• Sitemap
• Text Only
• Full Graphics

• Managing Organisation:

  Christchurch Borough Council

• Contact:

  Clive Sinden

• Telephone:

  01202 495072 
• Visit Website
• Click here for winner's location
• Submit feedback for this park

Information about this open space

Steamer Point Local Nature Reserve (LNR) situated in Christchurch on Dorset’s south-east coast is an 11 hectare mostly deciduous woodland, with areas of cliff top grassland and ponds. But, one can also see large old mature trees, sentry boxes and a sunken trackway. These are evidence of the site’s intriguing past history.  Once part of the of a nearby 19th century private estate and later used by the MoD for secret radar research, today the site is a valuable resource for wildlife, informal recreation, field studies and community events. And, today within a converted and solar powered WW2 blockhouse, one can find a warm welcome at the reserve’s wildlife information centre. From here, school children, each with net, identification key and hand lens, make their way to one of the ponds to check out the local wildlife. Deeper in the wood, and on one of the many guided walks that take place, historians and ecologists survey and record what they see.  In 2005 Steamer Point became one of England’s newest LNRs, an acknowledgement of its importance for wildlife and the opportunity that it gives for people to access and enjoy a very special part of Christchurch’s local environment