Silverlake Conservation and Community Fund Project update report November 2022

The Silverlake Conservation and Community Fund was established through a section 106 agreement associated with the Silverlake housing development with planning permission to build up to 1,000 holiday homes over the next 30 years. Silverlake residents provide £50 a year for projects to enhance the landscape.

The developer tops up the fund to make up a contribution of at least £10,000 a year. The sum will be used to fund nature conservation and community projects to help reduce the effects of the development on nearby protected heathlands.

The fund was launched in 2018. This report summarises the progress made from the launch until April 2022.

The Silverlake Conservation and Community Fund (referred to as “The Panel”) first met in April 2018 to agree:

• the eligibility criteria for grant applications
• application form and associated documents
• basis for scoring applications
• recommending offers of grant

Panel meetings have taken place in:

• April and November 2018, 2019 and 2021
• April 2020 (reduced number due to Covid-19 restrictions)
• April and November 2021

During the first year of operation (2018) of the Silverlake Conservation and Community Fund, a range of projects were submitted. A total of 4 applications were received.

To date, November 2022, there have been 9 projects formally offered grant funds. Currently, there are 2 projects in progress and 7 projects have now ended. 

The remaining fund is £19,682.14.

Dorset Bat Box

The amount of £2,200 was offered for a project to compare the uptake of different types of commercially available bat boxes against models from the majority supplier, when erected on trees side by side.

This should increase knowledge of bat populations in the local area through bat box monitoring and will allow more targeted mitigation interventions in the future.

This project is a 5 year study with an expected completion date of 2026/27. The boxes are now erected. The first check will be 21 May, then 7 July, 8 Sept 2022. After that, the frequency of visits will be revised.

Duddle Heath Phase 2

The amount of £2,615 was offered for a project to create up to 30 sandy scrapes for ground dwelling reptiles and invertebrates. Due to timing of confirming the success of the application, the work will now be happening in spring 2023.

The following projects have been completed:

• Broadmayne First School Outdoor Learning Improvement Plan
• Dingy Mocha Moth Survey & Enhancement Project
• Frome Valley First School-School pond
• Tadnoll and Winfrith Heathland Heritage trainee
• Dorset's changing heathland fauna: bees and wasps
• Duddle Heath phase1
• Puddletown first bird hide

The following sections have more details about each project.

The amount of £976.38 was offered to improve the learning opportunities, access to pond life and wild creatures in the school grounds.

The School Council planted wildflower ‘bee-bombs’ with seeds paid for from the Silverlake Grant.

Pond area with wood-chip pathway. The area was cleared to allow more light to enter the area for healthy re-growth.

Our recycled tyre planters which have added much colour to our outdoor area.

A squirrel visiting our recycled bottle greenhouse.

The amount of £875 was offered to Butterfly Conservation as part funding for a project to determine the presence and extent of the rare red data book moth, The Dingy Mocha. View the Butterfly Conservation Report for further details.

The amount of £2,840 was offered to build a pond (filled with the help of local fire station officers) and viewing area in the school grounds.

Text in image: We went to the pond to release the frogspawn and the tadpoles. We visit the pond quite a lot. We brought a bucket with the frogspawn and tadpoles in. We enjoy going to the pond.

Text in image: When I went to the pond I saw brambles, water boatmen, pondskaters. I really like the centipedes. 

The amount of £4,800 was offered as match funding for a traineeship hosted by Dorset Wildlife Trust. The trainee, Seb, produced an interim summary and final summary of his training.

The amount of £4,200 was offered for a project to look at the changes in the distribution of aculeate Hymenoptera over 100 year using a combination of archive records and field work. Read the final report and interim report.

The amount of £4,173.60 was offered for project to undertake 0.6 hectare of Rhododendron clearance that is within a heathland restoration site. This will benefit the restoration project benefiting the rejuvenation of ground flora and prevent the invasive plant encroaching onto the newly cleared open heath area. The management is now completed and spraying is planned for next year.

The amount of £2,265 was offered for project to install a bird hide on the school grounds.

The work completed by the Project Officer between 1 May 2022 to 31 October 2022 was approximately 13 days.

Administration tasks

3 days: documentation filing, application processing, finance via Andrew Galpin, panel admin. 

Projects

2 days: keeping in touch and project development.

Communications and publicity

2 days: webpage updated, article written, social media tags.

Targeting

2 days: calls, follow up emails and verbal awareness raising with:

• Wild Purbeck Partnership distribution list
• all parish chairs
• major Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO)
• Farming Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG)
• Amphibian Reptile Conservation (ARC)
• Butterfly Conservation (BC)
• Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT)
• Local Nature Partnership (LNP)
• Uran Heaths Project (UHP)
• Dorset Flora group (DFG)
• schools
• Bournemouth University (BU)

Annual leave and Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

4 days