CONSERVATION DAY OUT
Ali Wood finds peace, exercise, fresh air and new friends while spending a day clearing scrub to protect rare wildlife along the beautiful Dorset coast
HENGISTBURY HEAD
Iangle the gorse stem the bush of loppers and the thick listen near to the roar of the tumbling waves. As I chop, I imagine
Hengistbury Head as it was 2,000 years ago: a thriving
Iron Age port – one of the most important in Britain – which was later to become a desolate wasteland and a smugglers’ haunt.
Back then, the sea would have been further out, but in the 19th century, the spit – which separates Bournemouth from Christchurch – became an open-cast mine and picks were used to claw out ironstone doggers (stones rich in valuable iron ore), causing half of the headland to erode.
SHEARS AND FLASKS
This sand-fringed sentry that guards Christchurch Harbour needs protecting, and all around me are its defenders. Wellied and gloved, wielding shears and flasks, they turn up every Thursday to lop, clear, dig and plant. Today, we’re scrub clearing to protect the wildlife, as this is one of just 60 sites in
Britain where natterjack toads thrive.
“Pretty much anything will predate on the toadlets,” says ranger Phil Wetherell. “They even cannibalise themselves, which is why they have to lay thousands of eggs. By clearing the scrub around the pond, we make it a bit easier for them to get to their burrows.”
The toads spend the winter months in hibernation, but in spring they emerge from a deep sleep and hop along the highway that has been cleared by the volunteers.
Hengistbury Head is also home to more than 500 plant species, 300 types of birds and a variety of reptiles and small mammals – yet more cause for conservation.
SHARED ENDEAVOUR
There are around 30 people scrub clearing in the sandy heathland today. There’s a biting wind sweeping in from the east, but coats are coming off. It’s thirsty work.
Bent double, I tug at the gnarled, thorny gorse limbs and toss them into a communal pile, working companionably alongside former dentist Nicola McIntyre. Nearby is a lone patch of flowering gorse that nobody wants to touch.
“I could be pulling someone’s teeth right now, but I developed Meniere’s disease,” says Nicola. “If I’m not too dizzy, I want to be out doing something therapeutic. The way I see it, I benefit and they benefit; I want this amazing resource to be here for the future.”
I have to agree. Looking across to the beach where I swim, the harbour where I sail, and between them the SSSI headland where sand martins nest, I can’t think of a better way to spend a morning.
“THE HARBOUR NEEDS PROTECTING, AND
ALL AROUND ME ARE ITS DEFENDERS”
To volunteer with the Hengistbury Head ranger team, or work in the garden, shop or interpretation centre, see visithengistburyhead.co.uk