Latest news with #IsleOfPurbeck
BBC News
09-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
National Trust completes Purbeck coastline 'jigsaw'
A narrow strip of land has been acquired by the National Trust, completing its ownership of a stretch of the Dorset trust said the 26.3 ha (65 acres) strip was the "last piece of the jigsaw" of the land it manages between Worth Matravers and Durlston Country Park on the Isle of said it would allow nature restoration and improve access for walkers along its 5.5-mile (9km) stretch of coastline, part of the Jurassic Coast Unesco World Heritage steeply sloping ground is already designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for the importance of its wildlife-rich grassland. However three fields inland have been more intensively managed and currently have less value for trust said filling the gap would encourage wildlife to spread, including rare wildflowers like early spider orchids and butterflies like the Lulworth skipper and Adonis Brown, lead ecologist for the National Trust, said the chance to acquire the land was a "fantastic, not-to-be-missed opportunity".He said: "These fields are where we can really make a difference. The land will still be farmed, but in a more nature-friendly way. "With appropriate management – like stopping chemical inputs and introducing a conservation grazing regime – we can restore the wildlife that's missing."The trust said it also planned to improve the area for walkers, including widening the South West Coast Path to make it safer. The acquisition was funded through legacies to the trust's coastal campaign, Enterprise Neptune, over the past 60 years. The appeal began after a coastline survey in Purbeck by Reading University in has since raised £114m and led to the protection of 900 miles of coastline in England, Wales and Northern John Whittow, who led the national coastline survey, said: "It was imperative that a pilot survey should take place to acquaint my 30 students, post-grads and staff from Reading University with my newly devised methodology. "What better place than Dorset's Purbeck coast which we 'invaded' in May 1965."The trust said it planned to declare the section of the coast as inalienable, meaning it would be protected forever. You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- BBC News
Horn marks 140 years since Swanage station's first departure
A brass horn, believed to have marked the departure of a station's first passenger train 140 years ago, has been sounded to mark the handheld horn is said to have been blown at Swanage Station in Dorset when the first service left for Corfe Castle and Wareham in May the horn was Swanage Railway volunteer Peter Sills who, as a teenager, travelled on the line's last British Rail passenger train on 1 January and railway volunteers attended a special event to mark the station's 140th anniversary on Saturday. Event organiser Clive Hardy described the opening of the line in 1885 as a "seismic shift" for the Isle of Purbeck, turning the small fishing town of Swanage into a "day-trip destination".He said: "The new 25-minute train journey from Swanage to Wareham cost 11 pence, compared with a traditional horse and carriage journey taking one-and-a-half hours at a ticket price of two shillings and sixpence."Most of the 10-mile branch line was ripped up following its closure in 1972 but has been reinstated as a heritage railway after years of work by Railway Trust chair Frank Roberts said: "The afternoon was not just a commemoration of 140 years of history but also a celebration of almost five decades of devoted volunteer efforts by several generations of determined men and women who have battled and campaigned to rebuild the Swanage Railway." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
