News
Conservation work planned for 2008

Your rock face needs you!

Come and Join us for a good old site clearance.

CANCELLED Rock Pit Farm, Maiden Newton NGR SY594.979 on Sunday 22nd June. I suggest meeting at 10am. Bring usual gardening equipment and a packed lunch if you intend to stay for the afternoon. Depending on progress at Maiden Newton we may move onto Evershot Pit NGR ST578.050 in the afternoon.

INSTEAD:The meeting on 22nd June is cancelled.

Meeting now arranged at Poxwell quarry SY743 835 on 6th July. Meet at 10 am to clear one quarry and see several others in the Lower Purbeck and Portland limestones.


 

The Purbeck Project 2008 Update
The DIGS group is currently involved in the Keystone Project with Purbeck District Council. This has a number of strands but the DIGS group is using its five Purbeck sites to provide information for the general public on the geology and landscape of Purbeck linked in with the stone industry. Following obtaining funding for the project from LHI we have logged the geology of the 5 sites (done by Paul Ensom, a professional geologist). We have had some fossil collecting activities at the sites as well as a visit to Bournemouth Natural History Society to view Purbeck fossils in their collection. We will be doing the same thing with Dorchester Museum shortly. These visits involve photographing suitable material which eventually will help us produce reconstructions of the environments when the Upper Portland and Purbeck Beds were deposited in late Jurassic and early Cretaceous times. This information will be put on a DVD and distributed to schools and members of the general public. We have had a field visit last summer with a walk around Langton Matravers and the surrounding countryside. This was well attended (despite very poor weather) helped by the walk being advertised in the Dorset Evening Echo. Recently we had a meeting with other people involved with the Keystone Project which involves environmental, artistic and employment strands.
Guides now completed 2006
DIGS have now completed the second set of five guides, that cover geological walks in the Isle of Purbeck and Poole Cliffs; once again these will be available for purchas at £3.95 plus P+P £1.50 from Dorset Wildlife Trust, Brooklands Farm, Forston, Dorchester DT2 7AA Tel No 01305 264620 or local retail outlets.
Grant Award for DIGS, Summer 2006
The DIGS group have been awarded a grant within Purbeck District Council's Purbeck Keystone Project for the scientific study of 5 RIGS in the Purbeck limestone. A professional geologist will soon be investigating these five quarries and next Spring DIGS volunteers will join him to collect fossils from both the limestones and the shales. In the meanwhile DIGS volunteers will be interested to hear of any private collections of fossils that could illustrate examples of the creatures large and small that lived in Purbeck times. Our aim is to produce a virtual field trip to the quarries, illustrating the ecology and environment of the Purbeck, which would be given to Dorset schools and study centres.
A visit to Bookham Farm:

On a brilliant sunny evening of the 8th August 2006, 8 members of DIGS visited the Bookham Farm wildlife hide and the rockface in the farmyard.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Inside the hide we have placed an exhibition of typical fossils from the uppermost Upper Greensand in this area of Dorset and an explanation of the formation of the rocks seen in the farmyard. In this magical, hidden valley the wildlife hide allows visitors to see badgers and all the local birds. The rockface in the farmyard is close to the holiday cottages, and labelled to show the changes between rock types. Thanks go to Bob Christian for his display skills
 
Langton Matravers walk
East Dorset Heritage Trust enjoyed the Langton Matravers walk on the 25th August. They certainly appreciated the dip of the Purbeck Limestone beds as they struggled uphill from the Crack Lane quarry, past the active quarrying area at Acton and over the scarp face to the cliffs at Dancing Ledge. Fortunately the afternoon's thunderstorms stayed on the Chalk ridge past Corfe Castle.
 
Site Clearance 2005
The DIGS group with the excellent assistance of the BTCV spent a day clearing two sites. Portesham Quarry and Poxwell Quarry were overgrown and
the hard work a group of BTCV volunteers

Click to enlarge
supervised by Rachel Quick (regional organiser) rapidly made the two sites more accessible, especially Poxwell. This is the first of a number of site clearances it is hoped to carry out with the help of the BTCV volunteers.
 
LHI Newsletter 2006
Welcome to the latest LHI Newsletter, updating you on progress following Dorset Important Geological Sites Group [DIGS] successful application for a grant under the Local Heritage Initiative [LHI].

The aims of DIGS are to identify geological sites, which are of scientific or educational importance within Dorset, and register them with the District & County Councils to protect them from destruction. In addition, we raise public awareness of these sites, the rich geological heritage of Dorset & support these aims with Leaflets, Walks, Talks and Educational Material. An Interpretation Board at Bookham Farm is also well on the way to completion.

Following the successful publication of the first set of five guides [around West Dorset] in a folder last summer, the authors of the guides undertook talks & walks bases upon the geology of the area - these were very well supported, with over 50 people at one of the talks!

DIGS are now well on the way to completing the second set of five guides, that cover geological walks in the Isle of Purbeck and Poole Cliffs; once again these will be available for purchas at £3.95 plus P+P £1.50 from Dorset Wildlife Trust, Brooklands Farm, Forston, Dorchester DT2 7AA Tel No 01305 264620 or local retail outlets.

Educational Material will also be available on the DIGS website in due course, for each of the geological walks and each guide has a section for children aimed at Key Stage II.

To support publication of the Purbeck set of leaflets, geological talks & walks [based on the guides] to be led by the authors have been organized over the coming months. Why not come along? They are open to all, just turn up; there is no booking arrangements. We are sure you will have an enjoyable few hours walking or hearing about the beautiful Dorset countryside and learning about the geology and landscape too.

www.dorsetrigs.org.uk or contact the LHI Project Manager for further information on the LHI Project.

We look forward to meeting you.

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