Dorset Countryside

Over the past 10 months Countryside has been undergoing a major restructure, and the new service, which was launched last month, integrates the work of three teams; Access, Rangers and Grounds. The service now manages green space across Dorset including Rights of Way, national and regional trails, country parks, nature reserves, road verges, Gypsies and Traveller sites, school grounds, monument management and a wide range of other work

The service will continue to play a major part in conserving Dorset’s unique natural and historic environment while ensuring everyone can access and enjoy our wonderful countryside. Engaging with local communities and volunteers remains a high priority, and we will provide a high quality, cost effective service which has major benefits for the local economy.

Six teams cover the county:

Team: Manager: Definitive Map: Vanessa Penney ([email protected]) Trees: Steve Maros ([email protected]) Grounds: Nick Leeming ([email protected]) Coastal: Carmel Wilkinson ([email protected]) North and West Dorset: Giles Nicholson ([email protected]) East Dorset and Purbeck: Steve Davies ([email protected])

Group Manager: Hamish Murray ([email protected])

While the teams develop their new roles we hope that any inconvenience to the public will be kept to a minimum but if there are any problems please email us or telephone Dorset Direct on 01305 224463 or e-mail [email protected]

Over the past few months, several valued members of staff have left Dorset County Council to pursue other opportunities. Many thanks go to John Hayes, Steve Harris, Iain Hewitt, Steve Kourik, Lawrence Weston, Tom Newton, Mark Parfitt and Ashley Harris for all their hard work and commitment to the service.

‘Growth’ – An Exhibition at Durlston Castle of New Work by the Purbeck Collective If you haven’t yet finished your Christmas shopping and are looking for a unique and beautiful Christmas gift, then there are still a few days left of the current exhibition at Durston, which could be the ideal place to start!

1 The exhibition, by the Purbeck Collective is open every day between 11am and 4pm until the 15 December and features everything from paintings, to ceramics, textiles, digital work and more, so there will be something for everyone to enjoy. All work is for sale, and the artists will be on hand throughout.

Children’s Nature Nursery at Durlston: Opening Spring 2014 Following the success of the ‘Outstanding’ (OFSTED 2013) Children’s Nature Nursery at Avon Heath Country Park, Kids Love Nature is very excited to be opening a new nursery in the former visitor centre at Durlston Country Park. The nursery for 2 to 8 year olds will ‘connect children to nature’.

Over the next three months, part of the old visitors centre is being transformed into a custom built classroom and garden. The garden will have a large sandpit, vegetable patch, den area, climbing apparatus and fire pit.

The children will venture out into the Country Park with the teachers, on daily explorer sessions discovering the wonders of nature. Within the beautiful classroom children will experience creative arts, story sessions, cooking and baking, science experiments, language and maths activities. Their energy levels will be kept up with organic snacks and lunch.

Kids love Nature looks forward to being part of Durlston Country Park and the Swanage community.

For more information or to register your interest please visit www.kidslovenature.co.uk

Saving Durlston’s Chalkhill Blues Durlston Country Park and National Nature Reserve has just secured £9,700 worth of funds, thanks to SITA Trust, to conserve the sadly declining Chalkhill Blue butterfly. The SITA Trusts Enriching Nature Programme, provides funding for year long biodiversity conservation projects, that focus on priority single species or habitats

The aim of the project is to restore and conserve the Chalkhill butterfly’s habitat across the reserves grasslands to allow the butterfly the opportunity to feed, breed and reproduce as it has historically done across the local landscape.

The work will primarily involve the removal of scrub which has encroached across the floristically rich limestone grasslands, to promote more areas of the butterflies preferred habitat which includes south facing grasslands slopes rich in the caterpillar’s food plant - Horseshoe Vetch.

Conservation Ranger Simon Breeze said “Durlston is a magical place for butterflies with the reserve being one of the best places in the country for seeing a wide range of species. We have been very concerned to see the sad decline of the once abundant Chalkhill Blue, however thanks to funding by the SITA trust we will be able to restore areas across the Durlston to help out this much loved jewel of the grasslands”

For more information call 01929 424443 or visit www.durlston.co.uk

Christmas at seventhwave café If you are looking to stretch your legs over the Christmas holiday why not take a stroll at beautiful Durlston Country Park and finish with tea, cake or a lovely lunch at seventhwave café and restaurant at Durlston Castle. seventhwave is open daily this Christmas (except Christmas Day) from 9.30am until 4.30pm offering a light bite, hearty feast or a well-deserved tasty treat and a hot drink after a leisurely stroll.

With many of our ingredients sourced locally and a wide range of gluten free options, we have something on offer for everyone.

Choose from our Christmas at Candlelight evening menu starting at £22.95. In addition there is a lunchtime Christmas menu for £15.95 for 2 courses along with our usual daily lunch menu from which there are a variety of options to whet your appetite. To view both Christmas menus visit: http://www.durlston.co.uk/documents/pdfs/cafe/Xmas%20set%20menu%20- %20lunchtime%20service%202013.pdf

2 http://www.durlston.co.uk/documents/pdfs/cafe/Xmas%20set%20menu%20-%20evening%202013.pdf

Friday and Saturday evening reservations are also available, however booking is essential. Call us today on 01929 421111 to discuss your needs or request a menu.

Coming to Durlston in 2014…. An exhibition by President of the Society of Wildlife Artists, Bruce Pearson… The start of an exciting new project to increase numbers of rare Chalkhill Blue butterflies at Durlston… The completion of an artist’s studio at the Learning Centre… The provision of a new flat for volunteers at the bungalow… The opening of the Durlston Nature Nursery at Easter… An exciting new programme of live music, theatre, lectures and walks… A major exhibition on Purbeck’s wartime history…

For more information or news about Durlston, visit www.durlston.co.uk, follow us on Facebook or Twitter or call 01929 424443.

A beautiful autumn at Avon Heath Country Park From the muted golds of Silver Birch leaves fluttering to the ground to the scarlet red on Fly Agaric fungi, the countryside was awash of colour – a treat before the greyness of winter is upon us.

Here in the east of the county much of the purple heathland we care for turned to a deep bright brown. The heather has set seed and now is the time of year that much of the habitat management can begin in earnest.

This year has been an exceptional growing season for some of the invasive plants that compete aggressively with our more delicate heathland species. Rhododendron bushes seem to have doubled in size over the summer and the ever-present Scots Pine saplings have been growing as if fed steroids. Much of our conservation work is dealing with these plants and our fast growing army of volunteers has set to work to re-address the balance in favour of the heathland. A big thank you goes out to all these volunteers whose help we cannot do without.

The last few months have been exceptionally warm which has proved to be of great benefit to the rare reptiles that thrive on the heath. At Avon Heath, with the help of public donations, the rangers have worked with Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and Natural England to establish one of the most successful captive breeding programmes in the country for the Sand Lizard. This year many of the young that were reared from eggs laid at Avon Heath were re-introduced to heathland and sand dunes across the country. Hengistbury Head in Christchurch is one of the local sites to benefit from the release programme. This has only been possible after further habitat improvement at Hengistbury Head making more of the site suitable for these very rare creatures.

If you are interested in helping with the conservation work of Dorset Countryside in the east of the county whether it is looking after your local rights of way or clearing the heathland of invasive plants please get in touch with either Kate Martin or Marco Marsango at Avon Heath Country Park on 01425 478082.

The Great Heath Access audit The Dorset Great Heath project, also known as Dorset Urban Wildlink project, is one of the country’s most exciting conservation projects led by Dorset Wildlife Trust. Its aim is to purchase key parts of the Canford Estate and will use these as stepping-stones, to create links reconnecting the New Forest National Park with the Wild Purbeck Nature Improvement Area and to establish Dorset’s first urban living landscape.

Dorset Countryside Ranger Paul Jones who has been working on an access audit for the project said: “Whilst I was familiar with many of the heathland sites I was pleasantly surprised to discover new view points, secret ponds and previously under explored woodlands”.

Paul has produced recommendations for access improvements on the Canford Estate holdings, Castleman Trailway, Stour Valley Way and links between them.

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For further Urban Wildlink information visit: http://www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/download750.html or call 01425 478470.

Autumn Beach Clean results 2013 Thank you to all the wonderful people who helped at this year’s Autumn Beach Clean. The event, coordinated by Dorset Country Council’s Coast Ranger Team took place on Sunday 22 September 2013 at 6 different beaches along the Dorset Coast.

Volunteers helped to survey the materials that they collected at each location. 1,820 bits of plastic rubbish represented 54% of the total rubbish picked up. At Bowleaze Cove builders bricks from a nearby building site had been dumped in a large quantity on the beach. At Swanage the biggest problem was sweet wrappers which helped to make up at least 2/3rd of the total amount of paper found on all beaches. Cigarettes were also high on the list at Swanage Beach. The 41 volunteers were amazed at what they found on the beaches and how much of it came from the general public, such as discarded BBQs. Polystyrene represented 16% of rubbish found. The remains had come from a fish box and the other a surf board’.

“The concern here is that sea birds pick up the polystyrene because they see it as food for their chicks,” said Jenny Penney, Coordinator of the event. “It was great to see people of all ages coming out and doing the survey. It is always an eye opener and we do find some very odd things on the beaches. This year a clear tape dispenser and some Christmas trees were found.”

Access improvements on (SWCP) Six gates have been installed by the Coastal Ranger Team along the South West Coast Path as a result of successful funding through the SWCP Team’s “Unlocking our Heritage” project. The project received sponsorship from the Rural Development Project for England (RDPE) to conserve, enhance and interpret the Coast Path. The stretch from Kimmeridge Bay to Lulworth Cove has been made significantly easier for access as a result of these improvements. Thanks also go to Sykes Cottage and the Great South West Walk organised by the SWCP team that enabled this funding initiative.

For further information please contact [email protected]

£143,000 secured to improve an historic right of way The Priest Way is an ancient track once used by the clergy in the 15th century to travel between the communities of Swanage, Langton Matravers and Worth Matravers. Today it is an important and valued route that local people would like to bring up to a standard that reflects and celebrates its historic value and makes it easier and more enjoyable to use. However the Priests Way suffers from regular, seasonal flooding which is worsening with changing weather/climatic conditions and increases in rainfall. This results in stretches of the Priest Way being regularly difficult to pass or impassable due to large expanses of water, deep gullies and mud.

Dorset Countryside provided advice, support and prepared a bid to help parish communities secure £143,000 from Natural England through the Paths for Communities Scheme as part of the Rural Development Programme for England. This money is funding drainage and surfacing work, signage, a website and leaflets. This will help to minimise the problems and enable a wider range of people to use the route all year round to walk, ride and cycle between the 3 local communities and enhance its appeal to visitors supporting the local tourism industry and associated economy.

Work should be completed early in 2014. This project is endorsed by the Dorset Local Access Forum as meeting the strategic aims of the Dorset Rights of Way Improvement Plan.

For more information email Tara Hansford, Countryside Access Development at [email protected]

New footpath in Lytchett Matravers

4 A new public footpath has been dedicated in Lytchett Matravers, providing a safe off-road route between Wimborne Road and Huntick Road and connecting with other public rights of way in the area. The new path was created with the agreement of the landowner, Lord Rockley and the support of Lytchett Matravers Parish Council. LTP funding was secured by transport planning to pay for the new route to be surfaced with crushed stone. The new surface ensures a firm, dry route for the public which is also low maintenance. http://explorer.geowessex.com/?layers=48&basemap=26&x=394966.02&y=95573.85&epsg=27700&zoom =16

Paths moved out of farmyard in Compton Abbas Two Public Path Orders have been recently confirmed, diverting Bridleway 13 and extinguishing Footpath 1 and part of Footpath 12, Compton Abbas which were previously obstructed by farm buildings. This reorganisation improves the bio-security of the dairy farm but maintains links between other public rights of way and an unclassified road in the area. http://explorer.geowessex.com/?search=compton%20abbas&layers=41,48&basemap=26&x=384615.80&y =119634.71&epsg=27700&zoom=16

Burton Bradstock footpath improvements, in partnership with local businesses Dorset County Council Rights of Way, Freshwater Beach Holiday Park and Manor Farm, Burton Bradstock, have recently completed improvements to the footpath network to the west of Burton Bradstock.

Four new self closing gates were supplied by Dorset County Council Rights of Way, and these were installed by staff from Freshwater Beach Holiday Park. The result of this partnership working is that it is now possible to walk from Barr Lane to the beach without having to cross a stile; linking with previous works to improve access to the south of the river. These improvements would not have been possible without the agreement of all the landowners, and the labour provided by Freshwater Beach Holiday Park.

Liberty Trail in reopens In the July 2012 flood waters damaged a large footbridge over the , near to , Thorncombe. This bridge forms an important link between Dorset and on the popular Liberty Trail, and had to be closed due to the structural damage to the bridge. Engineers from Dorset County Council have just completed works to install a new 17m long metal bridge, which spans the river on this well used path.

Work on Long Bridge Drove In the parish of Leigh, Dorset Countryside working with Dorset Works Organisation have carried out work to a public byway known locally has Long Bridge Drove. Extensive damage to the surface of Long Bridge Drove has been caused by vehicles over a number of years. To compound the damage the footbridge across the ford, which is mid-way along the Long Bridge Drove, was moved from its foundations by floodwaters.

The team from Dorset County Council, after consulting with local people, laid recycled road material on top of a sub base to form a solid surface with good drainage which is 850m long. The new surface will allow Long Bridge Drove to be used by user groups.

For more information on the above please contact the Rights of Way on 01305 224463

Pull a Pine for Christmas Young people are joining the Urban Heaths Partnership to pull a pine for Christmas. Weekend events can be organised by the UHP for groups to chop down pine trees and take them home to decorate for the Christmas festivities. Young people can help to manage the heaths by removing areas of pine trees to promote growth of heathland plants that can easily be shaded out by larger trees.

If you would like to come along and help your heath, feel free to get in contact with the Urban Heaths Partnership at [email protected] or 01202 642 785. For more details about UHP visit www.dorsetforyou.com/dorsetheaths

A good summer for the heathland

5 With cooler weather we begin to think about the coming winter. For the Urban Heaths Partnership it is a time to reflect on the summer. The partners assess the effect of fires and other incidents on the heathland across south east Dorset over the summer season.

The news for once is good. Despite a glorious summer with warm temperatures encouraging more people out and about heightening the risk of fire, there was not a significant increase in incidents on the sensitive heath sites.

From April to September 2013 there were 92 heathland fires across south east Dorset compared with 125 for the same period in 2011. Notably there was a major reduction in the area of heath damaged by fire from 69.5 hectares in 2011 to 4.5 hectares in 2013.

The Urban Heaths Partnership employs a core team which provides education, wardening and monitoring on Dorset heathlands. This team works closely with Dorset Fire and Rescue Service, Dorset Police and land managers to try and reduce fires and antisocial behaviour on heathland sites.

Dorset Dogs – Enjoying Dorset with 1000 members! Ta-dah! Dorset Dogs now has 1000 members! Find out about 1000th member Charley the Dubai desert dog - twice abandoned, now happy and safe - for photos and to hear his amazing story go to the ‘news’ pages of www.dorsetdogs.org.uk.

Dorset Dogs has also just released ‘Enjoying Dorset with your dog – great places to walk in south-east Dorset’; the leaflet includes a map and advice about how you and your dog can safely enjoy our beautiful rural and urban countryside.

Seventeen dog-friendly sites are included, ranging from urban parks to beaches and rural forests, a diverse mix with some offering an enjoyable 20 minute walk whilst others link to local trails providing the option to tire out even the most energetic of dogs!

The free leaflet is available from libraries, tourist information centres and visitor centres across south-east Dorset and can also be downloaded from www.dorsetdogs.org.uk. A re-print is already on the cards as it’s proved to be so popular! Wouldn’t it be great to produce a similar publication for other areas of Dorset?

Keep in touch with Dorset Dogs at www.dorsetdogs.org.uk, where you can find out more, contribute articles & events and join free as a member, and check out www.facebook.com/dorsetdogs. For further information, email Su Powner at [email protected] or call Su on 07718 159350.

And finally

Dorset Countryside Events Visit www.dorsetforyou.com/391689 for events at Avon Heath Country Park and www.durlston.co.uk or www.dorsetforyou.com/media.jsp?mediaid=183295&filetype=pdf for events at Durlston Country Park.

Heathland Code UHP have provided a short ‘Heathland Code’ at www.dorsetforyou.com/393682

If you see deliberate disturbance of wildlife in the area report it on the anonymous crimestoppers help line 0800 555 111.

Become a Volunteer Ranger Visit www.dorsetforyou.com/countrysidegetinvolved for information about volunteering.

About Dorset Countryside Dorset Countryside is the countryside service of Dorset County Council. The service works in partnership with other organisations to manage sites and the public rights of way network in Dorset.

For general enquiries about the Dorset Countryside Service, email [email protected], visit www.dorsetforyou.com/countryside or telephone 01305 224463.

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