MARGARET HOLLAND
Working with you
We can’t achieve the ambitious plans for a Wilder Wight without your help. We need 1 in 4 people to connect with wildlife and take action for nature’s recovery by 2030. Alongside our conservation work, Wilder Wight will inspire communities to get involved, adopting spaces in their towns to create space for wildlife and community areas everyone can enjoy. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported the Trust’s ambitious plans. We will need to continue to raise significant funds through membership, donations and legacies to support future land purchases, rewild Island landscapes, reintroduce species and inspire new generations of wildlife enthusiasts. We will be launching a major appeal later this year to help us bring back the beaver and create a Wilder Wight. Together we can transform the Island for wildlife and communities, making Hampshire and the Isle of Wight even better and even wilder!
Red-billed chough nest on cliffs. Ultimately, this project is much more than a species reintroduction. Beavers are some of nature’s great eco-engineers and a once-prominent part of our cultural heritage, and we look forward to reuniting them with the Island’s waterways.
Return of the village bunting
Two more key species which have been lost in our counties are also part of the wildlife jigsaw we aim to repair. The red-billed chough and cirl bunting have the potential to inspire changes to the management of the Island’s farmland and coast. While the chough has long been absent from much of southern England, the cirl bunting clung on in the Isle of Wight, its last stronghold in the two counties, until 1993. Eagles have been a very successful part of the Island’s Wilder journey and we believe chough and cirl bunting will only enhance this. Cirl buntings, once known as the ‘village bunting’, were found in small pockets of farmed land close to villages. They need wide hedgerows for nesting and cover, close to tall grassland full of crickets and grasshoppers to feed on; habitats readily available on the Island. Sadly, changes to farming practices meant the birds lost most of their winter habitat weedy stubble left after the harvest of spring-sown crops. Increasing suitable winter stubble will give cirl buntings and other farmland birds food over the harsher winter months. Little Duxmore Farm, will do just that by rewilding former arable land, replicating conditions in Europe where farmland birds thrive. Working with other landowners will ensure this mosaic extends across the Island. Planned feeding stations for farmland birds and chough in school grounds and public locations will mean the community can help monitor the birds and become part of a Wilder Wight. The results of the feasibility study of our plans for the birds will be published this spring. Already, robust evidence suggests that reintroductions are achievable and could allow these species to spread across southern England. We will establish a diverse partnership to help us achieve this vision, learning from others and pioneering new approaches. We want to help people see the value in these once-common species and reverse the declines in wildlife seen over recent decades.
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Partnering for wildlife We have teamed up with Wightlink to help showcase the Isle of Wight and its incredible natural environment. The new partnership will encourage people to visit the island and connect with nature as well as supporting the Trust’s reserves team. Wightlink takes their responsibility for the environment seriously and their Green Agenda outlines the wide-ranging initiatives they are taking to protect the sea, land and air in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The company’s decision to invest £30 million on Victoria of Wight reflects their commitment to the environment. Their flagship is the first hybrid energy ferry in England,
setting new standards for crossSolent travel. She combines battery power with conventional engines to sail between Portsmouth and Fishbourne. Wightlink is creating habitats for coastal wildlife at their ports and educating their customers about life in and around the Solent by welcoming the HIWWT’s Secrets of The Solent team on board.
Wild Life | Spring 2021
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