What Did Our First Survey Tell Us?

Our first survey, launched in August closed this week, and we have been thrilled with the number of responses it had – 318 in total.  We will be publishing the full results on the website soon, but we wanted to share some initial insights from it.   The survey itself was short and sweet, with only 3 questions in total – these asked what people loved about Kent’s nature, and what their concerns and hopes for it were. With these broad questions, our intention was to start a discussion, and quickly get to the heart of what was important to the residents of Kent.  We were amazed at the passion and enthusiasm of the responses; the numerous evocations of personal memories and of the connection with Kent’s nature: “I love it when the blackthorn blossoms and when I get to pick blackberries”, commented one respondent, “I love the timelessness of ancient woodland, the ebb and flow of birds on tidal mudflats…” commented another.   We recognised that, woven throughout the responses, there was a sense that our biodiversity was under threat, and that perhaps our nature wasn’t being valued highly enough.  Many responses hoped that a collaborative vision for the future and better decision-making would offer Kent’s nature the support to flourish.

All of this information is vital in helping us to build a holistic image of what Kent’s nature means to its residents, and helps us shape the Local Nature Recovery Strategy into a truly representative body of work.  And now we need your help once again, by taking part in our latest survey and ensuring we have another wonderfully detailed set of data to feed into the process.

Take part in our survey “What Does Nature Recovery Mean to You?”  here.