Pupils at Poole Grammar School in Dorset have donated £1,289.66 to the Great Heath Living Landscape project after holding a non-school uniform day.
17 year-old 6th Form student, Dan Boucher, said, “Everybody was really happy to contribute to Dorset Wildlife Trust, and through activities like this and our ‘Green Week’ in May 2015, students can see the importance of looking after the local environment. When we hear a talk about wildlife in Dorset or go out for a walk on heathland, we realise that we are surrounded by wildlife, and we want to help conserve it. Now, when we walk out onto Upton Heath, we can see how Dorset Wildlife Trust is helping wildlife, using the money we’ve raised.”
The non-school uniform day took place as part of ‘Wildlife Week’ in October, where the school celebrates the importance of looking after our fragile environment and its wildlife. This included a talk about otters from DWT’s Learning and Interpretation Officer for The Great Heath, Nicky Hoar.
Nicky said, “DWT and partners of The Great Heath project are very grateful for the continued support from Poole Grammar School, and for their generous donation. They are very involved with wildlife in Dorset, and it’s great to see the next generation of young adults taking such an interest in conservation. Enthusing local people about wildlife is a big part of the vision of The Great Heath project, which is to connect people with nature.”
Thanks to the grant of £2.7 million from the HLF (Heritage Lottery Fund), Dorset Wildlife Trust and partners have purchased almost 1500 acres of outstanding wildlife habitat to link betweenthe New Forest National Park and the Wild Purbeck Nature Improvement Area (NIA), with high quality access and interpretation for dozens of sites across the area. The areas purchased include parts of Upton Heath, Lytchett Bay, Holes Bay and sites close to Poole Grammar School such as Arrowsmith Coppice and Dunyeats Hill. These sites provide habitats for many rare and threatened species, including the Dartford Warbler and all six UK reptiles, including the nationally rare smooth snake and sand lizard.
To find out how you can get involved with The Great Heath project, visit www.thegreatheath.org
