Dorset’s Nature Young Journalists

Dorset Local Nature Partnership and Dorset Wildlife Trust ran an online Young Journalist programme to train a group of fifteen 14–18-year-olds from across Dorset in journalism skills with a focus on environmental issues.  The project worked with Participation People (a national Youth Voice organisations). The project raised awareness within the group of the climate and …

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Young Journalists: Nature Recovery – Heathlands

By Robin Clarke, James Carter, Lydia Norrish, Isla Crawford, Flora Pilkington, Ella Hague Heathland is one of Dorset’s most iconic and important landscapes. Characterised by swathes of purple heather and clusters of yellow gorse, this is more than just a picturesque environment. Heathland is one of our richest and most diverse ecosystems, a home for …

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Annual Forum 2023: Let’s Communicate!

The theme of this year’s forum was about communicating our environmental messages, essential for highlighting the climate and ecological emergencies. The forum was held at Dorset Museum, Dorchester on 17 March and was attending by 38 people. The presentations can be viewed below. Sadly, the sound did not record on the in person presentations, so …

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“Bring me flesh and bring me wine”

Will Bond, Alaska Environmental Contracting Ltd. I enjoy sharing food with others – whether salad or steak. But I absolutely hate being the only one eating while others watch me. Self-conscious, I know I lack finesse, so when we sing the Christmas carols, I cringe with sympathy and embarrassment when Good King Wenceslas does his …

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Nature Recovery in Dorset

On 2 November, Dorset LNP held a workshop to support nature recovery in Dorset. Over thirty people attended the session, which was a starting point for the future development of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) and revisions of the councils’ Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategies. More engagement on the LNRS will be undertaken once …

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Protecting Poole Harbour – Managing Nutrient Run-Off

Lee Hardy OBE JP, Chair Dorset Catchment Partnerships Poole Harbour is recognised internationally for its huge ecological importance and renowned and protected for its outstanding landscape, birdlife and fisheries.  It is one of the largest natural harbours in the world and the largest microtidal estuary in Britain, exhibiting an enclosed lagoonal character with over 100km …

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Better Together – The Benefits of Clusters

Luke Rake FLS, LNP Chair A developing theme in land management is the coming together of groups of farmers and landowners to work collaboratively to access not only funding, but also benefits for nature. Nature is not static, so creating nature recovery and food production practice at scale arguably allows the benefits of both to …

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Coppicing & Conservation

Pete Etheridge, Greenwood Ecology & Countryside Management and Dorset Coppice Group Coppicing has been practised in the UK for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. In 1905 (decades after the peak in coppicing activity), it was estimated that there was somewhere in the region of 230,000 ha of actively managed coppiced woodland within the UK …

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Speckled Footman and the Heaths of Hope

Durwyn Liley, Footprint Ecology Speckled Footman might seem a bit of a nerdy subject for this blog – but this enigmatic species has got me hooked.  The moth is Red Listed (critically endangered) and while it has probably always been rare, historically it was recorded from across Dorset and the New Forest.  The Dorset Moths …

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Dorset LNP Annual Forum 2022

Land Management Supporting the Nature and Climate Emergencies This year’s annual forum DLNP aimed to shine a light on the how agriculture and land management in Dorset can, and already is, addressing the ecological and climate emergencies, through nature-based solutions by sharing some brilliant examples of work within the county. ffinlo Costain from Farmwel and …

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