About
The Quarr is Sherborne’s own designated Local Nature Reserve.
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Find it going north on the B3145 Bristol Road, map ref ST636175.
The area is an old landfill site and before that was a quarry from which the town’s buillding stone was extracted. The low exposed Jurassic limestone cliffs, with many small fossils visible, are a reminder of its ancient past.
Today the woodland area, well stocked with bird boxes made by the Gryphon School, attracts a wealth of bird life. The unmistakeable song of the skylark, which rises above the nearby fields, is heard all over the Quarr.
Below the woodland is an area of mown grass with seats, popular with dog walkers. This runs into a meadow where the grasses and flowers are left to grow throughout the spring and summer, to attract butterflies, insects and small mammals. Paths are mown through the grasses to create pleasant walks and to reach the copse where young native trees have been planted to create another woodland in the future.
There is a hard surface path in the lower part of the reserve making the 2 hectare site accessible to all whatever the weather and conditions underfoot.
The hills of Dorset’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty form a back-drop to the south-west. Two illustrated information boards, one at the main gate and the other by the exposed cliff, help to interpret the site, highlighting the wildlife to look out for through the changing seasons. They also provide the background to the Quarr’s geological history and its links to the town and to the wider Dorset landscape.
The Quarr is owned by Sherborne Town Council who with the support of the Friends of the Quarr is committed to extending the range of habitats. In this way we hope to enhance biodiversity while also continuing to provide a community green space.
4 Responses to “About”
Please leave a posting here regarding any recent wildlife sightings or any comments you would like to make
Interesting post
Love the design of the site too, well done!
A great amenity to the town, slightly spoilt however by loose dogs. Visiting the town we were snarled at by one of these creatures not on a leash. I would regard this as a requirement in a family area with children about.
On the question of “loose dogs”; as a local resident (and both a parent and a dog owner), I greatly appreciate the benefit of having the Quarr to enjoy it as both a Local Nature Reserve and a place to exercise my doq. I am a responsible dog owner who walks in the reserve twice daily and, whilst my dog is walked off the lead, she is always fully under my control. I believe that the vast majority of doq owners who use the reserve are also responsible and I have never witnessed an incident where a dog has troubled a child. Children are allowed to run free throughout the town, including in the spacious and well appointed play park immediately adjacent to the Quarr (one of many in the area). The Quarr is the ONLY open place that I am aware of within the limits of the town where dogs are allowed off the lead; it is an important reason why I bought my house close to the Quarr and I would be deeply distressed to lose it as a place that could be enjoyed by both me nd my dog. When my two year old granddaughter visits (and she is nervous of dogs) I take her to the several areas in the town reserved exclusively for childrens play and I would be quite vocal with the owner of any dog found loose in such an area. In what used to be known as a nation of animal lovers I am feeling increasingly marginalised. Please don’t consider excluding me from the last place in town that we can enjoy together with our dogs!
There are no plans to ask for dogs to be kept on a leash in the Quarr Reserve. It is recognised as a community open space for local people, where dogs are welcome, provided of course that owners take their responsibilities seriously in relation to picking up after their dogs and exercising a reasonable control of their pets. With so many dogs being exercised there daily, it is perhaps inevitable that conflicts between people and dogs will occur sometimes. Please bear in mind also that the Quarr was designated as a Nature Reserve by English Nature in 2004 so that all users should help seek a balance between their own use and the welfare of the surrounding wildlife – birds, mammals, insects, plants and trees which all need our help to prosper.