Dorset Wildlife Trust Project: King's Lane Orchard

 "...turn around and walk along this lane, past the pub. Follow the lane down to the thatched cottage on your right, the orchard you are looking for is the one to the left of the cottage, not the orchard on the right of the cottage. You'll not miss it".

I'd arrived in Powerstock looking for King's Lane Orchard, a remnant of the many cider orchards which once surrounded the village a century ago. This isolated village clings tightly to a steep slope, a vertiginous crossroads by the church contains a many-directional signpost of ancient construction, but the lanes radiating off from here are less well documented. I'd walked in the opposite direction to my intended destination. However, meeting a local, unpacking his car, he put me back on the correct path. Maybe I should have brought a map? 

King's Lane, thatched cottage and the orchard

 I headed past the pub and began a short descent along King's Lane, a lane just wide enough for a car, and reaching the cottage (Hillside Cottage) I could see the small gate into the orchard. Best of all the sun was shining.

Bought by Dorset Wildlife Trust in 2008, this 1 hectare orchard was opened to the public in April 2009 when schoolchildren sang a song celebrating spring and apple blossom, written by Dorset based Tim Laycock, before they headed off on a mini-beasts & treasure hunt. It was a lot quieter today. Ahead of me were the remnant apple trees of an industry which once supported both the local economy, people and wildlife, a mix of interests which ensures cider orchards hold a place in nature conservation under Biodiversity Action Plans.

Entering from the lane, the orchard gently slopes away from you, down to a small stream. The research notes I had brought with me mentioned the ground can be wet and boggy by the stream, which, even after a number of rain-free weeks, proved accurate later on in my visit. What these notes did not mention was that my arrival would be heralded by a kingfisher flying along this stream calling its thin, but penetrating, call. It was a good start.

There were possibly a dozen apple trees in the orchard, many surrounded by a fence to deter the grazing sheep who are occasionally brought here to help with the biodiversity management. As one of just two orchards owned by Dorset Wildlife Trust, the other being Broad Oak which I visited in March, these community reserves mix habitat management with general visitor use. The website suggests visitors can wander around, or pick a spot for a picnic. I did the former. 

The reserve is roughly the letter P in shape, having a larger section by the cottage, leading to a small linear area by a five-bar gate and a second entrance. Sadly the apple trees on this visit had finished their blossom, small fruitlets were forming already. Despite being on the edge of the village this is a very quiet spot. No vehicles moved along the lane while I was here, leaving the only noise to come from chiffchaff, chaffinch, robin, blackbird, long tailed tit, jackdaw, rook and greenfinch (and the kingfisher of course).

It doesn't take long to wander about the main orchard area, and soon I found myself exploring the stream. The stream isn't obvious from the entrance, but scramble under some low branches and a quite delightful hidden riparian feature is revealed. 

Looking up at the orchard from the stream

Here it is all mossy and dark, light is shaded from the ground by overhead sycamore and hazel, ferns and ivy cascading down the steep stream bank. I couldn't see any fish from the bank side, but its gravelly bed would be ideal for bullhead, stickleback or minnows. Neither were there any signs of otter, but they are present here.

As I walked along the stream edge it suddenly became boggy and climbing back into the orchard itself I found I was standing on quite spongy ground. It is quite possible that if I had noticed the presence of a large clump of yellow flag iris, I may have realised I was walking towards a wet flush trickling out at the bottom of the orchard slope. These iris were just coming into flower, and looked perfect. Just beyond these, recent habitat clearance had been completed, with the scars on the ground from the removal of brambles and nettles.

It is a lovely spot and had I brought a picnic (and rug as there are no benches) I could have stayed here longer with a flask and some sandwiches. Not having these with me, I slowly climbed back up to the lane while trying to avoid trampling the many cuckoo flower peeping through the grassland. I like the fact that Dorset Wildlife Trust have secured this orchard. All too easily it could have been left to decline or worse still, being on the edge of the village, have suffered from residential development.

Date of visit: 14th May 2026. 16:00 to 16:45 (leaving the church at 17:30)

Selective list of species: Kingfisher, long tailed tit, chaffinch, chiffchaff, robin, blackbird. Apple spp., cuckoo flower, meadow buttercup, harts tongue fern, ivy, moss spp. bramble, nettle, Sycamore, hazel, oak with blackthorn hedge, Fresh molehills.

Postscript: 1 of 2

After visiting King's Lane Orchard, and being in the village, I made a pilgrimage to see the grave of the naturalist and broadcaster Kenneth Allsop. A Yorkshireman by birth, in his later years he lived at the nearby hamlet of West Milton. Allsop fell in love with this part of West Dorset and championed protecting the area from development, including the threat of oil exploration. His grave lies apart from others of the same era in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, in the centre of the village. I sat on a nearby bench with a flask of tea I'd collected from the car. The sun was warm, there was birdsong everywhere, lichens colonising his headstone. Not a bad place to rest in peace, whether that is alive, or dead. 

Postscript: 2 of 2 

On May 19th 2026 I received a lovely email from a Richard Dolman. Now 88 years of age, as a farm student aged 16 in 1954 he worked at King's Farm, a mile or so along the lane so named.  Mr Dolman was actually commenting on a 2020 post of mine about Eggardon Hill. However its relevance to this post makes me want to include a link to his memories here, published in March 2013. Thank you Mr Dolman for your memories.

Mickeypops muck and cow whispering:

https://westdorsetconfidential.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/mickeypops-and-cow-whispering/

Dorset Wildlife Trust Project: Peascombe

 I arrived in bright strong sunshine, I left Dorset Wildlife Trust's Peascombe nature reserve in sunshine, but in between times after being caught in a thundery downpour, I resembled a wet badger.

 

Due to on going care for my ninety-four-year-old father, and somehow damaging my knee which made walking painful, and a large number of events and courses I'd chaotically booked myself on, my Dorset Wildlife Trust project had been placed on the back seat recently. However, with my knee almost back to normal, it was good to return to my self-imposed project. And today I aimed to visit the 3 hectare Peascombe reserve near Loders, not far from Bridport.

I know the out-of-the-way rural village of Loders (officially Lower Loders) fairly well as a day visitor, but not the reserve. However on arrival I soon realised I had actually driven past it for years and not realised it was here. Hidden away off a very narrow hollow way, or sunken track (named Smishops Lane) this hollow way meanders out of Loders but, due to a landslip, most of Smishops Lane is now closed to vehicular traffic.

Smishops Lane - now closed to traffic

I parked in the village and walked the short distance up the lane. Dappled sunlight filtered through a tunnel of trees, it was a beautiful day. At the crest of the hill, what looked like an ex-railway gate highlighted the entrance into the reserve. At the entrance coppiced hazel, a few oak and lime trees dominated, while a chiffchaff serenaded my arrival. 

Once through the large gate, it was a short walk to a kissing gate leading into the reserve proper which was predominantly made up of grassland with a small stream. I stood at the top of a steep slope looking down and across a rolling and quiet landscape, quiet, that is, apart from the sound of grass strimming in the distance. However what I did note was rain advancing rapidly towards me. Showers had been forecast today, though they had not materialised, until now. A clap of thunder alerted me to the fact that torrential rain would soon arrive, which as it turned out became a half an hour deluge with thunderous accompaniment. Foolishly, not being dressed for a British day, I took shelter in the adjacent allotments, under a tree - don't try this at home. 

Eventually the rain and thunder passed and I wandered back to the reserve to find myself walking amongst vegetation two feet high, mostly of extremely wet grass. Within minutes I was tremendously moist below the knee. To be honest I was a little disappointed at first. What I'd hoped would be a wildflower meadow bejewelled with flowers, resembled, at first glance, an intensive grassland with species like Yorkshire fog, Timothy and cocksfoot predominating. The site is, I had read, summer grazed to help with the nature conservation efforts, though, given the height of the grass, I doubt any cattle have been set on here this year. However closer inspection revealed more.

Germander speedwell was everywhere on the upper slopes, along with cuckoo flower and meadow buttercup, though all were partly obscured by the lush herbage. The reserve is roughly a triangle in shape formed on a steep slope surrounded by a mixed species tree and hedge boundary. It is an open access reserve, but I followed the indistinct paths created by other walkers.

At the lower part of the reserve, the path I followed progressed under a lovely spreading pedunculate oak, it felt as if I was entering a secret landscape. And I was in many ways. This area was, for me, the more interesting. There is a shallow stream, dried up on my visit, which from distant viewing contained varied flora including sweet rush and a huge patch of greater stitchwort. The stream is bordered by a path, raised up above the ground, bordered with old coppiced tree species. It had a hidden feel though sadly after the rain shower, bird and insect life was minimal, just a chaffinch, robin and jackdaw broke the silence (the strimming had stopped). As a result of now having sodden shoes as well as trousers I didn't linger here too long. Consequently, during my visit I saw no invertebrates on the wing.

Dried up stream bed.

The reserve has three entrances to it, and is seemingly a well used site by local people, which is a little surprising given how out of the way this is, though it does lie on the village edge. I was warming to its delights during my hour wandering about. Sadly no bullfinch, which had been my target species, though at the opposite end of the reserve long tailed tits flittered above my head. I exited the reserve via a different gate which led into another hollow way, Whetland's Lane, the verges of which were almost totally dominated by wild garlic.

The grassland sloping down to the stream and mature trees

Looking into the reserve from Whetland's Lane

The stream crossing Whetland's Lane

Whetland's Lane

And for me, on this visit, the importance of this site became apparent. It sits quietly in a varied landscape of hills, valleys and woodland. Its lower slopes are wet tussock grassland with a varied herbage, the upper slopes providing more dry meadow species, while surrounding the reserve are mature trees, hedgelines, hollow ways and farmed grassland. That juxtaposition of habitats is what makes this reserve special. As I squelched back up Whetland's Lane I ignored my waterlogged shoes and enjoyed the peace and quiet of this location, although the stimming had restarted, with the emerging sun.

Whetland's Lane entrance

Date of Visit : 14th May 2026. 14.30 to 15.30hrs
 

Selective list of species  - Chiffchaff, robin, blackbird, jackdaw, woodpigeon, long tailed tit. Grass species including cocksfoot, Timothy, Yorkshire fog. Dock, cow parsley, wild garlic, sweet rush, nettle, meadow buttercup, germander speedwell, cuckoo flower, greater stitchwort. Quite a few molehills. Hazel, pedunculate oak, lime spp.