Wildlife

The Dorset AONB has an amazing wealth of wildlife - a great place for local people to explore and celebrate the wildlife they have on their patch and to give it a helping hand too.

Osprey Platforms

The SDF funded the erection of 5 nesting platforms to encourage Ospreys to nest here in the South. So far the project has been successful, with Ospeys doing exactly that!! Once the birds have an established a nesting site, there likely to return year upon year.

The installation of wildlife cameras has really brought this project alive.  This project has attracted lots of publicity, including the BBC Breakfast team reporting on this project.  For more information visit www.rspb.org.uk

River Restoration on the River Frome

In 2009 DWT and FWAG, along with many local volunteers, set about clearing Himalayan Balsam from a stretch of river on the Frome and Hooke. These areas had been identified by FWAG as in need of attention. 1.7km stretch of river between Hooke and Kingcombe and 1.3km along the river at Maiden Newton totalling 2.01km of river bank cleared by local volunteers.

In addition this the Dorset Wildlife Trust set about restoring a section of the River Frome between Nunnery Mead and Notton, for good spawning habitat for native Brown Trout. This involved thinning of trees and breaking up hard concrete on the riverbed.  The Trust also ran a series of workshops and training days for anglers and the local community highlighting the importance and the value chalk streams.

Swifts on the Web

The small grant given to the Dorset Wildlife Trust allowed them to develop a website covering all aspects of Swifts.  The site includes awareness raising, advice and guidance for planners, builders, home owners and developers and the facility to record swift numbers.  For more information please visit www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/the_swift_project.

Purbeck Ridge Gorse Clearance

The funds awarded to the Purbeck Ridge project, has allowed the completion of 7 farm management plans, gorse clearance days, areas of Lowland Calcareous has been restored, 2 volunteer scrub clearance days (totalling 2.25ha), research into gorse and how it can be used as pellets, compost and even fuel! And the purchase of two razing heards.

Wildlife Windows

The idea for the ‘Wildlife Windows' initiative came from the Chalk and Hawks Project in 2005. It set up a scheme to connect people with wildlife, using cameras to capture hidden wildlife behaviour without disturbing the animals. Chalk & Hawks have designed and developed new ideas including cameras that attach to bird feeders to give ‘nose-to-beak' views. An automatic CCTV system for collecting video footage of otters has also proved popular.

Sixteen cameras were installed, mostly at visitor centres and bed and breakfast establishments, where promoting wildlife has become part of a green tourism package. The equipment gives people a unique view of wild animals in their natural habitat, reinforcing the importance of the AONB for wildlife.

Our Butterflies and Moths

The Dorset branch of Butterfly Conservation celebrated the County's butterflies and moths, to encourage greater public support and involvement in their monitoring and conservation. A promotional leaflet and series of village events proved very successful as was a ‘butterfly festival' to celebrate Dorset's wildlife heritage.

St James Churchyard

St James Wildlife Group in Milton Abba s set out to enhance the management of their churchyard and cemetery, making it a better place for wildlife and improving access for local people. This formed part of a wider project to restore the historic landscapes around the village and create a Heritage Hike. The work has brought the local community together with the local Art Group producing watercolours of wildlife that can be seen, and a healthy walking initiative being run through the doctor's surgery.

Young people learn woodland skills

The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers set up a project to engage young socially at risk and disadvantaged people in environmental management. Six practical sessions were organised at Bracketts Coppice Nature Reserve, where 19 young people were taught about managing woods for wildlife and undertook coppicing work and installed nest boxes for dormice.

A number of the young people went on to join Millennium Volunteer scheme and other training programmes, and members from the Weymouth Foyer who attended the coppicing sessions organised and ran a presentation for other residents on the benefits and enjoyment of volunteering.

8 Acre Coppice Local Nature Reserve

Local people in Bovington were concerned that Acre Coppice ancient woodland was looking a bit worse for wear. This thin sliver of a woodland had been neglected for some time and become a local dumping ground. The Friends Group formed to help the landowners restore it to its former glory and make it a great place for wildlife and people to enjoy.

Rachel Palmer. Chair of the Friends Group explained ‘getting the woodland designated as a Local Nature Reserve was a big step, we got so much help from Dorset County Council to achieve this. There is so much important wildlife value in small woodlands in Dorset, so we drew up a management plan to ensure that the wildlife value was restored at the same time as making it a good place for people to walk. The landowners - MoD and the school - have been very co-operative'

Rachel has set up a club at Bovington Middle School which has regular outings to the wood - at Christmas time children made cards decorated with leaves from the wood and raised funds by selling these locally. Future plans include coppicing, improving access gates, selling local wood products locally and installing bat boxes. Dorset AONB Sustainable Development Fund will help with some of these improvements.

Other wildlife projects we have supported

Wildlife rich meadows on the National Trust's Golden Cap estate can be grazed again now that the vital water supply has been renewed. The South Winterbournes project researched into these internationally important streams and how to restore them.

A small grant was awarded to Owermoigne Parish Council for tree planting to compensate for existing mature trees that were in decline.

The Axe and Char Environmental Sustainability Project works with farmers and local communities to improve the environmental quality of the rivers through sensitive management of their catchment areas.

Planning for Biodiversity: Dorset Wildlife Trust conference highlighting how wildlife can benefit from the new planning system.