Beautiful coastal circular with stunning views! 7 miles | Dorset Walks

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24 January 2022

The Dorset coastal path is always super-busy in the summer, but there’s nowhere more glorious on a sharp and sunny winter’s day.

Extra note this month – while walking the coastal path section in November, I foolishly didn’t stop moving as I checked the route on my phone. I immediately clattered into a very low and frankly insignificant bush, and a ridiculous amount of pain bloomed in my shin, despite there being no visible damage.

Three days later I was in A&E with a serious infection spreading up my leg thanks to a single deep puncture wound in my shin from that blackthorn bush.
Apparently it’s a common issue – so beware the blackthorn!

The routes we feature have always been created and walked recently by ourselves, so you know you can trust them – we aim for unpopulated routes with as little road and as many views as possible!

You can always see the route and follow it yourself via the free Outdoor Active app – see all our routes here. (you’ll need to create a free account to see them).

To follow this route using the Outdooractive App, please find the route here.

Starting from the small car park in Worth Matravers (honesty box) you walk past the smallest pub I know, the Square & Compass (which has been in the same family for 100 years), and then follow the path through a gorgeous gully straight down to the clifftop (the relatively steep downhill is mildly treacherous in wet).

In the central section, if you’ve never visited, it’s worth leaving the route to clamber down to Dancing Ledge for an explore.

The eagle-eyed, and those following our tracks on the app, will notice that we managed to miss the path which leads away from the cliff edge to the one running parallel but slightly inland. We wound our way up to it following small paths presumably made by countless others who did the same!

Wear good footwear in the winter – the coastal path is narrow and busy, and therefore gets incredibly muddy. Also do please keep dogs on leads, the cliff edge is suprisingly close in sections. The route back along the Priest’s Way runs parallel to the coastal path. It’s an ancient track taken by a local priest as he travelled back and forth between the churches at Swanage and Worth Matravers.

The first glimpse of the sea appears just a few minutes after leaving the car at Worth Matravers

Looking back across Dancing Ledge (seen in the foreground), from the half way breathing point of the toughest uphill section of the route – the views are all the reward you need to keep plodding upwards

On a sunny winter’s day, a hike on Dorset’s coastal path takes some beating.

The track inland from the coast to pick up The Priest’s Way doesn’t take much map reading to follow…

Even away from the breathtaking coastline the views are constant and beautiful.

Kitchen Assistant | Clayesmore School

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Editorial team

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24 January 2022

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Kitchen Assistant – 34.5 hours per week, all year round.

Clayesmore has an exciting opportunity for a Kitchen Assistant to join our team of talented and experienced staff in the heart of Dorset. Clayesmore prides itself in providing a comprehensive, in- house fresh food service to all its pupils and staff.

The successful candidate will be well presented and a hard-working team player with a good sense of humour. Experience within the catering trade would be an advantage but not essential as full training will be given.

The catering provision provides a 7 days per week service to the school. The hours worked will be 5 days per week over a 7 day shift pattern.

For further information and an application form, please go to:

https://clayesmore.com/work-for-us/

And click on Support Staff Vacancies

Closing date is: EXTENDED until 8am on Wednesday, 9 March 2022. 2022.

Parties make for happy puppies

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Editorial team

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24 January 2022

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Puppy Parties are a perfect way to introduce your puppy to the vets in a fun and playful way. Mandy Walters, Small Animal Practice Manager & Head Nurse at Damory Vets explains why they’re important.

*Puppy parties will resume at Damory Vets over the coming months*

In the next couple of months, we will start Puppy Parties at Damory Vets. Puppy Parties are a perfect way to introduce your puppy to the vets in a fun and playful way.

After your puppy has had their first vaccination and before they have their second, they can join up to two parties. The parties include playtime to help with socialisation, discussion with the Veterinary Nurse about flea and worm treatment, training, food and feeding, and anything else that we can help you with.

Puppies have a lot to learn about the world in a short amount of time, and it is our job as owners to guide them as best as we can so that at the end of the day, we have a happy and confident puppy.
It is important to think about what a puppy will experience in their day-to-day life with you, whether it is gunshots, traffic, school playground and so on. It is important that early exposure is started as soon as possible in a safe and controlled way.

*Puppy parties are a safe way for your puppy to learn to socialise – and not fear a trip to the vet!*

Puppies are not able to socialise freely until they are fully vaccinated, so these parties help them to socialise in a safe environment. It is important to socialise your pup from the moment you take them home, however, after 16 weeks of age new things and situations may take them longer to get used to and are more likely to be initially scared of them. We try to make the parties fun and interactive for both puppies and owners, encouraging training, grooming, general handling as well as playing with the other puppies. The nurses are happy to discuss further socialisation with you as well. We want the puppies to have a fun and enjoyable experience at the vets and to make happy early memories.

Damory Veterinary Clinic

Patient Services Team Member | The Blackmorevale Partnership

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Editorial team

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24 January 2022

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Patient Services Team Member – Part time Up to to be discussed

Closing Date 04.02.2022

We are looking for a new patient service team member to join our dedicated team to work across our busy GP practice.

£20,355.25 – £21,548.01 Pro rata

Job Summary:

To offer general assistance to the practice team and project a positive and friendly image to patients and other visitors, either in person or via the telephone.
Receive, assist, and direct patients in accessing the appropriate service or healthcare professional in a courteous, efficient, and effective way.
Undertake a variety of administrative duties to assist in the smooth running of the practice including the provision of clerical support to clinical staff and other members of the practice team.
Facilitate effective communication between patients, members of the primary health care team, secondary care, and other associated Healthcare agencies.

Job Duties & Responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities to be undertaken by members of the practice reception and administration team may include any or all of the items in the following list. Duties may be varied from time to time under the direction of the Senior Receptionist/Administration Manager, dependent on current and evolving practice workload and staffing levels.
Maintain and monitor the practice appointments system.
Process personal and telephone requests for appointments, visits and telephone consultations and ensure callers are directed to the appropriate healthcare professional.
Direct visitors to the correct place, ensuring they sign the visitor’s book on arrival and departure.
Process repeat and acute prescription requests from patients, Pharmacies and on line in accordance with practice guidelines.
Take details of home visits, record, action and pass on to the appropriate member of staff as per the Practice guidelines.
Deal with urgent phone calls as per Practice guidelines.
Take messages and relay information to the appropriate member of staff.
Register new patients and temporary patients, making sure all the relevant paperwork is completed and new patient appointments are made.
Record new patient’s notes on arrival and tag them as per Practice protocol.
Register patients for on-line services.
Computer data entry/data allocation and collation, plus processing and recording of information in accordance with Practice procedures.
Update patient’s personal details.
Initiate contact with and respond to requests from patients, other team members and associated healthcare agencies and providers.
Take in parcels, log in book, inform and deliver to the relevant person.
Take in urine and other samples and deliver to the appropriate place.
Provide clerical assistance to Practice staff, including photocopying and scanning.
Deal appropriately with any forms handed in by patients.
Keep the reception and administration area tidy and free from obstructions and clutter.
Record blood pressure readings on the patient’s notes, dealing with any high readings as per Practice protocol.
Hand out any correspondence to the patients. Collect any money (cheque or cash) from patients for services provided, issuing receipts, and recording on the computer.
Provide an efficient scanning service.

Confidentiality

While seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately.

In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carer’s, practice staff and other healthcare workers.

They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.

Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.

Health & Safety

The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others’ health, safety and security as defined in the practice health & safety policy to include:

Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines.
Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks.
Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills.
Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards.
Actively reporting health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised.
Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum annually)
Reporting potential risks identified.

Equality & Diversity

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers, and colleagues, to include:

Acting in a way that recognizes the importance of people’s rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation.
Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers, and colleagues.
Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

Communication

The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

Communicate effectively with other team members.
Communicate effectively with patients and carers.
Recognize people’s needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.

Personal/professional development

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, such training to include:

Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development.
Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.

Quality

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:

Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk.
Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision.
Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the team’s performance.
Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients’ needs
Effectively manage own time, workload, and resources.

Contribution to the implementation of services

The post-holder will:

Apply practice policies, standards, and guidance
Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work.
Participate in audit where appropriate

For further information about the role and to apply, please click on the link below to our vacancy page:

Vacancies Careers Jobs (blackmorevalesurgery.co.uk)

The nimble woodland resident with the acrobatic swift exit.

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Editorial team

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24 January 2022

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As Dorset’s most widespread deer species, you might be lucky enough to spot a roe deer or two tentatively emerging from woodlands or bounding across frosted fields this winter. But how much do you know about the lives of these mysterious wild mammals?

Roe deer live a mostly solitary life during the summer, but in winter they may come together and form small, loose groups. They are most active at dawn and dusk, and live in areas

of mixed countryside where they can be close to woodland, farmland, grassland and heathland. They eat buds and leaves from trees and shrubs, as well as ferns, grasses, brambles and heathers.

Is it a roe deer?

Be prepared to look out for the roe deer’s identifying features; if you do glimpse one, it may be on the move and disappear swiftly. They are a slender, medium- sized deer with short antlers (males) and no tail. Roe deer are mostly brown in colour, turning reddish in the summer and

darker slate grey in the winter, and you’re most likely to spot the flash of their pale buff rump as they dash away from you with dramatic leaps and bounds! Their eyes are large and black, and they have black noses and mouths, with large ears atop their heads and a white chin.
The animated Disney character Bambi is thought to have been based on a roe deer – roe deer fawns, just like the film’s title character, are born with white spots on their back and sides, which disappear with age.
A male’s antlers are quite small, typically have three points each and undergo a cycle of growth and re-growth that takes a full year. They begin to grow their antlers in November, shedding the velvet from them in the spring. By summer, they are

ready for the rutting season. After mating, they shed their antlers in October and begin
to grow a new set. Adult roe deer have no natural predators. However, their young can be taken by foxes.

Spotting tracks

If you don’t happen to spot a deer itself, you might spy some tracks left behind. Their hoof- prints will be around 4cm long – remarkably small for such a substantial animal (an adult roe deer can be up to 1.3 metres in length and 75cm in height) – and they tend to follow the same paths regularly.

To find out more about deer and more wildlife you might spot around Dorset at this time of year, visit dorsetwildlifetrust.org. uk.

The joy of growing from seed

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Editorial team

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24 January 2022

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Charlotte Tombs, an experienced Dorset flower farmer at Northcombe Flowers in Sturminster Marshall, shares her growing year and seasonal thoughts with us.

I use January as a month to plan and dream about my new year’s flowers and vegetables, says Charlotte Tombs, who explains why a garden diary is a great idea.

New beginnings, new start, new catalogues, new varieties, new compost, new trays, new gloves, new seed markers, new tools (it’s always their fault)… all the things I love about growing from seed. We get another chance to try again each year, we can wipe clean all those gardening mishaps and go in with a clean slate, a new approach, a determination to do things better or differently – like Groundhog Day but with us in control – almost!

My slow start in January

I don’t start seed sowing in earnest until February, when the natural light levels improve, but I will sow a few sweetpea seeds somewhere warm then put them in the greenhouse as soon as they germinate. Or I’ll soak
a few anemone or ranunculus corms and claws and get them to sprout, plant them and put them in my little zip-up greenhouse next to the back door so I can monitor the new life emerging.

Don’t throw old seeds!

I use January as a month to plan and dream – but mainly to procrastinate.
Did you know that seed, if stored correctly, only loses 10% of it’s viability per year? Do the maths: nine year old seed will have a 10% germination rate. So never give up on an interesting old packet of seeds found in your grandparents’ drawer – you may just get a successful outcome, even if only partial. If you sow 50 seeds, then you could get five healthy and attractive plants.
It’s also worth remembering that if you can save seed from your own plants, that seed may grow better for
you – it could have adapted to your soil type and growing conditions. That’s often why those self- seeded seedlings in your gravel path are so much healthier than the ones you mollycoddled last year.

So check what seeds you have left, pore over those seed catalogues, make a list of everything you want to grow, (and check with a fellow seed geek – you may be able to share or swap seed varieties, or your acquaintance may have grown it before and advise that it was a waste of space or time).

Then if you are anything like me, you’ll need to cut your list down considerably as you never have as much space for what you want.

Clever use of January

Use this ‘down-time’ time to finally tidy and organise your seed trays and pots: take an old brush to clean out all the old soil if they are lying around outside and have been buried under a pile of leaves like mine.

At the back end of Autumn we were all meant to clear up, wash the trays/pots in warm soapy water and put them away for the winter as there may be slugs and snails (or their eggs) hiding; the last thing you want is a slug chomping through your newly emerging germinating seeds. I love the theory, but the practise takes discipline, which frankly I don’t possess.
I don’t however buy new plastic pots – all gardeners have hundreds and they can be re-used time and again.

Make 2022 the year you begin keeping a garden diary
If you haven’t done so, think about keeping a gardening diary or making notes. It will be a very useful aid.

And if you have gardening geek tendencies like I do, you’ll find it fascinating that last New Year’s Eve the temperature was -3o C, and this new year +14o C and we had snow at the end of January 2021. Yes I know, crazy!

I simply keep a note of when I sowed a seed and when it flowered. Some gardeners go further; they will record dates of germination, potting on, planting out, flowering and then when they were ripped up and another flower grown in its place. The RHS have a great five year diary and you can start it at any time in the year.

Charlotte Tombs, an experienced Dorset flower farmer at Northcombe Flowers in Sturminster Marshall

Why are cheeky robins our favourite visitors?

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Editorial team

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24 January 2022

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On a chilly day, the arrival of an impudent wild friend interrupting an outdoors chat gives wildlife columnist Jane Adams pause for thought.

*Robins are adapted to life in poor light and are often active in half-light*
when few other birds are about. They tend to be among the earliest birds to start the dawn chorus and one of the last to stop in the evening. Street lights and floodlights can trigger singing in the middle of the night, and if roosting robins are disturbed, they can burst into song even in complete darkness. image: Jane Adams

The yearly gas boiler check is complete. Adam, the boiler engineer, is waiting in the driveway. Two metres away I’m leaning on the backdoor, and we’re both wearing facemasks – how quickly we’ve got used to these open-air, socially distanced chats.
Though it’s chilly today, the arrival of a wild friend, a robin, lessens our discomfort.

A shamelessly nosy visitor

As I quiz Adam on the cost of heat pumps, the robin hops between his feet. After perching on his boots and pecking at his laces, it darts off to balance on the rim of a terracotta pot but soon returns, flapping, dipping, and bobbing.

Finally, it pauses on the garden table, where it tilts its head and stares at us.

You, madam, are a boar.

Robins see us as modern day wild boar. Boar disturbed insects as they foraged through ancient woodlands. We fork over compacted earth, throw dead stalks onto the compost heap, and rake fallen leaves – all supplying a similar smorgasbord of insects for our avian neighbours.

But this bird isn’t feeding. In fact, there’s not an insect in sight and the ground lays undisturbed and stiff with ice. Surely it can’t be trying to chase the boilerman out of the garden. Can it?

*The robin is one of the few birds in the UK that sing all year round. This is due to the importance of holding winter territories.*

The gardener’s friend is a thug

Our culture is full of robin symbolism. We think of them as lucky; they are the gardener’s friend and make us smile. Yet within their own world, their life is violent and territorial. If your garden has plentiful food and perfect nesting sites, your resident red-breast will chase trespassing robins out of its patch. Fights lead to injury, sometimes death, so any new robin needs to watch its back. Today’s visitor is pecking at Adam’s boot again, but not aggressively.

It reminds me of a saying linking robins to deceased friends and family; “Robins appear when loved ones are near”.

Has Syd, my husband’s godfather and former owner of this house, returned in the body of this bird?
Is he scrutinising our choice in boiler engineer?
The next time you’re approached by a robin, it’s worth considering why it’s there.

Jane Adams – Naturalist. bTB Badger Vaccinator. Nature writer. Photographer. Bee Watcher.

The future of our food is… bugs (yes, really!) | Farm Tales

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Editorial team

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24 January 2022

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Shocking as it may sound, insects will prove the path to sustainable food stocks, argues Dorset farmer and writer Andrew Livingston.

*The concept of fried insects on a plate is a far off concept for a human diet, but they are already moving into our animal feed* / shutterstock

This new year means British agriculture takes one step closer towards the Nation Farmers’ Union (NFU) aim of all farms being carbon neutral by 2040. It’s clear that in its goal of achieving ‘net zero,’ farming practices that have been used for centuries need to be replaced with more sustainable methods of producing the nation’s food.

Over the next three months, I will explore how agriculture will start to look.

Farming for yields

There is a reason why some farming traditions haven’t been changed for centuries; it’s because they achieve the highest possible yield, from either crop or animal. Admittedly, some traditions already look archaic and have been replaced with new scientific methods; for example, ploughing has now become an obsolete practice.

Arrow straight and paralleled ploughed fields looked great, but were not only destructive to the habitat below the surface, but soil being broken and turned released huge amounts of carbon into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Today, technological advancements are used such as seed drills and minimum tillage cultivators.

A new delicacy

Changing the way we farm is fine, but we still need to produce the same amount of food. The world’s population is expected to reach over 9.7 billion by 2050, so how can you feed everyone while protecting your environment? One answer, entomophagy, has been consumed all across the globe, and particularly in densely populated countries. Entomophagy is basically why I don’t ride bikes without a face mask – it’s the process of eating bugs!
For thousands of years in Asian, African and South American countries, the consumption of insects is considered a delicacy. I have never dabbled, but the critters are renowned for being full of protein while being more efficient than conventional livestock, as they can better utilise energy from plants and add weight more easily.

Steak v beetle stew

Right now it may seem ludicrous to replace your fillet steak with a cricket curry, but farming insects has many positives. For starters, insect farms don’t look like your everyday farm; there is an insect farm in the centre of London. Bugs and insects don’t need fields or natural sunlight: they are grown in tanks that can be stacked on top of each other to most greatly utilise space. If you can’t envisage yourself chowing down on bugs, then fear not. The insect’s role in farming in the future is expected to be as additives for feed for livestock. Local protein from insects has many benefits – currently, a fifth of the soya imported from Brazil is a result of deforestation.

It is also cheaper than soya, while allowing us to be more self-sufficient and rely less on imports and fluctuating global prices.

Morrisons has already begun utilising insects into the feed to hens, aiming towards carbon neutral egg production. However, it will be a few more years till bugs and flies are the norm for birds across the UK. We can all thank the humble chicken for consuming the bugs and flies that we really aren’t quite ready to eat ourselves.

by Andrew Livingston

Sponsored by Trethowans – Law as it should be

The cruellest month!

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Editorial team

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23 January 2022

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January is traditionally bleak but we’ve got a lot to celebrate and farmers are working hard for the good of us all, explains Louise Stratton.

*A wintry sunset near Sutton Waldron image: Laura Hitchcock*

The month of January does not often spark enthusiasm!
After the festivities and family time of December comes another month of winter. January is known as the chilliest month of the year.

For our farmers, work continues aplenty: cattle are often housed against the elements, getting
fed, watered, and bedded down; calving commences on many farms and even the early lambing systems start, bringing the delight of a new year and new life to farms.

Arable farms are busy loading grain lorries, seeing their produce off to millers, maltsters and feed mills across the country. January is also a time for conservation work, with hedging work and tree planting happening.
So, this month also symbolises new beginnings: the beginning of the new year, new life and it is also the time to make new year’s resolutions, however far-fetched. We’ll come back to those resolutions!

The conservation work on farm has always been embraced by farmers alongside the productivity element of a farm. Farmers naturally enhance the countryside by maintaining habitats to support our native plants and animals. This winter the South West NFU have teamed up with the Woodland Trust and Lloyds Bank to make a positive contribution to tackle the impact of ash dieback in our region; to work towards the NFU’s Net Zero by 2040 climate change ambition (see Andrew Livingston’s column next page) that we have discussed previously; and to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Tackling ash dieback

Ash dieback is a tree disease caused by a fungus that originated in Asia and arrived in the UK via Europe It affects the common ash, young and old, across the whole of the UK. It is devastating as it has the potential to kill 80 – 90% of our ash in the UK, which could affect the landscape and threaten species that rely on ash.
(See the CPRE’s column in Sep 21 issue: ‘Ash Tree Crisis: A Disaster in the making‘)

The collaborative tree planting initiative helps counteract the loss and farmers planting a variety of native trees will help diversify our tree population, increasing its resilience to pest and diseases in the future.

Planting trees in the right places will help lock up even more carbon on farms and it allows our members to join us in celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee by being part of the Queen’s Green Canopy, which is an initiative inviting people in the UK to ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’.

With more than 15,000 trees having been snapped up by Dorset farmers, look out this new year for hedges being in-filled with hawthorn and dogwood, little copses being created of English Oak, wild cherry and silver birch, and wet areas switching to willow, alder and aspen wet woodlands.

This is not about creating vast new woodlands; we don’t want to take swathes of farmland out of production. Instead we aim to encourage small plantings on unproductive farmland and in- filling and bolstering our iconic hedgerows.

*Dorset’s winter farmland image: Laura Hitchcock*

Your resolutions!

Back to those resolutions: have you made yours?
I like to keep resolutions positive and with so much to be proud of in British farming, what better time is there than a brand new year to celebrate great British food?
We know that eating a healthy, balanced diet is an important part of maintaining good health and wellbeing; food is not produced in the same way across the globe but we know that the food produced by UK farmers is high-quality and meets or surpasses world-class standards. As part of a healthy, varied diet, red meat such as beef, pork and lamb, provides a rich source of protein and a range of vitamins and minerals including iron, zinc and vitamin B12. A 200ml glass of semi-skimmed milk provides 35% of calcium, 44% of iodine and over 100% of vitamin B12 of an adults recommended daily intake.
Therefore if you have not found a resolution yet, why not try eating with our seasons? Choosing British fruit and veg means that you know your food has travelled fewer miles to reach your plate. We have seen incredible levels of public support for domestic food in 2021 and we remain extremely grateful to everyone who has backed British farming and British food. We look forward to working with you and producing ingredients for you to enjoy in 2022. We hope British produce will be your number one supplier of choice this coming year, however long the other resolutions last!

Louise Stratton NFU Dorset County Adviser

Sponsored by Trethowans – Law as it should be

Patient Services Team Member – Part time Up to to be discussed

***Closing Date 04.02.2022***

Closing Date 04.02.2022