Earn your Christmas tree this year by spending a couple of hours helping remove problem pine seedlings on Arne Nature Reserve on Saturday 6th December.

As well as enjoying the great outdoors and seeing what goes on at the reserve you will be rewarded with a sustainable tree. Hot stew and drinks will be available at lunch.

Arne: Sat 6 Dec • 10am-2pm

The Kimmeridge Christmas Beach Clean takes place on Sunday 14th December at 1pm.

Help clean the beach for Christmas and join the marine wardens for mince pies and coffee.

The RSPB is running its annual Feed the Birds Day this weekend and you can join in at Arne this Saturday (25th October).

There will be a number of stalls selling the RSPB bird care range and gifts, as well as other information on helping birds in your garden and fun family activities.

Arne: Sat 25 Oct 10am-3pm

Purbeck District Council has unanimously objected to the Secretary of State’s proposal for 2,750 extra homes to be built in Purbeck by 2026.

Following their previous press statement attacking the plan, the councillors voted unanimously to reject the plans at a meeting on 14 October. The Council will now submit its detailed response to the Secretary of State’s Consultation.

Councillor Gary Suttle, Leader of the Conservatives, said: “I am very pleased that the Council has taken this decision. 2,750 extra homes would be disastrous for our district and I only hope that the Secretary of State now sees sense and agrees with us”.

The next beach cleans at Kimmeridge and Worbarrow Bay take place on Sunday 21 September at 2pm.

Do your bit to help the environment and clear these stunning beaches of all the rubbish that regularly washes up on them.

All equipment will be provided.

Inspired by Last Choir Standing? Do you enjoy singing and wish to improve you skills? Why not come along to a one-day singing workshop?

The Weatherbury Singers are hosting a Voice Workshop on Saturday 11th October at St George’s Church Room, Fordington, Dorchester from 10.30am to 3.30pm.

The workshop is being led by Linda Brown and Fiona Clarke, who are both well known and accomplished musicians and singers.

The format will be friendly and fun and include working with the voice, focusing on common vocal problems and learning new songs as a group. The cost is £15 and all music will be provided.

Complete and return the registration form or email Margaret MacLeod for further details.

The Weatherbury Singers are a lively and enthusiastic community choir based in Puddletown, with members from many of the surrounding towns and villages. We are a four-part choir performing a mixture of music styles including pop, musicals and choral, under the direction of our Musical Director, Linda Brown.W

We currently have vacancies for altos, tenors and basses and meet on Tuesday evenings in St Mary’s Church Room, Puddletown from 7.30pm until 9.30pm.

For further details please contact Margaret MacLeod on 07747 610746, margaret@macleodhanlon.co.uk, or Peter Casemore on 01305 848202.

Purbeck Environment Action Team (PEAT) is holding a fun-filled day of music, theatre performance and street art at Abbots Quay, Wareham on Saturday 20 September. 

PEAT is a group of like-minded individuals working towards sustainability in Purbeck. They encourage “living lightly” and sharing the Earth’s resources fairly.

The ‘PEAT on the Street’ event aims to encourage alternatives to car use and will involve closing some of the side streets so that everyone can enjoy reclaiming the streets. In the spirit of the event you are encouraged to walk, cycle or use public transport to get there.

Visit the PEAT website for a full programme of events. As part of the day’s activities, The Rex cinema will also be showing Trafic (1971),  Jacques Tatis satire about people and their cars at 7.30pm.

Purbeck Environment Action Team: 20 September, 10am-4pm 

Purbeck Distirct Council has issued a press statment attacking the decision of The Secretary of State, Hazel Blears’s decision to give her support for the building of over 5000 homes in Purbeck.

Cllr Gary Suttle, Leader of Purbeck District Council, says: “We are extremely dismayed by this news. Purbeck District Council unanimously deplores and condemns the proposals to build on the green belt in this exceptional area of the country.

It is of particular concern that the villages of Lytchett Matravers and Lytchett Minster will be swamped by a major new development and that our green belt will be lost to concrete. Little consideration has been given to the special heathland conservation issues in the district, that limit the ability to widen the road network to cater for the increase in population. This will result in further congestion on already heavily congested roads.

We urge every resident of Purbeck to take part in Ms Blears’ consultation to try to persuade this government that we will not accept this serious threat to the future of Purbeck”.

Purbeck District Council is already carrying out its own Western Extension consultation with its residents and will be using the feedback received to make its case for formal opposition to the Secretary of State. Residents have until Friday 8 August to complete this questionnaire.

The questionnaire can be accessed online at the Council’s website, or by calling the Council on 01929 557339.

Great news to hear that Durlston’s proposed £5.5 million redevelopment of its visitor facilities has been given the go-ahead thanks to confirmation of a £3.1 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The scheme includes the restoration of Durlston Castle and a new learning centre and observatory with the aim of enhancing visitors enjoyment of the park and making it a first class gateway to the Jurassic Coast.

Durlston was recently designated a National Nature Reserve by Natural England and the Heritage Lottery Fund was able to confirm the grant now that match funding has been secured by Friends of Durlston, the Jurassic Coast Trust and the Project Team.

Work is due to start in July 2009 with completion by the end of 2010.

The summer beach cleans at Kimmeridge and Worbarrow Bay take place on Sunday 6 July at 2pm.

Do your bit to help the environment and clear these stunning beaches of all the rubbish that regularly washes up on them.

All equipment will be provided.

Take part in Garden Moths Count 2008, the nationwide survey to see what moths are in your garden, which runs from 21 June to 6 July.

Garden Moths Count is an annual event encouraging people to take an interest in the moths found in British gardens at this time of year.

It’s part of the national Moths Count project, set up after research revealed that moth numbers were down by around 50 per cent in the southern half of Britain over recent decades.  

Garden Moths Count includes a national moth hunt, with people being asked to be on the lookout for 20 different species, several of which fly in the daytime.

Garden Moths Count: 21 June-6 July

Dorset based Butterfly Conservation is holding an online vote to find out Britain’s favourite butterfly.

Six celebrity panellists are championing their favourite butterfly and you can vote for one of these at www.butterfly-conservation.org

The online vote is part of Save Our Butterflies Week (21-29 July), with events taking place in Dorset and all around the country. 

If you’re on the Purbeck coast this weekend keep your eyes peeled for a pod of between 5-10 bottlenose dolphins that have recently been spotted in the area.

The dolphins were seen off Old Harry Rocks and between Poole Harbour and Bournemouth Pier. Now is a good time for dolphin sightings before the summer boat traffic scares them off.

The Durlston Marine Project website has a list of reported sightings and you can add your own.

Butterfly Conservation, the East Lulworth based charity, has launched its Moths Count project aimed at encouraging greater public interest and enthusiasm for moths and helping to reverse their dwindling population.

The Moths Count project, which received an £806,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, was launched yesterday at London Zoo by Butterfly Conservation’s president, Sir David Attenborough.

The four-year project aims to create a National Moth Recording Scheme for the 900+ species of larger moths. There will be an ongoing programme of events to encourage greater public interest, including a Garden Moths Count in June where the public will be encouraged to search for moths and caterpillars in their gardens and record their findings on an online survey.

Butterfly Conservation published a report last year called ‘The State of Britain’s Larger Moths’ that showed that in many urban areas the moth population has halved since 1968. Moths are an important part of the ecosystem; they pollinate plants and they are an important food source for birds, bats, small mammals and insects.

[Image courtesy of Butterfly Conservation]

The 19th Great Dorset Beach Clean takes place on Sunday and volunteers are needed to assist in clearing rubbish from beaches right across Dorset.

Last year’s event saw 500 bags of rubbish removed from 25 beaches by over 300 volunteers.

If you turn up on the day at the advertised times there will be a beach master on hand to provide you with protective gloves and bags.