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Dorset

Steep downland slopes and chalk streams, hedged landscapes still with the occasional traditional flower-rich neutral pasture in the clay vales, a stunning fossil-studded geological text book the length of the coast (now a World Heritage site) and perhaps most famously the precious surviving fragments of Hardy�s Egdon heath, are all characteristic of Dorset.

There are 10 National Nature Reserves, 8 managed directly by Natural England, and 140 SSSIs, some 70% of which also carry international conservation designations.

Many rare and scarce species of animals and plants have their national strongholds in Dorset�s surviving natural habitats.