Tickets are now on sale for our May weekend event at Elmley Nature Reserve. Book tickets here. Find further lineup, accommodation and travel info, as well as other FAQs, below.
A 20% discount code has been sent to Lunker-tier Steady subscribers. Check your inbox for details.
Poster by Will Rose
On an island in North Kent, just 40 miles from London, lies Elmley National Nature Reserve — a 3,300-acre wildlife haven. A nationally important site for breeding wading birds, it is also renowned for its raptors, owls and hares, as well as rare bees, dragonflies and flora.
We are thrilled to invite you to a very special event set to unfold on Elmley’s marshland this May, bringing together the site’s unique landscape, birdlife and biodiversity initiatives with stories of human migration, community, and culture — with some great music to [welly] boot.
On Friday 15th May, Clémentine March will open the weekend playing songs from her excellent new album Powder Keg (PRAH Recordings), before a headline set from the esteemed Modern Nature — whose latest record The Heat Warps was released on Bella Union, to great acclaim, in the summer.
On Saturday 16th May, contributors and Friends of the River Horatio Clare (We Came By Sea), Zakia Sewell (Finding Albion), Emma Warren (Up the Youth Club), Rob St John (Are You Lost?) and Nicola Chester (Ghosts of the Farm) will discuss recent works and undertakings, before we give the afternoon and evening over to music: featuring plant biorhythms from Lamine (Plants Can Dance), ambient magic from Ransom Note’s Music to Watch Seeds Grow By label, a headline set from Dundee’s contemporary-classical/spiritual-jazz/experimental electronica maestro Andrew Wasylyk, and banging tunes from the Heavenly Jukebox.
Plus there’ll be film screenings, DJs, workshops, bird ringing & swimming available across the weekend, as well as site tours with Elmley’s bird rangers. Attendees will also have the opportunity to explore the reserve at their own pace, taking in Elmley’s many walking routes and bird hides, and perhaps crossing paths with any number of wading birds and birds of prey, as well as hares, water vole, grass snakes, marsh frogs, and countless types of insect.
Since the cessation of the much-missed Port Eliot and Good Life Experience festivals, we’ve had few chances to bring Caught by the River into three dimensions — to talk, walk and dance together — and we’re really excited to have the opportunity to do so once again.
This is a small-scale, intimate event, accommodating up to 150 attendees. Tickets are £65 + booking fee, with a range of accommodation options (from bell tents to more luxe cabins and cottages) available on-site for an additional cost. As ever, Lunker-tier Caught by the River members get a discount on event tickets — check your email inboxes for the code.
The site is easily accessible by train or car from London and Kent, and we will be operating a free electric shuttle service between Swale station, on the Sheerness line, and the Elmley site.
FAQs:
Accomodation
On-site accommodation is bookable separately to the cost of an event ticket.
Due to the fragile ecology of the site, regrettably we are not able to offer self-pitch sites for tents, but we have tried to keep the cost of event tickets down to factor in added accommodation costs. Elmley are kindly offering a 15% discount on their usual nightly rate for event-goers (automatically applied on the booking page). The most affordable option, a bell tent for 4 people, works out at £39.75 per person per night.
To book accommodation, please first purchase your event ticket/s here, then click here and enter promo code CBTR to open up availability for the event weekend. Select 15th-17th May in the calendar dropdown, add your number of guests, and select a rate/accomodation type.
Accommodation checkout on Sunday morning is 10.30am, but you are welcome to stay on-site and walk, swim, birdwatch or partake in ranger tours until the reserve shuts in the early evening.
Accommodation is operated by Elmley, and any related queries or issues can be directed to: stay@elmleynaturereserve.co.uk.
Food & drink
A small number of food vendors will be set up on-site, offering hot food from Friday evening, and breakfast/brunch options (e.g. coffees and breakfast baps) until Sunday lunchtime. All of the accommodation on site is equipped with self-catering facilities (some private, some shared), and guests are welcome to bring their own provisions. In the interests of the wildlife, Elmley kindly ask that you refrain from bringing glass onto site. Exact facilities available for each type of accommodation are detailed on the booking form.
A bar will operate in the main events space until midnight each night.
Travel & access
The reserve will open to ticket-holders at 3pm on Friday 15th May.
The recommended method of travel is by train to Sittingbourne (easily accessible from London Victoria, St Pancras and Cannon Street stations, as well as Dover, Ramsgate, Faversham and Sheerness) from where you can pick up a connecting 10-minute train to Swale, running roughly once an hour. Swale station is uniquely and unusually placed to immerse you in Sheppey’s marshland landscape before you reach the event site. We will be operating a free electric minibus shuttle service between Swale station and Elmley across the weekend.
The site is also reachable by taxi from Sittingbourne station (approx. 15 minutes), or by car. Parking is available on-site.
Children
Children are welcome, but please note that there will not be any child-specific programming at this event. There is much to explore across the Elmley reserve for the nature-curious, but there are also hazards such as open water, and we strongly advise that children are supervised at all times.
Children must be factored into accommodation booking, but do not need their own event ticket up to the age of 16. Attendees aged 16+ require their own ticket for event admission.