| Brownsea Island |
| Brownsea Island lies in the middle of Poole Harbour
and is the largest of the islands there. The soil is a mixture of
sand, gravel and clay and is a favourite haunt for potters who made
tiles and bricks here. The island has also been caled Branksea and
Bruno's Island and it here that Col Waugh in 1853 began the mining of
china clay and this caused him to go bankrupt. He built a church here as
well. The island is open to the public as it is under the care of the National Trust and here can be found a very rare sight indeed, for it is one of a few places in the land where the red squirrel can be found.Boat owners are welcome to land on the western end by dinghy at Pottery Pier on South shore, but landing is not allowed at East Pier at the eastern end or on the northern shore as this is a Nature Reserve. The island was once privately owned and one of these was Mrs Bonham Christie who was a bit of a recluse and she ran a bird sancturary here and was famous for being route to visitors and more or less driving them off the island. It was here in 1907 that the Boy Scouts held their first ever camp on the northern end of the island.
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