Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2006 | Page 38

ISLE OF WIGHT - WILDLIFE

Isle of Wight Marine
Mammals

Richard Grogan from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife
Trust tells us all about the whales, porpoises
and dolphins found off the Island’s coast.
The Isle of Wight is well known for its
particular wildlife. The Island, for instance, is
the last English stronghold for the red squirrel.
However the fact that the Island is an island
means that its seas are equally valuable for the
wildlife it contains.
There can be no more spectacular examples
of this wildlife than the whales, dolphins,
porpoises and seals that swim through both the
English Channel and the Solent. The sightings
of these creatures is not a new phenomenon,
nor is the interest and fascination in their lives
and their welfare.
Their story begins in 1758 when a whale,
found dead off Portland Bill, was eventually
washed ashore at Atherfield and the spot
was renamed ‘Whale Chine’ to commemorate
this event . In 1842 an eighty-foot Fin Whale
beached at Totland Bay and its skeleton was
removed to Blackgang Chine where it can still
be seen as part of an exhibit there. Eve