LEARN more about Dorset Wildlife Trust’s newly refurbished Lorton Meadows Conservation Centre near Weymouth at an open day next week.

Home to a vast array of wildlife, including birds, butterflies, bees, beetles and other insects, Lorton Meadows is joining the Wild About Weymouth and Portland celebrations of the area’s outstanding wildlife.

Samantha Dallimore, community conservation officer at Lorton Meadows, said: “At this time of year grasshoppers and crickets provide a constant backing sound to calls of birds, particularly the young kestrels, as you wander around the meadows.

“There are also plenty of butterflies and flower beetles to see, visiting late flowering wild carrot, fleabane and thistles – valuable sources of nectar. The ponds are alive with aquatic creatures, many you can see by just watching for a few minutes.”

Wild About Weymouth and Portland, a partnership between Dorset Wildlife Trust, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Dorset Countryside and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, is funded by the Big Lottery Fund through Natural England’s Access to Nature programme, to encourage people to discover, enjoy and help conserve the borough’s wonderful natural environment.

Lorton Meadows has an ongoing programme of events throughout the autumn for all the family to get close to Weymouth’s wildlife.

The open day is Saturday, September 17 from 10am to 4pm at Lorton Meadows Nature Reserve, Lorton Lane, Upwey, Weymouth, DT3 5QH.

The newly refurbished conservation centre has hot drinks, wildlife displays, live bird cameras and trails, and you can stock up on gifts and bird seed. Free entry, parking available or there is easy access from the new relief road footpath/cycle way, which is now fully open.

For more information please contact Samantha Dallimore on 01305 816546 or visit dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/events