The Swale is a tidal channel of the Thames estuary that separates the Isle of Sheppey from the rest of Kent.

On its banks is a 6,509.4-hectare (16,085-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Sittingbourne to Whitstable in Kent.

[1][3] It is also a Ramsar internationally important wetland site[4] and a Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.

One operated between Oare and Harty, and the other between Murston (near Sittingbourne) and Elmley (another former hamlet and essentially attached islet).

The Swale forms both a National Nature Reserve and a Special Protection Area: the eel grass, Ray's knotgrass, white seakale, glassworts and golden samphire support rare and uncommon migrant butterflies and moths, including the Essex emerald, the ground lackey, the clouded yellow butterfly and rare hawk-moths.