Dorset Wildlife Trust has launched a public fundraising appeal to raise £135,000 for their Kingcombe’s Wild Energy project. The project will give rare and common wildlife the chance to spread out and through wildlife corridors across the West Dorset countryside from the Kingcombe National Nature Reserve (NNR), by creating a 5000-hectare nature recovery network.
Designated in 2021 by Natural England, the Kingcombe NNR is made up of two neighbouring nature reserves at Kingcombe Meadows and Powerstock Common with a combined 309 hectares of meadows, woodland and scrub habitat either side of the River Hooke near Toller Porcorum. Kingcombe is home to hundreds of species such as dormice, otters, kingfishers and orchids and many vulnerable species such as the rare grey long-eared bat and marsh fritillary butterfly. But many of these species are on the verge of disappearing because there is not enough space for them to spread out. Around 97% of the UK's species-rich grassland has been lost in less than a century and an estimated 3,000 miles of hedgerows were destroyed every year between 1946 and 1963. Wildlife has been driven into isolated havens such as nature reserves and to survive, it needs to move and spread out across the countryside.
Funds are urgently needed for the Kingcombe’s Wild Energy project to create and restore habitat within the Kingcombe NNR and the surrounding area to protect and reconnect areas of natural habitat. Together with local landowners, farmers, and communities, we’ll be working in and beyond Kingcombe to encourage more sustainable land management for the benefit of nature for years to come. By replanting hedgerows, creating meadows, rewilding rivers, managing ponds and allowing billions of seeds from wildflowers to spread and grow, mammals, insects and amphibians can move across the countryside in safety and grow in numbers, and plants can thrive again.
Brian Bleese, Chief Executive of Dorset Wildlife Trust said, "Making the most of the abundance of species already found within the Kingcombe NNR, we can give wildlife the best possible opportunity to breed, feed, and move freely beyond boundaries, creating new connections over a massive area. Nature is capable of extraordinary recovery and by unleashing Kingcombe’s wild energy, we’ll be allowing it to do just that. Every single donation will help to create, restore and expand these natural habitats and achieve our ambitious vision of a Dorset rich in wildlife, valued and nurtured by everyone."
The Kingcombe’s Wild Energy project will be the most ambitious nature recovery programme that Dorset Wildlife Trust has undertaken in Dorset and forms a key part in Dorset Wildlife Trust's strategy to create a wilder Dorset by 2030. The charity is striving to establish nature recovery networks on land and sea working closely with neighbours, landowners, partners and stakeholders to agree long term management plans that make space for nature and support communities and livelihoods.
To donate to the appeal, visit Kingcombe's Wild Energy Appeal page.
