Milton Creek Country Park is Sittingbourne’s newest green space, it is a jewel, a tranquil oasis for wildlife, hidden from the world by a screen of industrial and residential development that hems it on three sides. The park is open at its northern end to Milton Creek, a shallow tidal inlet running north-east from Sittingbourne to join the Swale at Elmley Reach. The 128 acres of former landfill site now offers a large natural play area, a community events space, as well as an extensive network of paths through areas of different meadow, scrub and aquatic habitats that are home to many hundreds of animal species, some such as the Shrill Carder Bee, are very rare and of national or international importance.
The physical work of developing the Park actually began back in 2003 with the capping of the landfill site and the project is still in its infancy. The rich habitats need to be managed to maintain the diversity and value of this wonderful wildlife haven and to achieve this the park needs help from the public. We are lucky that a group of residents have come together to form the Milton Creek Country Park Trust, a charitable organisation founded to help with funding for community events and volunteer conservation tasks within the park, they are also working to build a ‘Friends’ group to assist with practical management activities or to get involved with organising events. As a result of all the effort put in by the Trust, the Volunteers and Swale BC to maintain and improve the Park it has been received many awards. To join the Friends and receive regular emails please subscribe to our mailing list.
