Eighty years ago, Captain Cyril Diver unearthed the extraordinary ecological diversity of the Studland peninsula; the intricate mosaic of heath, dunes, wetlands and woodlands that give it international conservation importance. Between 2013 and 2015 the National Trust led an ambitious project to resurvey the site, and see exactly how it had changed in the interim.
The aim was to join together the efforts of local volunteers and professional ecologists in order to build up a detailed picture of exactly how healthy the various habitats are; paying particular attention to the more than 250 rare and threatened species that have been recorded here in the past. As well as being of academic interest, the findings are invaluable to the National Trust as site managers. The better we understand the impacts of visitor pressure and of different management policies on Studland’s biodiversity and the effects of succession and other natural change, the more likely we are to manage it right in the future.
As well as all the fieldwork, volunteers have worked through over 80 boxes full of Diver’s original field notes, diaries, maps and photographs, as well as the herbarium and an insect collection that he left.
Who was Cyril Diver?
Captain Diver was a clerk to the House of Commons, a world authority on molluscs, the first Director of the Nature Conservancy, and the president of the British Ecological Society, but Studland was always his passion. Throughout the 1930s, he and a team of colleagues painstakingly surveyed all the major plant and animal groups. By comparing the distribution maps of over a thousand plant and animal species, he began to understand their relationships and interdependences. His work brought the scientific world’s attention to just how ecologically important Studland is, something for which those of us who enjoy it today are eternally grateful!
Get Involved
The Cyril Diver project provided a fantastic opportunity for volunteers to get involved. The National Trust wanted to help foster a new generation of local ecologists and wildlife recorders; champions for Studland who can carry on the noble traditions started by Diver. Although the Diver Project has ended the volunteer groups are continuing to meet regularly, extending their survey across other Purbeck sites.
If you would like to volunteer contact:
David Brown (01929) 452308, david.brown4@nationaltrust.org.uk or visit our Facebook page.
Funding
The project was part of the Wild Purbeck Nature Improvement Area programme, and was also supported by grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and National Trust Neptune Coast fund.
Dorset Environmental Records Centre 