Biodiversity Character Areas have been developed by DERC to sit alongside Landscape Character Areas. They describe the landscape type and land use, main semi-natural habitats present and highlight species, species assemblages and features of particular interest.
The BCA boundaries can be viewed on Dorset Explorer but to find out more about each BCA click on the links below:
| Axe Valley & Vales | Chrishchurch Harbour & Hengistbury Head | Purbeck Heaths |
| Blackmore Vales North | Eastern Heaths & Avon Valley | Purbeck Ridge |
| Blackmore Vales West | Isle of Portland | Sherborne Hills & Vales |
| Border & Coastal Hills | Marshwood Vale & Hills | South Purbeck |
| Bride Valley | Northeast Chalk | Southern & Weymouth Vales |
| Brit Valley | Northern Heaths | Southern Chalk |
| Central Chalk | Northwest Vales & Hills | Urban Heaths & the Conurbation |
| Central Heaths | Poole Harbour | Western Chalk |
| Chesil & Fleet Coast | Powerstock Hills & Woods | Western Heaths |
Currently 17 of 27 BCA reports have been completed.
Creating the Biodiversity Character Areas
Over recent years the Dorset landscape assessment by Dorset National Landscape (formerly Dorset AONB) has divided Dorset into areas with a broadly similar landscape type and land use type, these are called Landscape Character Areas (LCAs). Their purpose is:
“to provide practical, readily accessible information and guidance which can contribute to the conservation and enhancement of the special characteristics of the county as a whole, and the distinctiveness of its individual character types. It helps us to understand how the landscape has evolved and helps to make informed decisions about how we should manage change in the future.”
The LCAs are based on a range of natural features including geology, landform and natural features as well as the pattern of settlement, size of landholdings and the field boundaries. These areas have been assessed on their strength of character and graded on their current condition.
At the broad county scale, the LCA boundaries coincide with identifiable natural boundaries such as the chalk outcrop, clay & limestone vales, the Poole Basin heaths and the limestone plateaus. These areas fit with the country-wide network of Natural Character Areas (NCA) identified by Natural England (previously called Natural Areas). Nine of these NCAs cover Dorset, six of which cross the country boundary and include parts of neighbouring counties. Long before work on NCA and LCA, Prof. Ronald Good carried out a pioneering botanical survey of Dorset and split the old (pre-1974) county into 19 ‘botanical areas’ (Good, 1945), which were based largely on natural landscape features including geology, topography and drainage. Overall, these match up quite well the Dorset LCAs.
The Biodiversity Character Areas (BCA) are a combination of the LCAs and Good’s botanical areas and have been developed to sit alongside the LCAs. They can be used in conjunction with them although the boundaries will not always be exactly the same. They describe the landscape type and land use within the areas, plus main semi-natural habitats present and highlight species, species-assemblages and features of particular interest. Any broad issues currently affecting the biodiversity of the area are highlighted.
Twenty seven BCAs have been identified covering the modern county of Dorset plus Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch. The work collating data for the Dorset BCAs will feed into the National Landscape management plans, Local Nature Recovery Strategy and provide robust information for developing local biodiversity projects. They are designed to be working documents and will be updated as and when new information on species and habitats becomes available.
Work on preparing Biodiversity Character Areas has been funded by Dorset National Landscape (formerly Dorset AONB) and the National Trust.
Dorset Environmental Records Centre 