DHBlog004 · An article by Andrew Branson
Think of Dorset and most people will conjure up images of its glorious coast, or perhaps the changing landscape of the Purbeck hills, or the heaths of Poole Harbour, but there is another aspect to the county that is often missed. In the north is the Blackmore Vale, an intricate clay vale created by the River Stour and its tributaries between low limestone ridges, apparently lost amid a maze of small fields and high, treed hedges, so dense in places that it looks more like a woodland with a series of rectangular glades. Surrounding the vale like a great amphitheatre is a wholly different landscape. Here, the steep sinuous flanks of chalk plateaux contain some of the finest chalk grassland in southern England. The great buttresses at the edge of this landscape of skies and wide horizons provide a startling contrast to the vale they survey. This is one of the great British landscapes.
Thomas Hardy famously described the scene looking across the ‘engirdled and secluded’ Blackmore Vale in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: ‘Here, in the valley, the world seems to be constructed upon a smaller and more delicate scale; the fields are mere paddocks, so reduced that from this height their hedgerows appear a network of dark green threads overspreading the paler green of the grass.’ The ‘bold chalk ridge’ of Fontmell and Melbury Downs is perhaps one of the best places to experience this landscape.
Although Hardy would have recognised the views from Fontmell and Melbury, he did not describe them. His entrance point to this great theatre of the English landscape was to the south, at Bulbarrow. However, when the National Trust acquired the downs in the late 1970s and 1980s, it was in memory of Hardy’s love of this landscape. And, indeed, from Melbury Beacon you can see some of the Blackmore villages he described, including Marnhull which Hardy called ‘Marlott’ in Tess.
History
The escarpments are on a western spur of the chalk hills of Cranborne Chase, with Melbury Beacon at 263m being the highest point in north Dorset (nearby Win Green, in Wiltshire, and also a National Trust site, is the highest point in the Chase). The landscape is the product of periglacial meltwater erosion when tundra-like conditions would have prevailed, spring meltwaters cutting deep valleys in the frozen hills. The steep-sided dry valley of Melbury Down, snaking eastwards into the chalk, with its series of interlocking spurs, is recognised as a Regionally Important Geological Site.
Sheep farming would have been the main activity on these bare chalk slopes, but some fields were cut for hay and the hill tops have been used for arable crops, such as wheat, barley and oats. Strip lynchetts on some of the slopes, such as near Brandis Down to the south, are perhaps signs of early Medieval open field systems encroaching up the chalk slopes. More recently, dairy farming and beef cattle have become an important part of the mix of activities. Horses were still used on the farms locally until the early 1950s, and areas of grass were managed to provide them with fodder. In the interwar years of the last century, two of the main farmers in the area were the Harding family and Rolf Gardiner. Gardiner was a controversial character, an innovative forester and farmer, who was a great believer in the power of a healthy rural life. He was, among other things, a disciple of D. H. Lawrence and involved in the revival of several English rural traditions, including morris-dancing. He was a founder member of the organic soil movement, which lives on today in the Soil Association. Locally, the Springhead Trust at Fontmell Magna, below the downs, carries on some of his ideas. The woodland on the Dorset Wildlife Trust’s part of the reserve, known as Catswhisker, was planted by him (he thought it looked the ‘cat’s whiskers’). His son, the conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner, continues to farm here and carries on his father’s organic principles. The writer and academic John Stewart Collis worked on the land near Fontmell during the Second World War and spent a winter working in one of Rolf Gardiner’s woods. His reflections on farming at the time (and much else) are captured in the book The Worm Forgives the Plough.
Sections of the site were acquired by the National Trust and Dorset Wildlife Trust between 1977 and 1988 and the whole now totals just under 300ha. Separate compartments are managed by the National Trust and the Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT), which has a long-term lease on some of the National Trust’s southern sections, including the steep-sided dry valley known as the Curlews and the Burys. The division works well and the two organisations frequently work together on events. The bulk of the area was first designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1977 and is now also a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the Habitats and Species Regulation. The reserve contains the National Trust’s largest area of contiguous chalk grassland.
Management
The grassland is managed under Higher Level Stewardship. The farms that were originally sold to the National Trust are now long-term tenants, and it is their stock that graze both the DWT’s and National Trust’s land. This is a mix of cattle and sheep, with the cattle mostly on during the summer months. Inevitably, the livestock numbers vary from year to year, but creating the right levels of grazing for butterflies and the rich array of plant species is a key element of the regime. The less sloping parts of the reserve were ploughed at various points during the 20th century, particularly during and after the Second World War. Most of these are now in long-term arable reversion to chalk grassland. Although this is inevitably a slow process, there are encouraging signs that plants are returning, with species such as Pimpinella saxifraga (Burnet-saxifrage) and Campanula glomerata (Clustered Bellflower) making obvious inroads.
Scrub management is a constant in the yearly programme. The National Trust has a rolling ten-year programme of clearance, working in conjunction with the tenant farmers. On the DWT sections local volunteers attend regular work parties to clear the encroaching Ulex europaeus (Gorse), Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn), Ligustrum vulgare (Wild Privet), Cornus sanguineus (Dogwood) and other species. It is recognised that the scrub is an important component of the vegetation and the intention is to keep a balance between the open grassland and the scrub. Contoneaster horizontalis (Wall Cotoneaster) can become a problem on the slopes and this is regularly monitored and cleared. The DWT areas are farmed organically so that all the removal is by hand. There has been selective thinning in the woodland at Catswhisker to allow more light to the floor. Some of the woodland here near the bottom of the valley is being removed in order to provide a grassland corridor between Littledown and the Curlews.
Wildlife
Although the views across the Blackmore Vale are stunning throughout the year, the seasonal changes in colour of the grasses and flowers of the downland slopes are also a delight. Personal favourites are walking through the deep valley of Melbury Down on a frosty winter’s day with flocks of Ravens calling and tumbling overhead, or searching for cryptic Frog Orchids on bright July mornings in Big Bury where the enclosed valley seems to act like a great solar dish sparking up butterflies and tiny chalkland flowers. The reserve’s SAC designation is based mainly on the presence of a good population of the endemic Gentianella amarella ssp. anglica (Early Gentian). This diminutive plant is found in several parts of the reserve, but short-cropped areas of Big and Little Bury are the best places to see it. Visit in early June and look out for its small, purple, upright trumpet-like flowers on the south-facing slopes. In recent years counts of the gentian have varied enormously, from tens of thousands to hundreds. Untangling whether this is because of weather patterns or changing grazing pressure is something that is still being investigated.
The unimproved chalk grassland on the steep, sunny slopes are a rich mix of herbs and grasses peppered with anthills and crossed by sheep tracks, all of which add a variety of micro-habitats. The sward is dominated by grasses such as Briza media (Quaking-grass),Trisetum flavescens, Helictochloa pratense and Avenula pubescens (Yellow, Meadow and Downy Oat-grass), Koeleria micrantha (Crested Hair-grass), Festuca rubra (Red Fescue) and F. ovina (Sheep’s-fescue), Brachypodium sylvaticum (False Brome) and Carex flacca and C. caryophyllea (Carnation and Spring Sedges). In the spring there are carpets of Primula veris (Cowslips) in some years, punctuated by the spikes of Orchis mascula (Early Purple Orchids) and the delicate blues of Viola hirta (Hairy Violet). Later in the season the slopes come alive with Poterium sanguisorba (Salad-burnet), Polygala calcarea and P. vulgaris (Chalk and Common Milkwort), Rhinanthus minor (Yellow-rattle), Lotus corniculatus (Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil), Thymus polytrichus (Wild Thyme), Asperula cynanchica (Squinancywort), Linum catharticum (Fairy Flax), Leontodon hispidus (Hairy Hawkbit), Galium verum (Lady’s Bedstraw) and Anthyllis vulneraria (Kidney Vetch) and Hippocrepis comosa (Horseshoe Vetch), together with Carlina vulgaris and Cirsium acaule (Carline and Stemless Thistle). In places, Helianthemum nummularium (Common Rockrose) is dominant.
The reserve has an impressive list of orchids, including displays of Platanthera chlorantha, (Greater Butterfly-orchid), Anacamptis pyramidalis (Pyramidal), Gymnadenia conopsea (Chalk Fragrant), as well as Ophrys apifera (Bee), the rare Coeloglossum viride (Frog), Listera ovata (Twayblade) and Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Common Spotted-orchid). There are even a few Cephalanthera damasonium (White Helleborines) in the scrub edges. The best time to see the orchids is in June and early July. Later in the year, the predominant colours of the sward turn more towards blues and purples, with Campanula rotundifolia (Harebells), Scabiosa columbaria (Small Scabious) and Centaurea nigra (Common Knapweed). In the autumn there is another more subtle flush of colour as Succisa pratensis (Devil’s-bit Scabious), Gentianella amarella (Felwort) and yet another orchid, Spiranthes spiralis (Autumn Lady’s-tresses) come into flower. In parts of Littledown, tall spikes of Orobanche elatior (Knapweed Broomrape) can be found. These are parasitic on Centaurea scabiosa (Greater Knapweed). At Melbury Hill and Melbury Down look out for the local Saxifraga granulata (Meadow Saxifrage) in May, with its delicate white flowers. The anaemic-looking Thesium humifusum (Bastard-toadflax), with its creeping habit and white star-like flowers, can be found in some of the shorter south-facing turf. A Juniperus communis (Juniper) grows on Compton Down; sadly, this lonely male plant is almost the last of its kind in Dorset.
Tucked away in Melbury Down there are some intriguing communities. The sheltered north-facing slope has a band of flint scree. The leached conditions here have allowed plants more often associated with acid conditions, such as Calluna vulgaris (Heather) to survive. Genista tinctoria (Dyer’s Greenweed) can also be found along here, as well as a rich community of orchids, clovers and vetches. Hidden among the flints are various Cladonia lichens, including Cladonia portentosa, another heathland species. Grassland mosses and liverworts are well represented on the reserve with the impressive Rhodobryum roseum growing on the anthills at Melbury Down, while the scarce liverwort Frullania tamarisci, with its dark purple-brown leaves, snakes its way across parts of the flint scree, amongst golden and red fronds of Hylocomium splendens. On the sunny south-facing slopes of Fontmell Down scarce chalk grassland mosses such as Entodon concinnus, Tortella squarrosa, Weissia sterilis and the tiny Ephemerum recurvifolium can be found, amongst commoner species such as Ctenidium molluscum and Hypnum lacunosum.
Fontmell and Melbury Downs are superb for butterflies. Thirty-five species have been recorded here. The jewel in the crown must be the population of the rare Silver-spotted Skipper Hesperia comma that is found here at its only site in Dorset, its furthest west site in England. Keeping an open sward is critical for this sun-loving insect, since it lays its eggs on tussocks of Sheep’s-fescue but also needs warm, bare ground on which to bask. There are also good populations of Dark Green Fritillary Argynnis aglaja and Marsh FritillaryEuphydryas aurinia on Fontmell and Melbury Downs. The Burys and Curlews are a haven for Adonis Blue Polyommatus bellargus and Chalkhill Blue P. coridon, whose larvae feed on the abundant Horseshoe Vetch. While the Adonis Blue populations are currently going from strength to strength in Dorset, the Chalkhill Blue seems to have a more uncertain future. Several scarce species of moth are also found on the reserve including the day-flying Narrow-bordered Bee Hawkmoth Hemaris tityus.
Some nature reserves have a presence in the landscape that draws you back whatever your interest. Fontmell and Melbury Downs is such a place, and surely one with which Thomas Hardy would be proud to be associated.
Visiting and access
The main parking area is at the small National Trust car park off the Upper Blandford Road, south of Melbury Abbas at Spread Eagle Hill. From here, there are footpaths and permissive rights of way to the DWT parts of the reserve, as well as excellent circular walks to Melbury Beacon and around Fontmell and Hardings Down. The steep-sided Melbury Down can be accessed to the east along the road from Compton Abbas airfield. The DWT has a waymarked route across its reserve which takes in the Curlews and Catswhisker. There is also a car park at the top of the road from Fontmell Magna. This provides access to Brandis Down and a permissive footpath to Catswhisker and Littledown. For more information on access, visit the websites www.nationaltrust.org.uk and www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk.
Acknowledgements
This article is based on one for British Wildlife magazine published in 2015 (British Wildlife Vol. 27 104-110). Many thanks to Clive Whitbourn, Ranger for the National Trust, and Neil Gibson, Warden for the Dorset Wildlife Trust, for their time and help with the article.
Image credits: Andrew Branson