Cranborne Chase AONB Dark Skies
Whitsbury is within the Cranborne Chase International Dark Sky Reserve. This means we have a clearer view of the sky at night with low cultural lighting. In a town or city whilst you might be able to see the odd brighter star ordinarly you will not be able to see the wider star landscape at night including things like the milky way.
In our area you can see the large conurbations of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch and Southampton and Salisbury. In an area with a clear view to the North or North East the cultural lighting is very low and so viewing becomes clearer. It is best to
We are lucky enough to be within this area and especially from area like the gallops the views can be spectacular.
One of the things we can do is make sure we minimise the amount of light by:
- Removing unnecessary lighting
- Directing light downwards and shielding any upward light
- Ensuring lights are on intelligent timers or Passive Infra Red sensors
The Cranborne dark skies has a wealth of information on this and more and can be found here.