River Len LNR

Last updated
River Len
River Len LNR 4.jpg
Type Local Nature Reserve
Location Maidstone, Kent
OS grid TQ 768 555
Area 1.7 hectares (4.2 acres)

River Len is a 1.7-hectare (4.2-acre) Local Nature Reserve in Maidstone in Kent. It is owned and managed by Maidstone Borough Council. [1] [2]

Maidstone Town in England

Maidstone is a large, historically important town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. It lies 32 miles east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river carried much of the town's trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of settlement in the area dating back before the Stone Age. The town, part of the borough of Maidstone, had a population of 113,137 people in 2011. There has been a shift in the town's economy since the Second World War away from heavy industry towards light industry and services.

Kent County of England

Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west. The county also shares borders with Essex along the estuary of the River Thames, and with the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. The county town is Maidstone.

Maidstone Borough Council

Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) is the second level local authority for the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, United Kingdom.

This small site in an urban area next the River Len has some uncommon species such as water voles and soldier beetles. [1]

River Len river in the United Kingdom

The River Len is a river in Kent, England. It rises at a spring in Bluebell Woods to the south-east of the village centre of Lenham 0.6 miles (0.97 km) from the source of the River Great Stour; both rise on the Greensand Ridge. Its length is c10 miles (16 km). It enters the River Medway at Maidstone.

European water vole species of mammal

The European water vole or northern water vole, is a semiaquatic rodent. It is often informally called the water rat, though it only superficially resembles a true rat. Water voles have rounder noses than rats, deep brown fur, chubby faces and short fuzzy ears; unlike rats their tails, paws and ears are covered with hair.

Soldier beetle family of insects

The soldier beetles (Cantharidae) are relatively soft-bodied, straight-sided beetles. They are cosmopolitan in distribution. One of the first described species has a color pattern reminiscent of the red coats of early British soldiers, hence the common name. They are also known commonly as leatherwings because of their soft elytra.

Most of the site is open to the public.

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Downswood is a civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census is 2,291. It is bounded to the north by the River Len, to the south by Otham and Bearsted and is 2 miles (3 km) from Maidstone, the county town of Kent. Downswood has been a parish in its own right since 1987. Prior to this it was part of the civil parish of Otham.

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The Larches, Kent

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Wateringbury SSSI

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References

  1. 1 2 "River Len". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  2. "Map of River Len". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 18 March 2018.

Coordinates: 51°16′16″N0°31′59″E / 51.271°N 0.533°E / 51.271; 0.533

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.