly useful to Guardians of the Deep.
If you live near, visit or walk regularly along a section or all of Hythe and Sandgate beaches, please consider joining and helping to protect our coastal wildlife.
If you wish to get involved in this group and/or have ideas for projects you would like to see progressed, then please contact us to discuss.
The 5th Continent Project is a huge undertaking which includes the restoration and protection of rare habitats including ditches and vegetated shingle, an exciting programme of community engagement activities and community archaeology, work to protect the iconic heritage of the Marsh churches and lookers huts, a Fifth Continent of Film community project, funding for species monitoring and citizen science and a programme of over fifty trainee and apprenticeship opportunities for young people on the Marsh.
If you wish to get involved in this group and/or have ideas for projects you would like to see progressed, then please contact us to discuss.
Romney Marsh the 5th Continent.
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