\n Five years after the creation of the UK\u2019s first-ever \u2018super\u2019 national nature reserve (NNR), volunteers have reported a remarkable resurgence of species across the Purbeck Heaths.\n<\/p>\n
\n At the recent AGM of the Purbeck Natural History Forum, speakers shared the results of a year of monitoring across the 3,331-hectare reserve, which spans land owned by seven partner organisations.\n<\/p>\n
\n Peter Robertson, from the RSPB, speaking on behalf of the partnership, said: \u201cWe are hugely grateful to the Purbeck Natural History Forum for all its work.\n<\/p>\n
\n In five years, they have helped the Purbeck Heaths become a national beacon for monitoring, experimentation and research in nature restoration.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The latest monitoring results revealed a record 97 breeding pairs of Dartford warblers at Arne \u2013 an extraordinary recovery for a species that was almost extinct in the UK in the 1960s.\n<\/p>\n
\n More than 2,000 silver-studded blue butterflies were recorded in 2024 and 2025, marking the highest counts ever during a time of national butterfly decline.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: Mark Singleton)\n<\/p>\n
\n A nationally rare ground beetle, known for its striking green and gold colouring, is thriving on Hartland Moor, while endangered water voles have been recorded on several sites across the heath.\n<\/p>\n
\n Pine martens, which are critically endangered in England, have also been recorded for the first time at Little Sea.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rare plant species are flourishing too, with increasing numbers of marsh gentians, great sundews, pale dog violets and yellow centaury spotted across the reserve.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Purbeck Natural History Forum was established in 2022 to monitor species across the whole landscape, rather than on individual reserves.\n<\/p>\n
\n Volunteers survey everything from birds and small mammals, to butterflies, dragonflies, glowworms and wildflowers.\n<\/p>\n
\n They work at consistent times along set transects to ensure reliable year-on-year data. Jasper Iepema, freelance ecologist supporting the natural history forum, said: \u201cWe have over 300 members, including both expert naturalists and enthusiastic amateurs. They are united by a passion for wildlife and a commitment to do whatever they can to help nature recover. Together they put in an incredible 6,000 hours of surveying this year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five years after the creation of the UK\u2019s first-ever \u2018super\u2019 national nature reserve (NNR), volunteers have reported a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-263849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}