If you love bees and want to learn more about them, pop along to a Kent Wildlife Trust two-day course designed to teach you to identify them and learn about the ecology of wild bees. Led by Steven Falk, author of Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland, the course runs on Saturday, May 6 and Sunday, May 7 at Tyland Barn in Sandling, Maidstone.

On day one, Steven will show you how to identify bees under the microscope and photograph them, while on day two you can look at bees and their habitats at local wildlife sites, weather permitting. The course covers bee ecology and conservation. Copies of the Field Guide can be bought on the day for £33, with the weekend course costing £60.

To book visit kentwildlifetrust.org.uk or call 01622 662012.

The nightingale has inspired writers and poets from Keats to Shakespeare and composers from Beethoven to Tchaikovsky. Their numbers are declining but there is still time to hear them in their natural habitat, as they sing during their breeding season.

It’s the National Nightingale Festival across the country until Saturday, May 27.

This weekend the RSPB is holding a dawn nightingale walk and moth-trapping even at Blean Woods Nature Reserve. Take a walk around the woods early in the morning to hear the birds, and then study the moths which were caught overnight.

It starts at 5am on Sunday, May 7 and costs £5 for non-members with under-16s going free. You need to book a place to take part. Visit rspb.org.uk, call 01227 464898 or email blean.woods@rspb.org.uk.

Not native to Kent, the big cats at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden put the wild into wildlife in the county.

The sanctuary holds its popular open days in the summer and selected experiences through the year, with a champagne luncheon on Sunday, May 7.

To check out the other experiences on offer, or book for the open days in July, visit whf.org.uk

Bluewater isn’t just for shopping. The Greenithe shopping centre has opened a new, improved Nature Trail, which includes a bug hotel, floral maze, duck feeder and interactive games.

Riverview Brownies, Rainbows and Guides were the first to try it out.

The trail sits within the 50 acres of Green Flag parkland and lakes around the shopping centre with a variety of flora and wildlife.

On your way into Leeds Castle you can’t fail to notice the wildlife around the picturesque parkland.

The site has wildlife and parkland walks, and falconry demonstrations with wildlife around to spot including the famous black swans, grey squirrels, kingfishers, geese, peacocks and ducks.

The swans are paired, and unseasonably warm weather meant one pair, Romeo and Juliet, hatched six cygnets shortly before Christmas for the second year in a row.

To book tickets for Leeds Castle, which are valid for a year, visit leeds-castle.com