Dane Valley Woods

Dane Valley Woods Dane Valley Woods aims to be a sustainable, community-owned wildspace in the heart of Margate

Dane Valley Woods is a community woodland in the heart of Margate. It is a greenspace that is run by volunteers for the benefit of both people and wildlife, and is being established on a former landfill. Few parts of Kent have as little trees as Thanet, making a new woodland particularly good news for the area. The 13 acre site lies next to the Dane Valley Allotments, and the aim is to involve as

many people as possible through practical task days which run on the last Sunday of every month from 10am until 1pm, wildlife talks and walks; as well as other events all taking place at the woodland.

08/06/2026

At this time of the year, bindw**d poses issues for our newly planted small trees, smothering them if left unchecked.

However, while considered a pesky, invasive w**d by many gardeners, bindw**d offers an important food source for local bumblebee populations during the flowering season.

There is a fine balance to be struck between removing the bindw**d that poses an immediate danger to the small trees, whilst still leaving some for the pollinators.

This red-tailed bumblebee is certainly enjoying the benefits on offer!

**d

It’s Volunteers’ Week and time to pay tribute to our amazing volunteers, who worked hard on Sunday to make a real differ...
01/06/2026

It’s Volunteers’ Week and time to pay tribute to our amazing volunteers, who worked hard on Sunday to make a real difference in the woods!

✅ paths were mowed and low branches and vegetation cut back
✅ the new trees were cleared around and mulch applied
✅ the glade development next to the new trees continues to take shape
✅ our HQ was given a tidy up too

You can see in the photos that they had a deserved break at the end, with cold drinks and a well earned sit down!

We hope the local community will enjoy the more accessible paths, as we move into the time of year when there is plenty of wildlife to see. Great work everyone!

Following on from a recent post about recording the wildlife seen at the woods, we are delighted to share that another n...
30/05/2026

Following on from a recent post about recording the wildlife seen at the woods, we are delighted to share that another new species has officially been added to our list!

Our newest addition is Bladder campion ("Silene vulgaris"), a white petalled wild flower, native to the UK. In the book "Wild Flowers of Britain" it is noted that in Scotland, it is believed to be an aphrodisiac for cows! 🐮

If you want to help keep Thanet's newest Local Wildlife Site in tip top shape, our volunteers are back on site tomorrow (Sunday)... more details on the event page ⤵️

Task Day - May 2026

An important task for our volunteers is to observe and record all the species present at Dane Valley Woods. So far we ha...
15/05/2026

An important task for our volunteers is to observe and record all the species present at Dane Valley Woods. So far we have counted a whopping 308 different ones, ranging from birds and bees to flowers and fungi!

This involves getting a photo or sound recording, and uploading to an official recording website such as iRecord or iNaturalist, together with the date, time and location.

The observation then needs to be verified by experts, and once this is done, if it is a new species we add it to our own spreadsheet. You can view this on our website, we’ll post the link in the comments.

So far this year, new additions include Cetti’s warbler and Garden warbler (both birds). On our recent Bee Walk (see photo) we also had first time observations of the Garden bumblebee and the Tawny mining bee.

Have you seen something new, and even better have a photo? Get in touch to let us know!

Last night's rainbow 🌈
13/05/2026

Last night's rainbow 🌈

Nest building is in full flow right now, and our volunteers have been spotting signs of action 👀The whitethroat shown in...
12/05/2026

Nest building is in full flow right now, and our volunteers have been spotting signs of action 👀

The whitethroat shown in the photos is a summer visitor that has flown in from Saharan Africa to breed here. It makes it's nest in low vegetation like scrub, bushes and bramble, of which there is plenty at Dane Valley Woods!

There has also been activity around at least one of our bird boxes, with blue t**s seen zooming in and out. No doubt they are enjoying the full-scale emergence of the spindle ermine moth caterpillar 🐛

We know from feedback how much people enjoy walking their dogs in the woods, and recommend that if you can stick to the paths, then our feathered friends can continue their nest building undisturbed. Thank you! 🐦

On Monday, we were delighted to show a lovely bunch of visitors around for our May Day Walk. For many, it was their firs...
06/05/2026

On Monday, we were delighted to show a lovely bunch of visitors around for our May Day Walk. For many, it was their first ever visit! 🌳

The woods are looking great right now, and particular highlights were the hawthorn blossom and the ghostly silken webs of the spindle ermine moth caterpillar 🐛

After the walk we headed back to our HQ for hot drinks and homemade biscuits, yum ☕🍪

Thank you to our visitors for asking great questions and helping to make it such an enjoyable event! We hope to do more of these this summer, so keep an eye out on our socials 👀

In glorious spring sunshine our volunteers worked tirelessly yesterday (Sunday) for the monthly task session 💚The main j...
27/04/2026

In glorious spring sunshine our volunteers worked tirelessly yesterday (Sunday) for the monthly task session 💚

The main job was to help the new saplings that were planted in February. The small trees were already being covered in bindw**d and renewed bramble growth, so this was cleared and a generous helping of mulch applied to help the saplings to survive, as can be seen in our cover photo! 🌳

A number of paths were mowed to help maintain accessibility for visitors, and there was even time to drill holes in the new vertical log piles, to create a habitat for solitary bees 🐝

The woods are springing to life right now and buzzards, orange tip butterflies and firebugs were all spotted 👀

Lastly special congratulations to Sal, Linda and Bob, who all received a DVW pin badge under our new loyalty scheme for attending five sessions - well done all! 🙌

Wow..... we have been tracking this, and today we are delighted to announce the 1500th follower of this page.... well do...
23/04/2026

Wow..... we have been tracking this, and today we are delighted to announce the 1500th follower of this page.... well done Margo Mayhew !!

And a big thank you to all our followers, supporters and volunteers, who provide such high levels of positivity and energy 💚

For an opportunity to look around the woods and meet the team in person, our upcoming May Day Walk at Dane Valley Woods will take place on Monday 4 May.

Check out the event page for more details, including how to book your free place 🌳

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Dane Valley Road
Margate
CT93RX

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