Devil’s-bit scabious

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20 September 2022

Growing a wildflower meadow in your back garden isn’t quite as simple as you might think – but it’s important to try, says writer Jane Adams

About ten years ago, I decided to grow a mini wildflower meadow on what was a rather forlorn patch of grass. It was lumpy and weedy, and I could tell it really didn’t want to be a lawn. Actually, allowing it to grow seemed an obvious win. I wouldn’t have to mow it and pollinators like bees and butterflies would benefit from any extra flowers. From what I’d read, insects needed all the help they could get.
But I swiftly found out thet proper wildflower meadows are deceptively hard to grow.
In that first year I planted chamomile, knapweed, orange hawkbit, bird’s-foot-trefoil, yellow rattle, and devil’s-bit scabious plug-plants to boost the diversity of plant life. My old lawn buzzed and crawled with insect life, and I felt pretty smug.
The following year hardly anything grew except the devil’s-bit scabious.
I know now what I did wrong. I didn’t research what wildflowers would and should grow in my sandy Dorset patch. I hadn’t considered the rich mosaic of interconnected plants and fungi that were needed to make a lowland meadow – even one as small as mine. In short, I thought copying nature would be simple, and it wasn’t.

The common carder bee on devil’s-bit scabious
Image: Jane Adams

A few fragments
In the UK we’ve lost a staggering 97 per cent of our species-rich grassland since the 1930s. That’s equivalent to 7.5 million acres; and quite a few of those acres would have been in Dorset.
Over the years meadows were mismanaged, undervalued, and unprotected. What took hundreds, even thousands, of years to grow disappeared almost overnight.
But we do still have fragments of flower-rich meadows in our countryside. We just need to join them up so that wildlife can flow from one to another. Which is why conservationists are keen for us to create green corridors for wildlife and plants by growing wildflowers in our gardens. Just imagine if we could sew a giant living patchwork of native flowers right across Dorset.
In the meantime, the devil’s-bit scabious, and the bees that hang from their button blooms, are a joy to watch on my old lawn. And they are a reminder we can all do our bit to help wildlife during this ecological crisis.

Ploughing a new furrow

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19 September 2022

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Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Marine Awareness Officer Julie Hatcher shares the story of work to monitor the recently arrived furrowed crab.

Furrowed crab Xantho hydrophilus Image © Phil Abraham

The wildlife-rich shallows and seashore of Kimmeridge Bay were designated as a protected area under UK law in 2019 and form part of the Purbeck Coast Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ). The intertidal zone (the region between the high tide mark and the low tide mark) in Kimmeridge Bay is the only stretch with this level of protection along the open Dorset coast and an important part of our work at the Wild Seas Centre is to record and monitor the marine life along this coastline.

A furrowed crab is recorded for the survey
Image © VFogarty

Migrant crabs
One such survey focuses on the furrowed crab, Xantho hydrophilus, a native to the south west coast but a recent arrival in Dorset.
Further west, this crab has undergone a population explosion in recent decades, raising concerns about its impact on other long-term residents. First sighted on the seashore at Kimmeridge in 2019, the survey records the population size and any concurrent changes to other crab species on the seashore, including the edible crab, Cancer pagurus, of which there is an abundance of juveniles. Edible crabs move to progressively deeper water as they grow, so the ones found intertidally are the small, immature youngsters.
A team of trained volunteers records the number, size and sex of crabs, along with the habitat
and associated animals. While the population of furrowed crabs is still at a low level, something interesting has been discovered about the edible crabs; out of the 125 recorded, only four were females. Crab experts appear to have no explanation for this gender discrepancy and
further research is needed to solve the mystery.

The need to monitor
Climate change is known to be altering the distribution and survivability of many wildlife species and it is thought that the furrowed crab may be one of these, hence its recent colonisation in Dorset. The effects of shifting distributions and the fortunes of both winners and losers in these changing times are unforeseeable, so monitoring changes and their impacts is vital to our understanding of how we can help.
Of course, the most urgent need is to slow the global temperature increase, which will at least give species more time to adapt. Meanwhile our volunteers will continue to monitor this most difficult of ecosystems and share our understanding far and wide.

Flower farming in a drought

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18 September 2022

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The dry summer has been difficult, says flower farmer Charlotte Tombs as she makes plans to work around drought with her 2023 plant choices

Some of Charlotte 2022 dahlias – Seniors Hope, Creme de Cassis, Burlesca, Franz Kafka, Molly Raven and Zippity Do Da
Images: Charlotte Tombs

I won’t bore you with how I was going to have natural free spring water for my flower beds this summer. Nor how I was going to have irrigation in all the beds. Or how (like always) the plumber never came when he said he would, and has only just turned up some eight weeks later – which is rather late. Or even how I’ve spent hours watering and keeping things alive this summer and I’m never going to get those hours back.
In fact I just had to give up on some beds and as a consequence had to cut down on the flower orders I’ve been able to take on.
But of course there is always next year to do things differently; with different plants and different varieties. The great thing about gardening, as I’ve written before, is you always get another season to try again.

These dahlias remind me of fruit salad penny sweets – they are Daisy Duke, Totally Tangerine, Burlesque and Molly Raven, with cosmos apricotta and scabious salmon rose.

Climate change plants
Perennials are the way forward if our summers are getting hotter and our climate is changing – I will certainly be looking to grow more drought-tolerant plants myself. Of course they are more expensive, but they can be grown from seed and some will flower in their first year. Good choices for this are achillea, yarrow and eryngium, or sea holly, which is the most beautiful steely blue colour and the bees LOVE it so it’s a real winner for the garden.
It’s a good idea right now to take the time and have a good look around your garden; see what has survived and thrived in your poor parched flower beds.
Drought-tolerant plants tend to have grey or silver leaves – the light-coloured leaves reflect the sun’s rays. Often the leaves also have tiny grey hairs on them, which help to retain moisture around the plant’s sensitive tissues. Some plants which really don’t mind a drought are echinacea (or coneflower), nepeta (or catmint; be warned, cats really do love this plant!), agastanche, salvias, lavender and rosemary. A lot of ornamental grasses thrive in dry conditions, unlike their moisture-loving cousin otherwise known as your lawn.
The zinnias this summer have been amazing; they love it hot and dry. They are considered a ‘dirty flower’ because they make the vase water dirty, but a small drop of bleach will help prevent this.
There is an autumnal nip in the air first thing now, and thankfully a heavy dew which is helping my thirsty flowers. It’s certainly been a challenging summer for a cut flower grower.

Looking sweet in the meadow (and on the roadside too)

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17 September 2022

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September is a month of abundance, even after a summer drought, says foraging expert Carl Mintern as he enjoys the literal fruits of the season

meadowsweet or mead wort, Filipendula ulmaria, with flying insects searing for honey and pollinate the flowers

This year has been a test of water management for both us humans and the natural world, with droughts seen across much of the country and record temperatures to boot. Indeed, many of our trees have decided to shed brown leaves as early as mid-August, giving some areas a very autumnal look and feel already.
I, along with you I am sure, am hoping that the coming weeks and months give our surroundings a chance to recover from this summer with some much-needed rainfall.
I have also noticed that many of our hedgerow harvests seem unaffected by the conditions, with a bumper year for blackberries and also many nut trees looking extremely bountiful.
One such tree is the walnut (Juglans regia), a prized tree in the forager’s inventory. While many people are surprised to hear that we can go foraging for walnuts in the UK, the walnut tree has been growing here since Roman times and can be found in many parks and larger gardens, as well as on roadsides. Indeed, it is one of the things I will often spot from my car on journeys all around the Blackmore Vale and surrounding area.
As with most nut trees, the trick is getting to the ripe nuts before the squirrels, who are particularly adept at outwitting us human collectors when it comes to timing our harvests.
Ideally you will wait until the shell has started peeking through the green husks which are in clusters of two to five. They are green and oval in shape, looking a little like a lime from a distance, and inside is the wrinkled seed. As the nut ripens, the shell forms and hardens around it. Once collected and dried out it can be stored for up to a year.
In the world of foraging, nuts hold a special place for me, alongside mushrooms, as they can form the centrepiece of a meal and offer a huge amount of protein and other nutrients. As such, it should come as little surprise when I say that the walnut tree is by far my favourite tree to find on the landscape.

Wait to harvest walnuts until the shell has started peeking through the green husks

Meadowsweet
The next plant I wish to share this month is meadowsweet, (Filipendula ulmaria), a truly abundant wild herb that likes a damper environment – hopefully the autumn will deliver one. This sweetly-scented plant was famous both as a strewing herb, scattered on the floor for its scent, and as a flavouring for mead. Today I use it to infuse many things, from vinegars to custards.
Last September I undertook a challenge where I only consumed food I could procure myself, with not a single thing bought from a shop, and I made meadowsweet custard by infusing my goat’s milk with the flowers from this plant, which deliver an almond flavour with hints of vanilla.
All parts of the plant are edible and can be added to soups or sauces, giving a deliciously sweet aromatic flavour to sweet dishes such as stewed fruits. The bitter roots, along with the leaves and flowers, have been used dried as a tea.
Traditionally found in damper meadows, meadowsweet grows prolifically in the Blackmore Vale along roadside ditches which have been created and maintained to irrigate agricultural land. It is both abundant and easy to find and identify.

Wild pears are free for the picking, and just the same as those you’ll buy in the supermarket

Wild fruit
Finally this month, I would like to draw your attention to the possibility of finding other fruits we usually associate with cultivated harvesting. While I will spotlight no one in particular, I think its easy for us to forget that wild strawberries and raspberries proliferate in wild spaces all around us, along with wild blueberries and currants.
As I sit to write this article, I can see a heaving bowl of pears, collected from a wild pear tree growing on an almost unused roadside connecting two small hamlets. The differences between the pears I have and the ones in the shops? Well, apart from the fact mine taste better, and were free, not much at all …

Is this the perfect autumnal bake? Simple-but-perfect apple turnovers

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Editorial team

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16 September 2022

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The hot and sunny summer will have been a blessing for all the parts of our lovely county that benefit from the tourist trade. After a difficult two years with the effects of the pandemic, to have full beaches and local attractions (and therefore full bars, restaurants and shops), will have been wonderful for all kinds of local businesses.
The weather has definitely made the last couple of months more interesting for our local farmers
though. It still remains to be seen how much of an impact that will have on the levels of locally-grown produce in our shops. While some crops will have benefited – it’s been good for the blossoming wine industry – others are struggling. If you want to show support for our local farmers and those who source their ingredients from them, then do try your local farm shops and delis and buy from them direct – even an occasional small spend helps if we’re all doing it.
This recipe is made using apples which are just coming into season. Dorset has a wide range of apples and while some apple turnover recipes insist on Bramley apples, I would recommend you try any kind – sometimes the texture of the apple inside the pastry adds something wonderful to the bake, rather than just a soft inside. Heather x

Ingredients

2 packs of ready rolled puff pastry (fridge cold)
10 to 12 apples
1 tsp cinnamon
2 to 3 heaped tbsp soft brown sugar
1 egg (beaten)
1tbsp Demerara sugar to finish

Directions

Peel and core the apples and chop into small pieces (0.5cm cubes).
In a small saucepan, add the apple pieces, the soft brown sugar and the cinnamon. If you are using a sweeter apple variety then use less sugar here; you can always taste and add more if you need to. If using a sour apple variety, like Granny Smith or Bramley, then use slightly more sugar.
Mix the ingredients well until the sugar and spice coat the apple pieces and then turn on the heat to medium. Gently cook the apples pieces until they soften. If you are using a Bramley apple, the apple pieces will completely lose their shape, but something like a Pink Lady will just soften to lose the ‘crunch’ when you bite them – this is what you are looking for. This will take 5-10 minutes and be careful not to let them burn on the bottom by giving them a stir as they cook.
Leave this mixture to cool completely (you can make this stage ahead and leave in the fridge until you are ready to make the turnovers).
Pre-heat the oven to 180º fan/Gas 5. Grease and line two baking trays.
To make the turnovers, roll out the pastry and gently cut into squares – there are no rules here, the size of the square is up to you. Some love a huge turnover, some like little turnover bites.
Dab a little of the beaten egg around the edge of the squares. Place the apple mixture onto one diagonal half of the square and fold the pastry over to make a triangle with the mixture inside.
Press down the edges with a fork.
Carefully move them to the baking tray. Brush beaten egg across the top and sprinkle over some of the demerara sugar.
Bake for 15-20 minutes (depending on how large they are) until crisp and golden brown.

Heather Brown is on the committee of the Guild of Food Writers; she is a home economist with a passion for Dorset’s brilliant foodie scene, as well as a dab hand at fixing websites, and with a penchant for taking a good foodie photo. Heather runs Dorset Foodie Feed, championing Dorset’s food and drink businesses, as well as working one-to-one with clients.

Sherborne School’s A level success

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16 September 2022

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Sherborne School and Sherborne Girls are celebrating superb and well-deserved A level results.
Sherborne School leavers look to start their degree courses, which range from Veterinary Science, Medicine, Mathematics and Engineering to English, History and Theology.
Sherborne Girls will be taking up a range of courses including Aerospace Engineering, Law, Veterinary Medicine, Physiotherapy, Liberal Arts, Medicine, Graphic Design, Economics and Finance, International Relations and Neuroscience.
Pupils from the two schools will be studying at top UK universities including Oxford, Cambridge, and Russell Group and prestigious overseas universities including Hong Kong University, as well as universities in Norway, Estonia, Spain, Paris and New York.
At Sherborne School, 28 per cent of Upper Sixth boys were graded A, 60 per cent A-A and 83 per cent A-B. Given the additional challenges that they had to endure throughout their Sixth Form careers as a result of the pandemic, these achievements are all the more impressive and a special mention is made by the school of Denys, a Ukrainian HMC scholar, who achieved AAAA despite coping with the dreadful events unfolding in his homeland. Headmaster Dr Dominic Luckett said: ‘We could not be more proud of them all, not simply because of their stellar academic and co-curricular achievements but for the superb young men that they are’. Sherborne Girls are celebrating a record 26 per cent at A grade. Sherborne Girls’ Head, Dr Ruth Sullivan, said: ‘I would like to congratulate our outgoing Upper Sixth who have been a privilege to work with during their time at Sherborne Girls. They have shown a level of maturity, good humour, focus and stoicism beyond their years, while continuing to be caring, compassionate and supportive of one another. I have never failed to be impressed by their approach to learning and life.
‘I, along with all the staff at Sherborne Girls, wish them every success as they embark on the next stage of their journeys.’

Sherborne’s boys celebrate GCSE results

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16 September 2022

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Just as the A level cohort had to contend with the added pressures, constraints and frustrations of the pandemic, so this year’s GCSE candidates were required to work towards their examinations against the background of considerable disruption and uncertainty. Despite that, they have done magnificently well – 22 per cent of their GCSEs were awarded the top grade of 9; 48% grades 9 and 8; and 67% 9 to 7 (equivalent to the old A*/A grades).
On an individual level, 18 boys achieved ten or more grades 9-7. Among them is Bertie T, who secured an exceptional 12 Grade 9s, a feat emulated by only a dozen or so pupils across the country.
Hot on his heels were Max S with ten Grade 9s and two 8s, and Hector K with ten 9s and one 8.
Just as impressive were all those boys whose grades demonstrated the power of hard work, commitment and self-belief.
Headmaster Dr Dominic Luckett commented: ‘I am tremendously impressed by these results. They have shown great determination, resilience and ambition and their grades are a fitting reward. It is also worth noting that many of the boys have extremely busy co-curricular programmes and have successfully combined their sport, music, art, drama and outdoor activities with the highest levels of academic attainment. Great credit also goes to their teachers and the other staff who nurtured and supported them through some very challenging times. I am very grateful to them all.
Equally, I am delighted that pupils at our sister school, Sherborne Girls, have achieved similarly excellent results. Congratulations to them all – I want the boys to know how proud of them we are.’

Baden Powell – the Boy Scout who never wanted to grow up

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Editorial team

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15 September 2022

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In her open-minded new biography, Dorset journalist Lorraine Gibson unearths fascinating insights into the complex character of Robert Baden-Powell

Baden-Powell blowing his African Koodoo horn to wake the Brownsea boys (Scouts Heritage)

founder of the Boy Scouts. However, the astoundingly eccentric Robert Baden-Powell was a brilliant military strategist and hero of the Second Boer War, yet later became a pacifist who angered Mussolini and ended up on Hitler’s death list.
A conflicted character, he was a macho man who was obsessed with Peter Pan (he saw the play five times) and who was happy to don a frock and entertain troops as a drag artist.
He was an elitist man of privilege, but one who gave the poorest children opportunities to discover the great outdoors.
It started with a statue
After delving deep into the world of Boy Scouts and their famous founder, journalist Lorraine Gibson, who lives near Brownsea Island, became intrigued by the island’s role in the birth of the Scouting movement. She was hooked. In the pandemic of 2020, she reported on a fight between Scouts and anti-slavery protesters, hell-bent on throwing Baden-Powell’s statue off Poole Quay.
Now, 90,000 mainly lockdown-written words later, her first book, Robert Baden-Powell: A Biography, is published. It’s available from 16th September.

Baden-Powell’s mother, Henrietta Grace(Scouts Heritage)

She explains: ‘The more I researched, the more I discovered the dichotomy between his “two lives”, as Baden-Powell called them. His difficult childhood really drew me in – a domineering and unaffectionate mother whom he loved even though she forced him into the army at 19, dashing his dreams of becoming an artist.
‘My book considers a recently discovered telegraph that adds fuel to speculation over his relationship with a fellow soldier that endured for 30 years, until, at the age of 55, he secretly married a 22-year-old woman.’
She adds: ‘This is not so much a warts-and-all tale, but a what-caused-the-warts tale. I leave the reader to make up their mind.”
Researching in the pandemic had many restrictions, but thanks to modern technology Lorraine was able to interview Baden-Powell’s granddaughter, who is still in the scouts in her 80s, and his grandson, as well as his great grandson, who lives in Nova Scotia.

Baden-Powell in gauntlets and high British boots taken by David Taylor in Mafeking 1900.
Image: Australian War Memorial.

She said: ‘I was blown away by the support I got for my fresh take on the man. I got access to his diaries and school records and when lockdown lifted I had the rare opportunity of seeing archived scouting material curated on Brownsea Island.’
And how was writing her first book? ‘The spare room became my writing turret. My computer was on at 4am and sometimes I would sneak there during the night when an idea came to mind. I was paranoid about losing my work so had back-ups on all manner of devices.
‘The wall was covered in hundreds of Post-It notes and a timeline. My husband and two daughters were very patient. ‘I’d be watching YouTube videos about Baden-Powell while I was cooking, and suddenly rush off to write something.
‘There were a few almost-burnt suppers that year!”

Baden-Powell as a clown (far right) in 13th Hussars’ panto at Lucknow 1877

Potentially there are more charred offerings in store for her family: Lorraine is already embarking on another book. She revealed exclusively to The BV: ‘I’m moving from a man in shorts to a man in rhinestone catsuits! I’m a huge Elvis fan and so was my dad.
The title of my next book is Elvis: The King of Fashion. What Elvis wore is so culturally relevant. Ask someone how they imagine Elvis and you can almost guess their age. White suit and capes – the Las Vegas 70s. Black leather in the 60s era and drainpipe jeans in the 50s. I’m really hoping to get to Memphis next year to do some real-life research.’

Lorraine Gibson turned her spare room into her writing turret

Robert Baden-Powell: A Biography is priced at £25 and will be available from 16th September.
ISBN: 9781399009300
Pen & Sword History

King Arthurs celebrates some ‘significant’ results for GCSE pupils

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Editorial team

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15 September 2022

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King Arthur’s School is thrilled to share the outstanding achievements of some of its students in their GCSE examinations and vocational qualifications.
Moving on to study A Levels at Yeovil College, Eleanor Bowman was excited to receive 10 GCSEs, achieving one Grade 9, a Distinction, three Grade 8s and five Grade 7s. Additionally, She managed to find time to complete and achieve a Level 3 Free Standing Additional Maths qualification. Eleanor is looking forward to enhancing her Level 3 learning by taking maths, chemistry and English at college. Ben Morris succeeded in achieving a Distinction, one Grade 8, four Grade 7s, two Grade 6s, two Merit 2s and a grade B (Level 3) in his Free Standing Additional Maths.
Ben leaves King Arthur’s to study A levels in maths, physics and English Language at The Gryphon School Sixth Form.
Also choosing a mixture of sciences, maths and English at A level, Katie Bolan is taking up her A level study at Yeovil College. She was thrilled to achieve two Grade 8s, four Grade 7s and four Grade 6s.

Next steps
With such wide-ranging opportunities of further study available to young people, the King Arthurs’ team are proud that 16 per cent of their students will take up apprenticeships locally. Harry Cropper moves on to an apprenticeship at Thales Engineering, a prestigious apprenticeship programme.Harvey Lane secured his land-based apprenticeship through Wiltshire College and University at the start of his KS4 studies. Two students are moving to the newer T Level vocational courses, with the remaining 80 per cent of Year 11 moving to studies at college or sixth form.
Students have been confident in choosing courses out of county, as well as at local institutions.
They reported how pleased and proud they were, with many wanting to pass on their gratitude to teachers and staff at the school. It was a wonderful opportunity for the school to celebrate success.
‘We are extremely proud of all the hard work and awesome achievements of our students.’ said Headteacher Jen Jacklin. ‘After what has been a disrupted and difficult time, our students have risen to the challenge and demonstrated resilience and commitment to their success. As a school, we congratulate each and every student for their individual success and send our very best wishes for their future studies.
‘The improvement since the last set of formal exams in 2019 is both significant and exciting, and demonstrates what a rapidly improving school King Arthur’s is. Our teachers have worked tirelessly to support students to ensure they could achieve and take their next steps. As always, we will be thrilled to hear what our students achieve in the future and look forward to them joining our school alumni so we can stay in touch.’