Tunbridge Wells Community Nature Reserve

22/10/2026

🌿 Top picks for pollinators #3 Bramble

Next up we have bramble! Often dismissed as a prickly nuisance, but actually a valuable plant for wildlife.

In an eight-year UK pollinator study, bramble averaged 15 insects per 10 minute count. 🐝🦋

Its open flowers provide accessible nectar and pollen for a wide range of insects, including honeybees, bumblebees, hoverflies, beetles and butterflies. 🌼

Bramble is especially valuable because it offers food for pollinators when in flower, followed by blackberries for birds and mammals later in the year. Its dense, thorny growth also provides shelter for wildlife. 🦔

🌱If you already have bramble growing, consider leaving a patch to flower and fruit. It can thrive along garden boundaries, hedgerows and in wilder corners, but spreads readily, so give it room!

From gardens and allotments to community green spaces, every suitable patch can help support wildlife across Tunbridge Wells Borough. 💚

Research: Butterfly Conservation's National Pollinator Survey findings

20/10/2026

Top Picks for Pollinators #2 Common Hogw**d 🌿

Next up we have Common Hogw**d! commonly confused with a w**d but actually a valuable native wildflower!

🐝 Ranking second in an eight-year UK pollinator study, hogw**d averaged 20 insect visits per 10-minute count.

Its clusters of tiny flowers provide accessible nectar and pollen for a variety of insects, including hoverflies, other small flies, solitary bees and beetles.

Unlike some flowers that only certain insects can feed from, hogw**d offers an easy meal to lots of different visitors, including some of the smaller insects we often overlook but are a valuable part of the ecosystem! 🌼

🌱 Autumn is a great time to sow common hogw**d seeds outdoors. Winter's cold, damp conditions can help break seed dormancy, encouraging germination in spring.

Consider making a small wildflower patch if you have space and adding this native wildflower to help support local pollinators. 🐝

Research: Butterfly Conservation's National Pollinator Survey findings

16/10/2026

Top Picks for Pollinators! #1 Common Ivy 🌿

Over the next few weeks, we'll be exploring plants highlighted by pollinator research, sharing what makes them valuable to wildlife and how you can grow them in your own outdoor space.

First up is common ivy, an often overlooked plant that provides a valuable source of nectar and pollen in autumn, when many other flowers have finished blooming.

🐝 Did you know? An eight-year UK pollinator study found that ivy received the highest average number of insect visits among the flowers surveyed.

🦋What does it attract? Flowering ivy attracts a diverse range of insects, including honeybees, ivy mining bees, hoverflies, butterflies and wasps.
It's important for Holly Blue butterflies who lay their eggs on the ivy flowers!

🌱 How can you help? If you already have ivy growing in a suitable spot, consider letting it flower before cutting it back. If planting it, choose its location carefully as it can spread vigorously

🔎 Research: Butterfly Conservation's National Pollinator Survey findings

03/10/2026

30/09/2026

Grosvenor and Hilbert Park is the category winner 🏆 !

30/09/2026

First award in - Silver Gilt for Barnett’s Wood Nature Reserve 💚

30/09/2026

17th October 2026 - We are hosting a Fungi Walk again this year at Cinderhill Wood in Matfield. Join ourselves and local expert David Warwick for a lovely walk around Cinderhill Wood where we will discuss fungi that we come across. Make sure to book onto the event through our Eventbrite link below, where you will find more information. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2002451952695?aff=oddtdtcreator

30/09/2026

A woodland walk turned into a little fungi hunt, and I found some brilliant examples of just how much is happening on the woodland floor across the Tunbridge Wells Borough!

🍄 Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) – the unmistakable red and white spotty mushroom, growing amongst the leaf litter.

🌿 A tawny grisette-type Amanita – growing amongst fallen leaves and woodland vegetation.

🪵 Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) – appearing in a cluster around dead wood. This species is a wood-rotting fungus, helping break down dead timber and return nutrients to the ecosystem.

🍂 I also found bracket fungi and plenty of other fungi fruiting from woodland soil, leaf litter and decaying wood.

And this is why habitat matters. 🍂

Fungi need food and places to grow. Leaving fallen leaves, dead wood and other decaying material allows decomposition to continue, creating habitat and food for invertebrates and supporting the wider food web.

You can help simply by:

🍂 Leaving some leaf litter on the ground

🪵 Leave fallen branches and logs to decay

🌿 Leave areas a little less tidy

Sometimes, making space for nature simply means leaving things to decay naturally 🍄🌿🍂

*Remember not to consume any fungi unless it's been confidently identified to be safe by an expert*

27/09/2026

24/09/2026

Look what has appeared in the garden overnight 👀 🍄Puffballs!

Puffballs are fungi that spend most of their lives hidden away in the soil or decaying material. When conditions are right, their fruiting bodies suddenly emerge to release their spores!

Fungi help break down organic matter and recycle nutrients back into the soil, making them an essential part of a healthy ecosystem. 🌱🍄

Have you spotted any fungi? 🍄
Take a photo and share your finds with us! Whether it’s in your garden, local woodland or out on a walk. We’d love to see what’s popping up across the borough 😍🌿