13 June 2003
Dstl opens new conservation centre
Robert Key, MP for Salisbury officially opened the new Dstl Conservation
Centre at Porton Down on the 12th June 2003.
To celebrate the opening, Dstl hosted a reception attended by representatives
from English Nature, the RSPB and members of the Porton Down Conservation
Group.
In his opening speech, Robert Key, MP commented:
“What a special location Porton Down has in Southern England,
the range is one of the countries best kept secrets in conservation
management and I would like to thank the local community for helping
to aid conservation on Porton Down.”
The evening culminated in an exclusive tour of the Porton Down ranges
which was lead by Stuart Corbett, Dstl Conservation Officer. He said,
“I have great hopes for the new centre, it offers local people,
in particular school children, the opportunity to enjoy the wildlife
and unique features associated with Porton Down’s landscape.”
The Conservation Centre has been specially designed to incorporate
displays of flora and fauna and of the rare findings from archaeological
digs on site. It also provides an insight into the ongoing management
of the ranges and is used as a meeting room for conservation groups.
Members of the public can arrange to visit to the Dstl conservation
centre directly with Stuart Corbett by emailing him: sjcorbett@dstl.gov.uk.
For further information please contact:
Annabel Mead
Public Relations Manager, Dstl
asmead@dstl.gov.uk
01252 455994
07766 134768
Liz Aelberry
Communications Assistant, Dstl
eaaelberry@dstl.gov.uk
01252 455965
Note to editors:
Porton Down Conservation
In 1916 Porton Down was purchased by the Ministry of Defence and has
now had much of the site declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The intensification of agriculture that gathered pace during the 20th
century did not take place at Porton Down and so the site can be viewed
as a time capsule, allowing a glimpse of the countryside as it was more
than a century ago. There are many examples of wildlife that still occur
at Porton Down that are now much rarer in the modern countryside. These
included the stone curlew, a rare bird which nests on downland in the
summer, the silver spotted skipper butterfly which lives on very short
chalk grassland and juniper, a shrub characteristic of chalk downland
which occurs in higher numbers here than anywhere else in southern England.
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