Shorne and Ashenbank Woods is a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

between Rochester and

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...

Kent 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, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Part of it is Shorne Woods Country Park. These woods have diverse and important invertebrates, especially dragonflies, beetles and

true bugs Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from to aroun ...

, including the rare beetles '' Mordella holomelaena'' and ''

Peltodytes caesus ''Peltodytes'' is a genus of water beetle which is native to the Nearctic, Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. ''Peltodytes'' can generally be differentiated from the similar ''Haliplus'' by the presence of a pair of spots on the posterior m ...

''. Several clay workings have been landscaped to create shallow ponds designed for wildlife. There is public access to the site.

References

{{SSSIs Kent Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Kent Forests and woodlands of Kent