Saving England's most threatened species from extinction
Archive:
27th August 2020
The Dorset’s Heathland Heart team have been working with land managers to provide funding and support for targeted habitat management works across a variety of sites, to enhance their suitability for some of our heathland’s rarest species. A wetland site on Hartland Moor National Nature Reserve (NNR) in Purbeck was identified as having potential to...
Read more24th June 2020
Earlier this year, the Dorset's Heathland Heart team commissioned a student project, working in collaboration with the Arts University Bournemouth, to make a scale model of one of our priority species. This was done with the objective that the finished species model would be used by us as a valuable teaching aid and interpretation piece for...
Read more7th April 2020
The Heath in Spring: As the days start to get lighter and the sun starts to warm, there’s the sense of spring in the air. The gorse on the heath is flowering, its bright yellow flowers amongst the spiky green spine like leaves opening up and releasing their distinctive coconut scent and a great source...
Read more9th December 2019
The Purbeck Mason Wasp The striking Purbeck Mason Wasp (Pseudepipona herrichii) is one of Back from the Brink’s primary species. Found on only a few sites in Purbeck, Dorset, it is classified as endangered and is one of the rarest invertebrates in the UK. Very much a heathland species, the Purbeck Mason Wasp has complex...
Read more21st October 2019
Dorset's Heathland Heart Reptiles I’m a new member of the Dorset’s Heathland Heart team having had the privilege of working on Dorset’s heaths as a Ranger for a number of years. An environment rich in nature, Dorset’s Heath’s represent some of the best Lowland Heath habitat in the UK. Lowland Heaths are the only...
Read more15th July 2019
The Yellow Centaury Plant Yellow Centaury, one of the species that we are bringing back from the brink in Dorset’s Heathland Heart, is a miniscule member of the Gentian family that rarely grows taller than about 10cm, and can be less than 1cm. It’s sunshine-yellow flowers only open in the middle of the day in...
Read moreDipping my Toes into Forest Bathing Most of us that work in Nature Conservation are subconsciously aware that nature is ‘good for us’ that it makes us feel better and can lift our mood. Many of us perhaps consciously prescribe ourselves that lunchtime walk, or make time to be outdoors in order to benefit our...
Read more13th June 2019
Pale Dog Violet The scintillating sight of the milky-white petals of Pale Dog-violet (Viola lactea) - so electrified with deep purple veins - has been sadly disappearing from heathlands for decades, to the point that it is now endangered in England. But thanks to the work of staff and volunteers from the Plantlife-led Back from...
Read more18th March 2019
Chances are, if you’ve been walking through Southern heathland on a bright clear day early in the year you may have had the pleasure of hearing the distinctive song of the Woodlark. These small birds, about the size of a Greenfinch, can be hard to spot. Usually found on lowland heathland or in forest clearings...
Read more6th February 2019
Meet Heath! Heath is an incredibly accurate representation and striking 3D model of a real creature we have living on the Dorset Heaths – the Heath Tiger Beetle. He is the culmination of around 150 hours of hard work, and multiple creative processes by 3rd year student, Hope Urbani, on the Model making...
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