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82 Isles of Portland and Purbeck
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The Isles of Portland and Purbeck Natural Area is a unique coastal region of southern England. Its warm climate, chalk and limestone rocks, spectacular cliffs and land use history have combined to create a distinctive landscape character and special nature conservation interest. A measure of the visual attractiveness of the landscape is that all of the Purbeck portion of the Natural Area falls within the boundaries of the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The nature conservation interest of the Isles of Portland and Purbeck Natural Area lies in its exceptional geology, its wide range of habitats including internationally important types, and its diversity of rare and uncommon flora and fauna. Calcareous grassland is the most extensive semi-natural habitat and many fine examples occur on the chalk and limestone of Purbeck and Portland, both inland and along the coast. Woods of various sizes are scattered within the Natural Area, and many of these are of ancient origin. Disused quarries and tunnels left behind by the stone quarrying industry provide valuable refuges for wildlife, for example quarries on Portland are particularly important for rare mosses, liverworts and lichens, and disused tunnels are used by hibernating bats, including the rare greater horseshoe bat and Bechstein=s bat.
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Natural Area profile available - Size 404.8 kb
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