WELCOME TO SLOP BOG
Slop Bog is a place for people and nature. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Nature Reserve managed by Dorset Countryside. Visitors have the rare opportunity to easily cross the sphagnum bog via the boardwalk, which also provides excellent pond dipping opportunities. Short paths also meander through heathland, wet woodland and conifer plantation all within this relatively small reserve (22.6 hectares).
Slop Bog is home to:
Dragonflies and Damselflies (14 recorded species) including the rare Small Red Damselfly.
A large colony of Silver-studded Blue butterflies.
Common frogs, Grass-snakes and Palmate newts.
Insects especially adapted to the heath and bog.
Specialist plants including Marsh Gentian, Bog Asphodel, White Beak sedge and Sundews.
With its accessibility, habitat variety and pond dipping opportunities, Slop Bog is the perfect outdoor classroom! A BRIEF HISTORY In 1759 Slop Bog was a small wet corner of Hampreston Heath. However, around 1870 much of the drier parts of the site were planted with pine trees as part of "Beaufoys Plantation". Fortunately, the wetlands remained unplanted so that even in 1915 the peat cutting ponds were still visible. During the 1930s a nursery occupied much of the neighbouring land on West Moors Road. The nursery used the ponds to cultivate water lilies and other aquatic plants for sale via the first ever mail order plant catalogue. The land surrounding Slop Bog was gradually eaten up during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by housing developments.
Today Slop Bog, along with Dorset's remaining heaths, forms just a fragment (around 15 per cent) of the heathland that covered this part of Dorset in the 1850s.
TO FIND THE CACHE Parking is available in a residential street parallel to the B3072 West Moors Road at N50.48.811 W001.53.199. Please show consideration for local residents.
TAKE CARE crossing the main road, and enter Slop Bog via the public footpath. Have a look at the noticeboard which lists the birds and wildlife which have been sighted recently.
Stage 1. N50.48.889 W001.53.300
How many insects are depicted here? = A
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Stage 2. N50.48.856 W001.53.601
The year of the map that highlights Slop Bog? 1 B 5 7
The site's oldest pine dates back to the 1 C 4 0 s
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Stage 3. N50.48.911 W001.53.599
The information plaque mentions an insect.
How many vowels are there in the two word title? = D
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Stage 4. N50.48.848 W001.53.747
How many words on a circular sign with a butterfly? = E
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The cache is at N50 48. B D A W001 53. E C A
The "Checksum" is 53.
When seeking this cache, please respect the fact that it is on a Site of Special Scienific Interest, and keep to the well defined paths or boardwalk.
This cache is ONLY available during daylight.
There are a couple of 'kissing gates' within the reserve, so wheelchair users are advised to take a RADAR key.
We are grateful to the Rangers of Eastern Sites Team, Avon Heath Ranger Base, who kindly gave permission to place this cache.
More information on Slop Bog may be found at www.slopbog.org.uk
