UPDATE: Dorset Wildlife Trust has now secured the funding required to purchase the land featured in this interview. See here for more info: Upton Heath saved by successful fundraising campaign
This is an interview with Brian Bleese, the Chief Executive of the Dorset Wildlife Trust. A few days ago, the Dorset Wildlife Trust launched an urgent appeal to try and raise enough money to purchase a piece of land on Upton Heath which is in the middle of one of the Trust’s most valuable nature reserves. This is internationally important lowland heath, and lies north of Poole. The landowner has put this land – which is part of an SSSI, and is home to some of Britain’s rarest and most endangered animals – up for auction on April 29th. Brian also talks about the importance of beavers in Dorset (and elsewhere in the U.K.) and about the public consultations which have been organised on the possibility of wild releases of more beavers elsewhere in the county. The information about both the appeal and the public consultations can be found on the Trust’s website.
