All photographs shown here ( around 400 ) have been taken on the same piece of land, which lies in the Teise Valley on the outskirts of Horsmonden and Goudhurst in Kent.

Use of the land has varied between hops and fruit but has now been put down to grass which is allowed to grow long before being flailed at the end of the year.  Two ponds have been added, making a total of four, over 1200 trees planted to extend a small piece of ancient woodland and 120 metres of hedgerow planted.  The benefits for wildlife have been very noticeable in a short space of time and I hope that the images show the remarkable diversity of wildlife present in a relatively small area.  There are breeding dormice, large numbers of Great Crested Newts, White-legged Damselflies, Scarce Emerald Damselflies, roosting Barn Owls, visiting Kingfishers, nesting Skylarks and a healthy population of one of Britain's scarce bees, the Eucera longicornis. This is in addition to the plentiful lizards, slow-worms and grass-snakes. Palmate newts  do not seem to be present, adders have not been seen for about 20 years, frogs are around but in short supply and hedgehogs have probably all been eaten by badgers, which are plentiful.

The website is primarily a photographic record and some weaker images are included if identification is possible. The site as a whole, however, will evolve as better shots are taken and more species added. The Amphibians page includes notes on the predation of Great Crested newts and there are also pictures of a Kingfisher eating dragonfly larvae on the Dragonfly page. Since the compressed format of the images inevitably loses some of the original quality I have included on the Gallery page a selection of my favourite images in larger format.

Appropriate licences have been obtained for any pictures that have involved disturbance to wildlife. All photographs have been taken in the wild other than those few marked with an asterisk where the wildlife has been caught, photographed and immediately released.  All images on this site are , of course, protected by UK and International Copyright Law. If you wish to use any please email me on :      johnwebley@15acresinkent.com

Please also email any comments you have on the site, particularly correction of any mis-identifications