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To date, the FiPL programme in Cranborne Chase has awarded a total of £1.1 million to local farmers and land managers across the National Landscape.
Thank you to Launceston Farm, Myncen Farm, Cranborne Chase Cider and Shooting Reels for their support in producing this film.
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The Studland Bay Marine Partnership has been awarded £186,000 from the Marine Management Organisation’s Fisheries and Seafood Scheme to support the conservation of Studland Bay’s precious marine ecosystems.
Studland Bay is home to Dorset’s most extensive seagrass meadow and provides a unique habitat for lots of important species like the spiny seahorse and the endangered undulate ray. The new funding, which has been secured following a successful funding bid with Dorset Council, will contribute to a larger £248,000 conservation project to support this special site, the wildlife that live there, and the water users who enjoy it. The project, which will see an additional 57 eco-moorings installed in the bay, and the continuation of the partnership’s research and monitoring programme, will be delivered by the Studland Bay Marine Partnership. This partnership was formed in 2021 to help make sure the Studland Bay area is protected for nature whilst meeting the needs of water and boat users, and is made up of local stakeholders like conservation and boating groups, academics, community groups, and local businesses. Funds from the award will also be used to complete the formulisation of the partnership, provide more information for boat users in the Studland and Poole harbour marina areas, and continue an engagement programme, led by the Dorset Coast Forum, throughout 2024 and beyond. These activities will support the voluntary no anchor zone (VNAZ) already in place within in Studland Bay. The VNAZ was established in 2021 by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) with the support of the local community to protect the bay’s seagrass meadow. Funds for the project were secured as part of a bid submitted by Dorset Council on behalf of the partnership. Dorset Coast Forum, a Dorset Council hosted partnership, will continue to lead on the community engagement of this marine conservation project. The forum has already been working with partnership organisations throughout 2023 to raise awareness of the Voluntary No Anchor Zone and Studland’s precious marine habitats. Future engagement events will continue to offer boaters and the public the opportunity to view the partnership’s display eco-mooring which featured on the BBC’s Springwatch programme earlier in the year. A new woodland is to be planted in Dorset to commemorate the late Queen.
Ninety-six oak trees, one for each year of the monarch's life, will be planted at Shapwick on the Kingston Lacy estate near Wimborne on Saturday. The saplings, descended from Sherwood Forest's Major Oak, have been donated to the National Trust by conservation charity Trees for Dorset. They will be planted by residents, staff and volunteers who will also sign a book to be sent to King Charles III. The woodland will be extended next year with further planting of orchard and woodland trees. Kingston Lacy countryside manager Eleanor Egan said: "We were delighted to be able to make this land available. "We are planning to plant more than 9,000 trees next year, because of the importance of trees not only as a source of food and shelter for wildlife but also as a means of locking up atmospheric carbon. Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council has launched a public consultation on its draft Urban Forest Strategy, created to maximise and enhance all the benefits trees and woodlands provide to our environment and communities.
This innovative evidence-based strategy proposes an exciting vision for the future of trees in the BCP area until 2050. This strategy identifies opportunities to manage the challenges and impacts of urban development and climate change for current and future generations in both the public and private realms. The Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) area is set to be one of the regions benefitting from a multi-million pound government cash injection to boost marine and maritime sectors.
The Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) area is set to be one of the regions benefitting from a multi-million pound government cash injection to boost marine and maritime sectors. The Great South West, a coalition made up of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, has been named as the country’s ‘Marine and Maritime Launchpad,’ recognising its ongoing leadership in the field. As a part of the programme, £7.5m in funding has been allocated to help bolster further growth and innovation in marine and maritime sectors across the South West. This funding aims to support The Great South West in unlocking the potential of the region’s sustainable green and blue economies, boosting the economy by up to £45 billion and creating 190,000 new jobs by 2035. UK-registered small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can now apply for between £25,000 and £1m in funding to help deliver outstanding nautical projects and innovations in the region, supporting the government’s Levelling-Up objectives. The competition opened on 23 October and applications can be submitted until 11am on 6 December 2023. Successful projects should last between six and 18 months, start no earlier than 1 April 2024 and complete by 30 March 2026. Projects will also help ‘contribute to the South West’s net zero targets’ and ‘support key regional strategic marine and maritime markets.’ Successful applicants will also benefit from access to specialist support, as well as opportunities to network and collaborate with other businesses. We are delighted to announce that a second litter of beaver kits have been born at Dorset Wildlife Trust's enclosed beaver site in West Dorset. Eagle-eyed Conservation Officers have captured these special images and videos of the two kits after closely monitoring the site throughout spring and summer. Two new kits have been recorded so far, bringing the family total to seven animals (two adults and five kits) which is an extremely positive sign that the beavers are continuing to thrive. During the project animal welfare is an absolute priority, so we have ensured that the 4-hectare enclosed site offers enough complex habitat to support the newly expanded beaver family.
The newly born kits, born in springtime, spent their first month within the safety of the lodge, an underground chamber and burrow system, before emerging between dusk and dawn in early summer to explore the wetland surroundings with the rest of their family. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has recently completed the development of 11 brand new affordable properties on land between Cheshire Drive and Wilkinson Drive in Bournemouth.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has recently completed the development of 11 brand new affordable properties on land between Cheshire Drive and Wilkinson Drive in Bournemouth. The development will provide homes for local families and consists of a block of nine two-bedroom flats and two three-bedroom houses. The properties themselves are built to the highest eco-standards using fabric first principles, which prioritise the energy efficiency of a property from its conception, to create an airtight, insulated building that reduces the amount of energy required to heat the home. The buildings are all fitted with triple glazing and solar panels, and the energy for each property is provided from a renewable source by ground source heat pumps. This means greater energy efficiency and lower bills for the tenants. The development also boasts ample parking on site and a communal garden for the flats. Families in the houses will also enjoy their own private garden. Tenants will begin to move in and make these new properties their homes early in November. A community garden has been created for residents with learning disabilities or dementia.
The Park Community Garden in Weymouth, Dorset, is an accessible space with raised beds, potting tables and benches. The facility has been created within St John's Gardens by conservation group Litter Free Dorset, which is also creating another garden at Osprey Quay. The garden was officially launched on Tuesday morning. Litter Free Dorset said the project had been supported by Dorset Council and Weymouth Town Council. It said it was also collaborating with two groups that work with young adults with learning disabilities - Green Fingers and stABILITY - whose members will tend to the garden and grow vegetables, flowers and herbs for the local community. Angela Lambert, founder of stABILITY, said "Members will take ownership of an area of the park, plan ahead, work together as a team and improve communication skills." Weymouth mayor Kate Wheller said "Growing fruit and vegetables in a community garden is a wonderful way to get active outdoors, meet people and boost your mental health and wellbeing. Two years have passed since we acquired Wild Woodbury, the 170-hectare site near Bere Regis. And in two years the transformation of the landscape and uplift in biodiversity has been incredible to witness. The goal of this ambitious project was to build an exemplar for sustainable land use to tackle the climate and ecological crises and engage the local community.
In the first year of the project, we allowed the land to naturally regenerate, and we saw an immediate increase in biodiversity and abundance with the site list reaching 1300 species. The second year of the project was a lot more ‘hands on’ as we set to re-naturalise the headwaters of the River Sherford, a site-wide project known as Stage-0 river restoration. Stage-0 in the river restoration process is simply water flowing across the landscape; water that is not diverted or constrained into channels and ditches, but can freely flow into the low ground, finding natural pathways and re-establishing historic routes through fields. Much of the site is fed by three springs and should naturally be very wet, encompassing several fields and wet woodland, but the ditches have made this not so. We started by strategically filling in ditches to let the water flow out into the fields, before supplementing this work by blocking up field drains and creating leaky dams throughout the remaining ditch systems. The effect of the restoration was both immediate and extraordinary to witness. A once dry and cracked landscape now a heterogeneous mixture of large flows, ephemeral pools, and delta-like areas. And wildlife was quick to take advantage of these new wetland habitats across the site. Just a few weeks after the restoration had finished, Wild Woodbury played host to 90 lapwing, 20 golden plover, and 30 common snipe, all feeding in the newly wetted areas. Amphibians such as common frogs, toad, palmate newt have increased in numbers, as have dragonflies and damselflies. Grass snake numbers are also up, likely attracted by the wetter areas now on site. Summer surveys reveal that Wild Woodbury now boasts a site list of over 1600 species, an increase of 300 from the previous year. New species to the site include the grey partridge, and greenfinch – both on the Red List for birds of conservation concern. The upward trend in ground nesting bird numbers continues from year one, with skylark now at around 50 pairs compared to 18 in 2022, tree pipit increasing from one to seven pairs, and nightjar holding new territories. Perhaps the most exciting discovery of this year’s summer surveys was the nightingale, another visitor on the Red List for birds of conservation concern. Though not confirmed to be breeding on site, its presence at Wild Woodbury as it migrates southwards is extremely encouraging. Hopefully, they will return next spring to breed! Restoring a landscape and making space for nature on this scale takes time, but an extremely encouraging second year proves what is possible when natural processes are restored. Dorset Peat Partnership, led by Dorset Wildlife Trust, has been awarded a £750,000 grant from Defra's Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme, matched by £250,000 from other funders and partners to fund work on 16 sites across Dorset to rewet and restore 172 hectares of fragmented and damaged peatlands.
Dorset's iconic heathlands hold the largest areas of our county's peat in 'peaty pockets' and valley mires. Peatlands are England's largest land-based carbon store, yet most of them are degraded and emitting carbon, because they are not wet enough to be building up peat. The grant has been awarded following 18 months of survey work by the partnership organisations and volunteers to gather data on an initial long list of 80 candidate sites across urban and rural Dorset and then to identify 16 sites where the most successful restoration can be achieved. This funding will enable restoration of these sites to hold water for longer each year which will reduce the amount of carbon emitted from degraded peat and once restored, allow carbon sequestration. The work will also improve drought and fire resilience by holding more water in the landscape during the summer and by increasing site capacity for water storage, it will also help to reduce nuisance flooding year-round. Dorset Peat Partnership is part of Dorset Catchment Partnerships and is hosted by Dorset Wildlife Trust. Other partners include Natural England, Environment Agency, Forestry England, Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP) Council, Dorset Council, National Trust, RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and Bournemouth University, plus one private landowner. |
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