July 2010
There is cause for celebration at a West Dorset nature reserve, with news of the first ringed plovers to breed in the area. A pair of the small but striking wading birds has nested at Chard Junction Quarry, raising a family of four chicks.
Just one year ago, Bardon Aggregates and the Dorset Wildlife Trust turned the disused part of the quarry into a community nature reserve hoping that wildlife would start to move in.
Bardon Aggregates is still extracting gravel on the working part of the quarry, but as soon as we were aware of the plovers’ nest, Quarry Manager Tony Pearson ordered an exclusion zone to make sure there was no disturbance to the pair.
Tony said “It’s fascinating see how these birds have progress, considering the natural predators in the form of foxes, badgers, crows and buzzards that share the same area. We hope they will become regular visitors.”
Ringed plovers have amber status as birds of conservation concern and have increasingly chosen to nest inland on sand and gravel pits and even old industrial sites as well as coastal beaches.
Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Joy Wallis said “This is fantastic news, showing how quarries can become wildlife havens. The birds could leave any time now, possibly to winter on the coast, but we hope they will be back to breed here next year.”
The community reserve contains important wildlife habitats, including woods, ponds and establishing grassland. Dorset Wildlife Trust, local volunteers and Bardon Aggregates, worked together to put in a permissive path and bird hides for the public to enjoy the wildlife at the site. In the far west of the county, close to the Somerset and Devon borders, it provides a much needed haven for wildlife as there are no other nature reserves nearby.
Chard Junction Quarry nature reserve is open daily, free of charge.
Image by Monique Vanstone, courtesy of Dorset Wildlife Trust