Adventure to Reculver and Blean Woods

At the weekend I finally had a chance to take a closer look at Reculver towers, near Herne Bay. I've seen the ruins many times when flying past on my way to another part of the coast and I have always promised myself that one day I'd stop and stand in their shadows.

Reculver Towers are the two towers of the ruins of St Mary's church, built by the Romans. The towers which still stand were actually added to the original Roman church in about 650AD.

The Reculver Towers are located in Reculver Country Park, The Saxon Shore way skirts the country park so you can walk or cycle along the coast. There are picnic tables in the park and we sat and had a lovely, albeit windy,  picnic.

Afterwards,  we drove to Blean Woods where 35 pairs of nightingales return to every spring. The nightingale has one of the most beautiful and distintive songs of any bird and was a great inspiration to the English Romantic poets. Unfortunately we didn't hear any nightingales that evening but I have heard reports of nightingales being heard in Boughton and Appledore as well as Blean. They sing between May and the beginning of June so I'm running out of time but if not this year...next year :)

(a nightingale!)

 We came across a group of enthusiastic bird spotters who were standing transfixed by another very strange bird cry. One of the bird spotters, a gentrified elderly lady, whispered to me that it was a nightjar.

Nightingales or not, the woods are a beautiful place to be at dusk. There are plenty of birds species singing and on a summer's evening I can think of nothing better than sitting in the woods with just a picnic and the birds for company. There is a car park which was still open when we left after 10pm, although there is plenty of road parking if you were worried about your car getting locked in the car park.

http://www.theblean.co.uk/visiting-the-blean/

http://www.theblean.co.uk/visiting-the-blean/