Wool has an extraordinary wealth of wildlife, this was outlined in “The Natural Environment” by Rachel Palmer and Tony Warne, a chapter of “More Memories of Wool” (2008) by Alan Brown, but our knowledge is continuously increasing so this web site is a means of presenting up to date information.

You can respond to this website and add your own observations by emailing them to:

info@woolwildlife.org.uk

Some of the important wildlife habitats of Wool are inaccessible because they are within the MoD Bovington Training Area. Through the MoD’s Bovington and Lulworth Conservation Liaison Group there is extensive knowledge of these areas that you can only see through this web site. An account of some aspects of the wildlife on the Bovington Ranges was published in “ Bovington’s Biodiversity” in the MoD Conservation Magazine – Sanctuary in 2002.

From time to time there are Wildlife events in Wool ranging from walks to introduce the wildlife of Wool to work parties to manage areas such as Eight Acre Coppice Local Nature Reserve.

As you drive along the A352 through Wool you may be quite unaware of the richness of Wool Parish for wildlife. If you are stopped at the level crossing, especially if travelling west you may begin to see and hear a little of what there is. If your car window is open in July to September you may hear the Great Green Bush Cricket calling from bramble scrub on the road side, in spring near Woolbridge you may hear the sudden burst of song of Cetti’s Warbler. In winter, and at other times too!, you may see the flooded watermeadows along the Frome and some of the birds this attracts. In summer on the other side of the crossing the railway fence has a line of bright wild flowers.

The Great Green Bush Cricket is among Britain’s largest insects. It is part herbivorous and part carnivorous catching its prey with it’s spiny front legs. It “sings” by rubbing its wings together unlike grasshoppers that rub their legs on their wings. Only the males sing.

The railway fence with poppies, mallow, mayweed and bramble provides food and shelter for some insects. Sadly the new crash barrier covers much of what you could once see!

The floodwater that covers the Frome watermeadows has food, such as insects, worms and snails, washed downstream that attracts large numbers of birds.

This website is still in development and in particular contains some new pages while others use the text from the original book. Many of the illustrations are new. In time many revisions will take place as we learn more about the wildlife of Wool.