This week in the UK has been like a preview of summer, with temperatures reaching the high 20s and constant sunshine. The urge to get outside has been strong, and of course the urge to bring some Nerd Equipment along with me. I’ve fitted in six Parks on the Air activations this week, each for only around 15 minutes—just long enough to qualify, before getting back to enjoying the rest of the sunshine.

Sunday

Sunday afternoon featured a wander around Badbury Rings (GB-4431, GB-0051, GFF-0249, WCA G-00817), an Iron Age hill fort near Wimborne. I don’t think I’d actually been there since I was a kid, so it was nice to go back. It’s a fun place to explore, with three concentric mounds still very much evident (and difficult to climb), a shady spot with trees on top, and plenty of wide open spaces for a dipole antenna.

Badbury Rings hill fort

Monday

Monday was the turn of Stoborough Heath (GB-0154, GB-0008, GFF-0234) and Hartland Moor (GB-0292, GB-0008, GFF-0235).

These are large heathland areas in the mid Purbecks, both with small hills and great views over Poole Harbour and the surrounding countryside.

Stoborough Heath

However I can’t deny that part of the appeal of Monday’s parks is just how close they are to touching—only a small stretch of Soldiers Road from the A351 up towards Arne separates them, and so I could activate two parks with only a five minute walk between them. After 23 QSOs on Stoborough Heath, I just picked up my antenna and walked iy over to the other side of the road, grabbing another 40 over on Hartland Moor.

Stoborough Heath and Hartland Moor SSSI map

Of course that didn’t leave a lot of time for exploration, so at some point I will head back to these parks with more free time to have a proper wander.

Hartland Moor

Tuesday

Speaking of parks close together, Tuesday was the turn of the oddly-named combo, GB-0407 Lodmoor Country Park and GB-0102/GFF-0102 Lodmoor Country Park (and RSPB) Country Park.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that latter park name. There is a council-owned section of the area, which I would call Lodmoor Country Park, and an RSPB-owned area which I would call Lodmoor Nature Reserve, but the POTA & WWFF park names certainly confuse the matter. I looked at past activations of both parks and noticed that they didn’t completely align, so some previous activators have clearly made the decision that these are separate places, and I kept to that as well.

I started my activation in the Country Park, on the grassy area inside the railway track, getting 13 in the log there before hiking out into the RSPB section. It took a while to find a suitable open space inside the park boundary, but eventually I did and grabbed another 15 QSOs from there. I also saw what must have been at least 20 species of bird, it really is a wildlife haven!

Lodmoor Nature Reserve

Wednesday

My POTA streak finished on Wednesday with my sixth park of the week, Morden Bog (GB-0496, GFF-0677). At this time of year it’s largely dry, though there is a large lake if you know where to find it—and it could be quite a walk, as at nearly 60 acres, this nature reserve is huge!

This was another quick activation on the way to somewhere else, so I didn’t have much chance to explore it this time, but it’s definitely on my list for a future revisit.

On the radio front, the bands were working against me by this point in the week, and I was struggling to hear and be heard on the 20m band. Even IK2ECC, a regular hunter who almost always gets a 59 report from me, was so far down in the noise I couldn’t complete the QSO. 11 in the log was enough for me, and with time running short, I had to pack down again.

Morden Bog

Many thanks to my all my contacts this week. See you on the air next time!