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This included a slide show and talk about Radipole Community Woodland. It was encouraging to see more than 25 people attend. It was also pleasing to hear about family involvement in the wood from when it was originally planted.
Danny Alder, Conservation and LNR (Local Nature Reserve) Officer with Dorset County Council, welcomed everyone and gave some background to the site. This included detailing the original planting in 1994-95 of 2,500 broad-leaved deciduous trees in Radipole and Jubilee Wood, as well as outlining a possible future strategy incuding the formation of a ‘Friends of’ group. Melissa Chaddock, who holds the same post as Danny, was then introduced and gave a presentation on the benefits of Local Nature Reserves.
It would appear that Radipole Wood is an important site for ‘Dorset Notables’ and has good access for local people. Given the wood’s status, Melissa indicated that the site would meet LNR criteria and become part of English Nature’s ‘Wildspace’ scheme. LNR designation would allow habitat conservation and the introduction of new features (eg. pond, meadow). The process of designation is as follows:
management plan evaluation
English Nature consultation
establishment of management funding
setting up a committee or ‘Friends of’ group
declaration of the site as an LNR
consultation period and informing of the local press
LNR opening ceremony
It is envisaged that the ‘Friends of’ group would work with English Nature Rangers to ensure long-term sustainability, committed involvement, user a sense of ownership, raise local awareness, encourage site management and attract funding and resources. Danny went on to describe good examples of conservation groups that had worked with English Nature. These were Slot Bog, Ferndown and Sherborne Quarry, North Dorset.
Radipole Wood has a very interesting assemblage of flora, notably a colony of bee orchids, turkey oak that have seeded naturally and a rich meadow community. Examples of fauna include painted lady butterfly, privet hawk moth and hoverflies. It would be interesting to find out what species of mammals and birds also visit or inhabit the site.
The floor was opened to questions that covered issues of the pros and cons of LNR status, allowing benches on site and access for dog walkers. The session closed with a summary by Danny who indicated that Neil Cross should be the local point of contact for anyone interested in getting involved with 'The Friends of Radipole Wood'. Danny suggested that we should get those interested together for another meeting in 3-4 weeks. It was proposed that this may follow a bat watch session. A contact list was drawn up. This included about 15 people.
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