Introduction

Turbary is owned and managed by Bournemouth Borough Council Parks and Countryside section. 
The entire site is a Local Nature Reserve covering 36.15 Ha but only 23.53 Ha is SSSI. It forms part of the Kinson and Turbary SSSI and is subject Bournemouth Borough Council Bylaws.

There is a very active Friends of group, whose members use the heath daily and are a vital source of local knowledge and support while out patrolling. They give guided walks and provide voluntary working parties for practical work.
If you would like to find out more about the Friends group, click on the link to the right of this page.

Heathland Habitat

The SSSI area is predominantly dry heath Western Gorse - Ulex gallii, Ling -  Calluna vulgaris, Bell heather - Erica cinerea and Bristle bent - Agrosti curtisii but it does have a couple of small areas of wet/humid heath with Crossed leaved heath - Erica tetralix and Purple moorgrass - Molina caerulea. It also has a valley mire system with Sundews - Dorsea roundifolia and D.intermedia and Bog asphodel - Narthecium ossifragum and White beaked sedge - Rhynchospora alba. There is an area in the middle of the SSSI that has been used as amenity grassland in recent history; this area is being restored back to heathland with funds from Tomorrows Heathland Heritage (THH).  The rest of the site comprises of European Gorse - Ulex europaeus, scrub woodland and a small pine plantation remnant from previous management of this area. Turbary is renown for adders- Vipera berus and there are six reptile scrapes providing prime habitat to encourage breeding of all six species of reptile. It also has good populations of Dartford Warbler - Sylvia undata and Stonechat - Saxicola torquata and a visiting Buzzard - Buteo buteo.