“The very essence of romance is uncertainty.”
So penned Oscar Wilde in his wonderfully farcical comedy, The Importance of Being Ernest. Was there romance in the unravelling uncertainty of my visit to Girdlers Coppice at Fiddleford near Sturminster Newton? I'd like to think so, but this, the third Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) reserve I've visited during this project of mine, became a farcical comedy, of errors. Why so? Adroitly, I came, I looked for and I failed to conquer. I think I've randomly mixed my theatrical metaphors here.
As the name suggests, Girdlers Coppice is an ancient woodland which is managed for wildlife using coppicing techniques. It is also an interesting site in that DWT rent these 7 hectares from the Hinton St Mary Estate, owned by the Pitt-Rivers family. Doing my research beforehand an article in Dorset Life mentioned 'April is an excellent time to visit Girdlers Coppice in order to enjoy the openness of the canopy, the bird song and the spring flowers and insects.'
Excellent, except I was here in early March and subsequently failed to find my way in, though I think I did make it after all.
I'll explain. Access to this reserve is from the car park attached to the 14th century Fiddleford Manor. The instructions are simple, from the car park walk towards the manor, however go through the pedestrian gate on the left, cross a field, keeping the fence to your right and ahead of you will eventually see a gate into the reserve. The first pedestrian gate was chained and padlocked, presumably as there were horses in the field. Close by was a second gate, which my wife and I went through, into a smaller field. This field had the river Stour as its boundary, which I knew from earlier reading marked the northern edge of the reserve, and the river was fenced off, to my right. So far, so good.
There was a path of sorts leading to an unmarked ramshackle gate hanging off its hinges. Odd I thought, but maybe it had fallen into disrepair during the winter storms. Once I'd squeezed through the gap the meadow as I'd expected to see was ahead of us. Except it had no obvious path, was mostly herbage not grass and looked as if no one had ever been here. Was I in the right place? Doubts loomed.
I could see woodland to our left, and a rodent tube suspended on a branch, suggesting that was the reserve. Between us and that however was a wire fence. Not wishing to crash and career through this area - it is a wildlife reserve after all - we returned to the gate and had a discussion. It felt like we were almost at the reserve, but somehow not in there yet.
Back in the field I walked up the hill. Ahead of me was an electric fence, but with an opening at one end allowed me to walk further up the hill. Scanning with my binoculars I could see it, I could see what looked like the reserve entrance some distance away, very close to the A357 which provides the reserve southern boundary. Between me and the gate however was another fence, wood and netting this time, with no gate or style. Was I in fact in someone's field wandering about aimlessly? Are those baying dogs being unleashed yonder I can hear? At a push I could have maybe climbed over the fence, but that just didn't seem the right action for entering a reserve. I had to be in the wrong place. So far, yet so near. This entry uncertainty was somewhat diluting the very essence of the romance of my visit.
My wife, who I'd left by the river waiting for me to resolve this dilemma, eventually joined me up on the hill. Another discussion occurred and, feeling a little crestfallen, the decision was made to walk back down the hill to our car. Once there I asked a fisherman, and a lady out for a walk if they knew how to get into the reserve. Neither were local, they didn't know.
Funny that, neither do I!
As a postscript to this the following day I contacted the DWT office. Being English I apologised for being a bewildered naturalist, I asked them if I'd missed something, some subtle marker, a different gate perhaps. It seems I hadn't. My query has been passed to the reserves manager who has said he'll investigate on site and be in touch.
I'm perfectly happy to find out that that first, albeit padlocked, gate was actually the way in, though how those horses might react to me puffing away as I walked up their field in my wellingtons, I'm not sure. I'm perfectly happy to be told the dilapidated gate I actually went though was the correct route, maybe with instructions on how I can access the wood itself from there. I'll wait and see. A summer return maybe. The reserve is adjacent to Piddles Wood, a much larger ancient woodland, thus Girdlers Coppice benefits in sharing habitat suitable for silver washed fritillary, purple hairstreak butterfly and hazel dormouse.
I will be back!
Date of visit : 10th March 2026, 13.15 to 13.50 (mostly being lost in those fields)
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