country life
Island Life - April/May 2011
YOUR LOCAL
WILDLIFE TRUST
The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust works to
create a better future for wildlife and wild places in
Hampshire and the Island. As the leading local wildlife
conservation charity, it looks after 57 wildlife reserves, has
28,000 members and 1,000 volunteers. The Trust manages
its own land and advises other landowners how to manage
their land with wildlife in mind. Staff and volunteers also
carry out surveys and gather data to monitor how our local
wildlife is doing. Find out more at www.hwt.org.uk.
On the Road to Recovery
Dr David Rumble, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has helped save
and the result is that many other species will have benefited
and protect our reddish buff moth, brent geese, red squirrel,
from the advice we have given.
great crested newts and nationally scarce seagrass. And,
thanks to smart management, other species have benefited
too.
Protection for species like bats, great crested newts, reptiles
and dormice was revolutionised through the 1981 Wildlife &
Countryside Act, but locally their champions have been the
Readers of wildlife news stories over the years will note
Wildlife Trust and local volunteer naturalists. And then there
phrases such as ‘threatened’, ‘recovering’ and even ‘extinct’
are other species that have merited special attention because
used regularly to highlight the mixed fortunes of our local
of their local importance. Our Solent birds are a good
wildlife. They will also note the frequent appearance of a
example. Through our surveys and habitat work, we have
handful of species that we seem to have a love affair with:
helped support vulnerable populations of brent goose, dunlin
the brent goose, dormouse, red squirrel, otter, water vole,
and black-tailed godwit amongst others.
seagrass. But why do we focus on certain species? Why are
they featured so regularly in the news? The answer lies in
their deep connection with the Wildlife Trust’s work.
Over the last couple of decades, efforts to conserve our
local rare species have been greatly boosted by the Species
Recovery Programme and the Biodiversity Action Plan.
Attractive and charismatic, the mammals of Hampshire
These initiatives have their origins nationally, but the Trust
and the Isle of Wight have graced many a magazine cover.
has been very active locally in converting aspirations into
Naturally they get the popular vote but, importantly, they
action. Through targeted surveys we have found out how
also give us vital information about the health and the
some pretty unusual species are faring: the reddish buff
quality of our ecosystems.
moth, small pearl-bordered fritillary, dwarf cudweed, field
cowwheat and sneezewort. Through this work the Trust and
Take water voles, for example. Healthy populations
of these animals are a good indicator of how our river
its partners have focused their conservation efforts more
effectively.
environments are doing. Water voles, previously harmed by
river engineering practices and the release of the Americ an
Another group of species that has been a particular
mink, are the fastest declining mammal species in Britain.
focus is a group that spends most of its time submerged.
However, as we do not have mink here, the Island is a
Seagrasses are nationally scarce; their habitats – sheltered
national stronghold for this species. The Trust has made
shallow areas with soft sediments – are widespread around
countless visits to landowners with the water vole in mind
the Solent, making our area a national hotspot for these
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