Editing Wareham Forest

{{Short description|Heath in Dorset, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2013}}
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'''Wareham Forest''' is an area of countryside in [[Dorset]], [[England]], consisting of open [[heathland]], including [[Decoy Heath]] and [[Gore Heath]], and [[plantation]]s of [[coniferous|conifers]] such as [[Morden Heath]] and [[Bloxworth Heath]]. The site is managed by [[Forestry England]] for [[Conservation ethic|conservation]] and [[recreation]]. Situated next to the [[A35 road]] between [[Dorchester, Dorset|Dorchester]] and [[Poole]]; the forest provides a home for [[sika deer]], the [[Dartford warbler]] and a population of [[sand lizard]]s.

==History==
Wareham Forest featured in the American magazine [[Life (magazine)|''Life'']] on 20 October 1947.<ref name="books.google">{{cite magazine|magazine=Life|date=20 October 1947|page=44|accessdate=8 April 2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFEEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Wareham+Forest&pg=PA44|title=LIFE|last1=Inc|first1=Time}}</ref>
The article describes a fire that raged for four days across [[Wareham, Dorset|Wareham]] Heath in the summer of that year. The fire severed the road from Wareham to [[Bere Regis]] and exploded ammunition left behind from [[Second World War]] troop manoeuvres.<ref name="books.google" /> 
The photograph accompanying the ''Life'' piece shows fire-fighters trying to counteract the blaze, which saw flames leap to over 150 feet in height.<ref name="books.google" />
Thanks to these efforts, a majority of the forest was saved.<ref name="books.google" />
A 55-acre tourist park and campsite now makes up part of Wareham Forest.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.warehamforest.co.uk/|title=Wareham Forest Tourist Park|author=Tony and Sarah Birch |accessdate=9 April 2013}}</ref> 
In 2012, a married couple walking their dog over the heath had to be rescued by the Dorset Fire and Rescue Service, after they became stuck in a freezing [[swamp]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Rescue drama after couple stuck in mud in Wareham Forest |first=Jim |last=Durkin |url=http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/9502634.Rescue_drama_after_couple_stuck_in_mud_in_Wareham_Forest/ |newspaper=Bournemouth Echo |date=31 January 2012 |accessdate=9 April 2013}}</ref> In May 2020, a large-scale fire, the [[2020 Wareham Forest fire|Wareham Forest fire]], was believed to have been started by a disposable barbecue or camp fire and worsened by warm, dry conditions. The fire left 550 acres (220 hectares) of the forest damaged.<ref>{{cite web|date=21 May 2020|title=Wareham Forest blaze 'started by disposable barbecue or camp-fire'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-58479215|website=BBC News|accessdate=24 November 2021}}</ref>

==Ecosystem==
A track that passes through the site comprises part of the 'Wareham Forest Way', a walk that leads from Wareham to [[Sturminster Marshall]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dorsetforyou.com/396516 |title=Wareham Forest Way |author=Discover Purbeck Information Centre |date=23 May 2012 |publisher=dorsetforyou.com |accessdate=9 April 2013}}</ref> There is also a route for cyclists called the Sika Cycle Trail.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/englanddorsetdorsetwoodlandswarehamforestsikatrailsikacycletrail| year=|author=Forestry Commission| title=Sika Cycle Trail|accessdate=9 April 2013}}</ref> 
Situated to the east of the forest is Morden Bog National Nature Reserve.<ref name="dorsetforyou">{{cite web| url=https://www.dorsetforyou.com/media.jsp?mediaid=147929&filetype=pdf| year=|author=Purbeck District Council| title=Wareham Forest Way|accessdate=9 April 2013}}</ref> 
''[[Calluna]]'' (or heather) and grasses such as ''[[Molinia caerulea]]'' (or purple moor grass) grow readily at Wareham Forest, give [[grazing]] fodder to a population of sika.<ref name=Putman1986>{{cite book|last=Putman|first=Rory|title=Grazing in Temperate Ecosystems: Large Herbivores and the Ecology of the New Forest|page=123|year=1986|isbn=070994036X}}</ref> 
The nationally scarce Dartford warbler and the [[nightjar]] has been observed around here, and [[sand lizards]] may also be spotted.<ref name="dorsetforyou" /> The iconic [[fly agaric]] (''Amanita muscaria''), [[hallucinogenic]] [[toadstool]], has been recorded within the forest.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.natureofdorset.co.uk/sites/wareham-forest-gore-heath| year=|author=Peter Orchard| work=The Nature of Dorset|title=Wareham Forest (Gore Heath)|accessdate=9 April 2013}}</ref> In 2006 the [[Journal of Zoology]] published the results of a nine-year study that looked into the breeding frequency of the site's smooth snakes (''[[Coronella austriaca]]'').<ref>{{cite journal|first=C. J. |last=Reading|year=2004|journal=Journal of Zoology|volume=264| issue= 1| pages=61–67|doi= 10.1017/S0952836904005515|title=The influence of body condition and prey availability on female breeding success in the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca Laurenti)}}</ref>

==In fiction==
The forest provides a backdrop for scenes within R. Hyslop's ''Wolf's-Head'' novel, set in the time of [[Æthelwulf of Wessex]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hyslop|first=R.|title=Wolf's-Head|page=116|year=1986|isbn=0955871808}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Forests and woodlands of Dorset]]