Tong Farm Restoration | Kent

12 June

Fencing, a new livestock bridge - and ducklings!

Phase Two of the Tong Farm restoration project will see three more fields fenced and the accompanying tree planting within these fields. A livestock bridge is also being constructed across the Kyd Brook to join an isolated field to the main grazing component, which will allow the livestock to freely roam across a much larger area. The foundations for the bridge have been installed this week with the bridge likely being installed in the next few days.

The livestock are currently all grazing in the fields next to Petts Wood and can be seen from footpaths on that side of the farm.

The wetland creations and Flushers Pond restoration have proven popular with waterfowl; a pair of Egrets have taken up residency on the farm, there are ducklings and moorhen chicks in the brook wetland and Flushers Pond, a mandarin duck has been spending time in all three of the brook wetlands and numerous geese are also visiting. The filtration pond above Flusher’s Pond is developing nicely and the pond itself has been swarming with tadpoles this spring. Despite the lack of rain through April and May, the majority of the planted trees and hedgerows are doing well and any that die off will be replanted in the coming winters.

Image of a large tractor and trailer with an excavator just offloaded to start work on the new bridge — Preparing to start work on the Kyd Brook bridge | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of a pond with small ducklings — Flushers Pond with the new season's ducklings enjoying the open water | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

9 April

Ewes, lambs and young cattle arriving

This past week, as phase 1 of the project is wrapping up, we were able to introduce a flock of ewes with their lambs to the lower fields of the farm. They are currently grazing the two fields that run parallel to the footpath beside the Kyd Brook. This is the first time these fields have been grazed for a considerable number of years, as the field is now secure with the new fencing and is serviced by a newly installed water trough.

The 21 cattle will shortly be moved to a different field, closer to the woodland. They will still be visible from the footpath where the brook comes under the railway line, which now also has a newly installed bench.

Image of white lambs being released into a field from a trailer on a sunny day — Lambs rushing to explore their new home | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of young cattle at a drinking trough on a fine partly cloudy day — Young cattle at one of the new drinking troughs | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

1 April

Kyd Brook wetlands completion

Last week, the Kyd Brook/wetland creation works were completed. Work was carried out on three different sections of the brook, which runs through the Hawkwood estate and farm for just over 1km. One wetland is next to the brook footpath where a spring-fed ditch now enters the wetland area. The larger of the two wetlands is located in the middle of the farm, this is away from footpaths to minimise disturbance and create a valuable refuge for local wildlife.

Since the wetland was joined to the brook just last week, there’s already been a heron, a little egret, two geese and eight mallards enjoying the new habitat.

As well as these two wetlands, a section of the brook that runs between two of the grazing fields has been reprofiled to allow the flow of water to open up and meander, replacing the previous, heavily canalised, section.

The works along the brook have considerably improved the Kyd Brook for wildlife, and will also help capture more water and hold it, reducing flood risk downstream.

Image of excavators at work landscaping in the brook on a bright but cloudy day — Excavators at work creating the Kyd Brook wetlands | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of a large pond - part of the recently completed Kyd Brook wetlands project. The pond is surrounded by bare soil but this will soon be colonised by marginal plants which will form part of the wetland ecosphere — The completed Kyd Brook wetlands | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

24 March

From troughs to grazing

This week, the 13 new water troughs are being installed and plumbed in, which will enable livestock to graze in every field. These larger water troughs are also much more suitable for cattle due to their larger volume of water.

The 20 additional fruit trees that were planted in the farm orchard are now guarded, and we were able to move the sheep into the orchard to graze off the grass, allowing wildflowers a chance to flower later in the year.

The wetland and brook improvement works will also be completed by the end of this week, photos of which will be shared in the next update.

Flusher's Pond is also almost at capacity again, and there is frog spawn and newt spawn in the pond. The moorhens that live in Flusher’s Pond stayed during the entirety of the works being undertaken, and are still there enjoying the refilled pond.

Image of a newly-installed grazing trough in a field with a black dog nearby — One of the new high-capacity grazing troughs | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of sheep grazing a newly fenced field amongst trees on a sunny day — Sheep grazing the orchard | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

20 March

New trees in the orchard and field guards

Twenty new fruit trees have been planted in our traditional orchard. Orchards are a valuable habitat in their own right, providing nectar for invertebrates as well as providing fruit, so the expansion of its size is of great benefit to local wildlife.

All the field standards are now planted and have been guarded with robust, locally sourced, sweet chestnut post and rail, which will stand up to cattle scratching against them whilst protecting our field trees from browsing, whilst they establish over the next couple of decades. The field standards will, in decades to come, provide valuable shade for livestock as well as diversifying the field habitat and maintaining open pasture.

Image of trees being planted with an excavator in a grassy field on an overcast and misty day — Planting the new trees in the orchard | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of a post-and-rail fence around one of the just-planted standard trees, to protect the growing tree from cattle rubbing against it. — Standard tree protection | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

13 March

Outflows and Wetlands

This past week saw the installation of the pond's new outflow. The old one was dilapidated and leaking so the new outflow will provide a more consistent water level in the pond. The design also allows us to skim off the top of the water to prevent duckweed from accumulating. Now the outflow is in place, the water volume should increase over the next few weeks. There’s still a bit of work still to do around the perimeter of the pond and the filtration pond, and some tidying to be done over the next week.

The wetland works have also commenced this past week, with the shape of the smaller wetland area along the Kyd brook now profiled. The larger wetland is located in the middle of the farm away from footpaths and there is also considerable bank reprofiling being undertaken along the long, canalised section of the Kyd brook that runs through the farm fields. These works will create more wetland areas along the valley of the farm, will hold water back during periods of heavy flow, and also mitigate flood risk downstream by holding water. The smaller wetland, located beside the footpath, will have a leaky dam either end to capture and hold the water, effectively creating a slow-moving area of water for wildlife, and the top of the bank between the stream and the wetland will be dead-hedged to prevent dogs from disturbing the wetland.

Image of an excavator working to create an outflow stream from Flushers Pond on a sunny day — Installing the outflow from Flushers Pond | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of a pond surrounded by an earth bank with an island in the midde and a leaky dam comprising a number of logs between the bank and the island on a sunny day with white clouds — Wetland and leaky dam | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

26 February

Ponds, troughs and trees

The pond desilting is now complete, and the filtration pond has been shaped with an excavator. Flusher’s pond is clay lined and the original banks are quite steep, so the contractors have dressed the edges to create marginal, niche habitat along the edges which makes it more favourable for wildlife. The outflow for the pond is scheduled to arrive next week so will be installed once it arrives and the pond will then be refilled to its capacity.

The new water troughs arrived this week and will be installed in mid-March. As the farm will be grazed with cattle and sheep, we will be replacing the small sheep water troughs with larger capacity troughs suitable for both cattle and sheep. We will also be installing water troughs in the fields that currently have no source of water for livestock which will enable all fields to be grazed.

All this year’s hedgerows and enclosures have been planted, and the field standards are being planted and guarded over the next couple of weeks. We have also been generously donated five disease resistant elm trees from Elms4London which are also being planted as field standards. The species being planted as field standards are: Field maple, Pedunculate oak, Sessile oak, Small-leafed lime, Wild Cherry, Hornbeam, Wild service, Native black poplar, Scots pine, Elm and Walnut. The hedgerows have been planted with a mixture of 14 different native hedgerow species, and the enclosures have been planted with a mixture of 28 different native species, predominantly scrubby species.

Image of large animal drinking troughs stacked in the barn awaiting installation — Troughs in the barn awaiting installation | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of standard trees in a trailer awaiting planting — Standard trees being taken out for planting | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

13 February

Fencing and Desilting

The field that runs along the railway line is now fenced. The gap between the field fence and the railway chain-link fence will be planted up with predominantly scrubby species, to eventually screen the railway lines and create valuable field edge habitat along that boundary. The footpath fence line has also been laid as a hedge this winter, which opens up the view across the field whilst also creating a denser hedgeline for wildlife.

On the topic of hedge laying, the work to the hedge along Soldier’s Field is now complete. Laying the hedge encourages vigorous, dense regrowth, which is ideal habitat for birds, small mammals and invertebrates. The hedge will be maintained at the height it is, to provide open views across Soldier’s field from the footpath.

After a delay with the pond works due to the adverse weather conditions, the pond desilting is now well underway. The silt is being spread in Long Field and will be muck spread in early spring. The amount of rain the past few weeks has meant the ground is looking quite rutted at the moment, but this will all be levelled off when the last of the machinery leaves the work area.

Image of a fenceline with hedge stems laid horizontally along the wire to promote vigorous and dense regrowth, with a National Trust white vehicle behind — Laid hedging along the fence line of Soldier's Field | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of an excavator working on the dark grey mud at the bottom of the drained pond — Desilting work well underway in Flusher's Pond | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

6 February

Cattle and fencing

With Cooper’s Field now fenced, the cattle were moved over from Pond Wood Field at the end of January. Coopers Field is over 8.5 hectares in size, the largest field on the farm, so they have a lot of space to roam. They were joined this week by the flock of sheep that were previously in Long Field. The livestock can usually be seen from Botany Bay Lane or the footpath running along the school boundary.

Wimpey’s Field, the field that can be seen from the footpath beside the brook & railway line, has now been refenced too and will be grazed in the coming weeks. The fenced-off section in the field that can be viewed from the footpath is a scrub enclosure. This area will be planted with predominantly scrub species, creating a dense thicket for birds to nest. Eventually livestock will be able to shelter in amongst the scrub, and the diversity of tree species will be increased on the farm.

Soldier’s Field has also now been completely refenced and just requires water trough installation before livestock can be sent out. The natural regeneration of trees along the footpath has been laid as a hedge. Doing so creates a dense boundary which is much more valuable to wildlife, whilst also opening up the view across the field from the footpath.

A small herd of cattle with a bare tree in the background with dense clouds and a few flecks of blue sky — Cattle in Cooper's Field | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of a line of new stock fencing with hedging layered along the fence on a fine day with blue sky and puffy clouds — Soldiers Field fencing with hedge laying | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

26 January

Refencing and desilting

Coopers field is now refenced and the cattle were moved into this field at the weekend. The contractors are now working on refencing the lower field where the woodland footpath emerges beside the Kyd brook. After this, Soldiers field will then be refenced. Both of these fields will be grazed with sheep once they’re livestock proof.

Desilting of the pond will commence in earnest this week. The silt from the pond will be spread across the field and left to dry out. Large bales have been placed in the field to prevent the silt running back into the pond. This job will create a lot of mess as the excavator tracks in and out of the field but this will all be levelled off when work is complete and vegetation will soon grow through in the spring.

Image of a new fence with locally sourced chestnut fence posts on a bright morning with frost on the ground. — Re-fenced Cooper's Field | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

Image of an excavator working to remove silt from a drained pond bed, surrounded by trees on a cloudy day — Desilting Flushers Pond | © National Trust/Luke Underwood

9 January 2026

Draining Flushers Pond and clearing fencelines

Work started on Tong Farm on Monday, 5 January with the removal of the old outflow system at Flusher’s pond. The two inlets have also been diverted to bypass the pond to allow it to drain sufficiently so that the silt can be dredged out towards the end of January.

As one of the inlets to Flusher’s pond comes from road run-off and through back gardens, the defunct filtration pond will be re-dug and planted with common reed to reduce the number of pollutants running into the pond from this source. High levels of nutrients and pollutants is evidenced by the blanket of duckweed that covers the pond each year. Removing the build-up of silt from the pond will also contribute to bringing nutrient levels down to create a much healthier, biodiverse pond in the long-term.

The old fences from Coopers field have been removed and the new fencelines are currently being installed. The fencing stakes are made from sweet chestnut, grown locally in North Kent. As well as being locally sourced they are much more robust and longer lasting than softwood posts.