 A new education facility has been completed at Dorset Wildlife Trust's Urban Wildlife Centre in Corfe Mullen. Named in honour of the building's owner and Managing Director of Beacon Hill Brickworks, the David Ballam Education Room will enable DWT and the Urban Heaths Partnership to engage schools and community groups in their local wildlife. David retains an office in the old Beacon Hill Brickworks buildings and takes a keen interest in the conservation and education work going on there.
The state of the art facility features displays, activities and live cameras recording the bats in the roof and nesting birds in the grounds. A pair of house sparrows is already building a nest, to the delight of staff. An animation of the changes in the local landscape and a DVD of heathland wildlife have also been produced.
The David Ballam room is funded by Natural England through Defra's Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, the South East Dorset Heathland Mitigation Project Fund, SITA Trust through the Landfill Communities Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
This completes the transformation of the old brickworks offices into the Urban Wildlife Centre, operations base for the Dorset Wildlife Trust urban programme. The centre will host a public Open Day on June 14th from 11am to 2pm.
Nicki Brunt, Urban Programme Manager for Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: "Today marks the exciting culmination of two years of hard work to establish a thriving centre for the Dorset Wildlife Trust's urban and volunteering programmes and the Urban Heaths Partnership. We are very grateful to all our dedicated volunteers, local businesses and sponsors, but particular thanks go to David Ballam for his support, and without whom this would not have been possible."
Schools and community groups can book a visit through Amanda Cooke on 01202 692033.
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Notes to Editor
For more information please contact Nicki Brunt at Dorset Wildlife Trust on 01305 264620.
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