The Dorset Reserves Community Officer

We at the HCT have recently been awarded a pot of cash by the Heritage Lottery Fund to finance a new post over the next five years.

A rough outline of the job description of the Dorset Reserves Community Officer is ‘to encourage local people to get involved with 10 of our urban nature reserves’.

These are:- Ferndown Common (Ferndown), Lions Hill (Ashley Heath), Lytchett Heath (Lytchett Minster), Parley Common (Ferndown), Town Common (Christchurch), Great Ovens (Wareham),  Dunyeats Hill (Broadstone, Poole), Creech Heath (Wareham and Corfe), Noon Hill (Verwood) and East Worgret (Wareham).

The purpose of the job is:

•  To encourage community participation in the wardening and management of HCT’s nature reserves

•  To encourage interest, understanding and responsible use of sites by local people and visitors

•  To encourage involvement and support from local communities (e.g. by increased awareness of heathland issues and establish and support volunteer schemes)

•  To improve the condition of the sites and the perception of such sites by the public

•  To develop strategies to sustain community involvement into the future

We hope to start by creating ‘Friends Of’ or volunteer work party groups that can help look after the sites alongside our full time staff and then go on to encourage school groups, youth groups and more individuals to help in any way they can.

The DRCO will be appealing to local people to get involved with our nature reserves. Together, we will develop opportunities for active involvement with voluntary wardening and conservation habitat management to benefit the local biodiversity and landscape. This will be achieved through guided walks, talks, newsletters, formal and informal events and by providing a friendly point of contact.

We would like you to come along and join us, to learn more about our fantastic reserves across Dorset and help protect them for future generations. We want to make your time with the trust as educational and rewarding as we possibly can, so please let us know what you would like to get out of the volunteering experience. In the mean time, you can help out in many different ways:-

• practical work tasks,

• solo wardening of a site

• surveying, monitoring and recording

• educational activities on open days

• photography

• community liaison and advice

• writing articles for newsletters

• litter picking and reporting site issues

So please do contact us if you want to get involved and help look after Heathland and our fascinating range of amphibian and reptile species.