Site Details

Area: 4.66 hectares

Designation

SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest)
SPA (Special Protection Area)
SAC (Special Area of Conservation)
SNCI (Site of Nature Conservation Interest

Owners: Sainsbury's Plc.
Managers: Dorset Wildlife Trust

Site Description

The Alder Hills Reserve can best be described as an area of remnant heath, with remains of old mineral workings. The remaining area of heathland is mainly dry in character, dominated by ling calluna vulgaris, bell heather, erica cinerea and western dwarf gorse, ulex gallii. The areas history of former mineral workings resulted in a varied terrain, and abundance, but diminishing area of open sand. The reserve is consequently excellent habitat for the sand lizard lacterta agilis, and is one of the most important sites for this species in the Poole/Bournemouth conurbation. All six native reptiles have been seen on the site though the smooth snake, coronella austriaca, has not been confirmed in recent years and may be lost from the site.

The large pond's remarkably pure water plays host to Newts, Frogs, Toads and 13 different species of Dragonfly. Fish species include Roach, Rudd, Perch and Pike, all thought to have been introduced by local fishermen, and Goldfish and Terrapins have also been seen. The Alder Hills Fishing Club continues to help to preserve the pond and its wildlife, which also includes a good variety of birds visiting to feed and nest around the pond. Kingfishers, Woodcock and Cormorants are known to use the site and Finches and Warblers breed in the fringe of carr woodland around the water's edge. The Emperor Moth breeds here, and the sandy banks are home to Mining Bees and parasitic Sand Wasps. As with most heathland sites, the floral diversity is poor, but interesting casual plants such as White Melilot often appear on the fringes and paths.

History

This unusual reserve is set in the middle of a highly urban area, and the large pond is itself an industrial relic, having developed from a flooded clay pit abandoned in 1948. The surrounding heathland is a tiny relic of the Great Heath which once stretched from Christchurch to Dorchester. The clay from the Alder Hills pits went to make many of the drainage pipes used as Bournemouth grew. The largest clay pit was filled in the 1950s to provide the land where the Sharp Road industrial site was built, and the 1980s saw proposals to develop the remaining heath and pond area. Local residents combined to save the site, and in 1984 it was designated as a SSSI. At the end of the 1980s Sainsbury's bought the land and built a store adjacent to the reserve. In 1990 they donated the land to Poole Borough Council, and generously provided funds for the Dorset Wildlife Trust to manage the land as the Alder Hills Nature Reserve