Enjoying Dorset's Countryside e-newsletter - June 2024

Greenspace Teams - Dorset Council
Dorset Council
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Here's your latest round-up of news from Dorset Council's
Countryside and Greenspace Teams. Enjoy!
N e w s
Celebrating our volunteers
Last week, we celebrated #nationalvolunteersweek
which highlights the amazing work that volunteers do. Across the county, our volunteers play an invaluable role and enable us to achieve so much more than we would without them. They help with a huge range of tasks from leading events, wildlife surveys and site patrols to conservation work, site maintenance and path clearance...and so much more. Their dedication deserves our heartfelt appreciation. To all those who give up their precious time - we thank you!
Read about National Volunteers' Week
Health and Activity Volunteers
As part of #nationalvolunteersweek
, we'd like to celebrate the 245 trained Health and Activity Volunteers across Dorset who give their commitment and enthusiasm each week to support others to get active.
Activities range from health walks, health cycle rides and accessible cycling to orienteering and couch to 5K programmes.
Combined, this resulted in over 2,912 hours of delivery last year alone!
Find out how to get involved
Hardy Hands and Furzecutters
Volunteers give over 2,000 hours of their time each year to help look after Thorncombe Wood
.
Our rangers would struggle without these willing hands and this month is no different. Volunteers are helping carry out wildlife surveys, monitoring the likes of bats, dormice, moths and butterflies. They also help maintain habitats throughout the year, from bracken pulling in the summer to coppicing in the winter. People from all sorts of backgrounds form part of the volunteer base and the rangers would like to thank every single one of them as part of #nationalvolunteersweek
.
Discover ways to get involved at Thorncombe Wood
Dorset Council celebrates nature friendly verges in new campaign
This summer, we have teamed up with Litter Free Dorset to celebrate Dorset’s roadside verges as havens for biodiversity and wildlife with the ‘Love Your Verge’
campaign.
This year’s campaign will feature colourful roadside signs with bees and butterflies and the slogan ‘Making space for nature’ to highlight the importance of Dorset’s verges. Our greenspace team recently visited Symondsbury Primary School to talk about making space for wildlife in our communities.
Find out more
Erosion and cracks close coastal path
A section of coastal path on the Jurassic Coast
has been closed due to erosion and cracks. The route, which runs along the top of the eastern cliffs at West Bay, Bridport, has been cordoned off for safety reasons.
Following one of the wettest winters on record, the continued erosion and numerous cliff falls has meant the route is potentially too unstable and narrow for safe public use and it is unlikely to be reopened.
Our rangers are monitoring the area and have been working with the neighbouring Bridport and West Dorset Golf Club to provide an alternative route for residents.
The cliffs at West Bay have been plagued with problems in recent years with the council previously warning residents that rockfalls and landslips can happen at any time.
View South West Coast Path closures and route changes
Be a BYO Hero!
Did you know that you can bring your own (BYO) reusable bottles and cups to all the cafes at Dorset Council country parks
?
We can all do our bit to reduce single-use plastic waste and protect the natural environment.
And remembering to bring your reusables when you’re out and about is just one small way you can make a change for the better. Our on-site cafes offer free tap water refills, and you’ll also get a discount on hot drinks when you bring your own cup. So next time you head for a wander around beautiful Durlston, Avon Heath, Moors Valley or Thorncombe Wood…remember to #BYO
cup and bottle!
Look out for our BYO posters and snap a selfie with your reusables, tag @litterfreedorset to be featured on their social media.
Find out more about the BYO campaign
Bat surveying and handling
On a warm and still evening at the end of May, members of the Dorset Bat Group
reserve in Blandford. It was the perfect evening for observing the huge numbers of bats that use the site for feeding. Using a harp trap and mist net, several bat species were caught, measured, sexed and weighed before being released unharmed onto the nature reserve.
Of the 18 bat species found in the UK, 9 species have been recorded on the Milldown reserve in the past few years.
These include the Brown Long-Eared, Serotine, Noctule, Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Barbastelle, Greater Horseshoe, Daubenton's and 'Myotis' bats.
Sadly, bat populations have suffered severe declines during the past century, but the Bat Conservation Trust and more than 80 local bat groups nationwide are working hard to help our bats ‘hang on’.
The Milldown Nature Reserve extension, with its meadow and dense hedgerows, will provide even more important feeding habitats for many years to come.
Visit the Bat Conservation Trust website
Air quality control monitoring programme
Avon Heath Country Park
is taking part in a cross council air quality control project to record air quality on heathlands and the impact it has on our heathers, lichens and mosses.
Rangers and volunteers have set out transects and put out the first monitoring tubes that will be collected in July and sent for analysis.
We will be doing this over the summer months, with the final tubes collected at the beginning of October. The results should be available in November.
Find out more
All creatures small and small
With the help of an amazing camera and a visitor who likes to share his wonderful photos, the rangers at Hardy's Birthplace
has a wingspan of just 16-23 mm and ridiculously long antennae!
They also received an amazing photo of a Wood Ant
Red List of Threatened Species.
Stay in touch with wildlife news via Facebook
Three people gardening at accessible raised beds
Accessible green spaces to reconnect with nature
As part of the Reconnecting with Nature Spaces project, Litter Free Dorset
has created accessible green spaces across Dorset to help local communities connect with nature.
Check out the Park Community Garden next time you’re in Weymouth and be sure to visit the Queen Mother Garden next time you’re in Shaftesbury – you’ll find wonderful ways to connect with nature from accessible raised beds to poetry about nature.
Find out more via email
Nocturnal neighbours
With the help of volunteer licensed bird-ringers, we've been out checking the owl boxes on our council farms. Every year, we inspect and monitor these boxes to see if they're being used...and great news, this year we found Tawny and Barn Owl
chicks.
Any owl found is recorded and a specially designed ring is put on its leg. All the information we gather is then sent directly to the British Trust for Ornithology , helping us understand more about the birds, including their survival and condition.
The owl boxes were put up on some of our council-owned farms back in 2018, to help tackle the decline in owl numbers and boost biodiversity.
Find out more
E v e n t s
Rooted in Nature exhibition
From Wednesday 12 to Thursday 27 June, Durlston Country Park’s Fine Foundation Gallery
will welcome artists Julia Polonski and Julie Herring with their exhibition ‘Rooted in Nature’. The exhibition will be inspired by the natural world and how humans connect and experience it. It will evoke a feeling of the sensory elements within nature, as well as explore how a collection of natural objects can have a deeper meaning.
For more information, click on the link below or call 01929 424443.
Find out more about our events and exhibitions
'After Dark' events at Avon Heath
Join us on Friday 28 June at 8.45pm as we discover the mysterious animals of the dark on our Creatures of the Night guided walk, looking out for bats, nightjar and glow worms. Then on Friday 16 August at 7.30pm, we have a chance to discover more about the bats that live at Avon Heath including a demonstration of mist netting.
Find out more
Other events coming soon...
Find out what's on at our sites:
Avon Heath
Search for more events at Visit Dorset
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