Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2007/January 2008 | Page 63

COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING

Dramatic results
on the Island
And it’s
not even
our land!

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife
Trust has always sought to achieve the
conservation of habitats and species
through the management of land, and
it has been very successful through the
management of its own wildlife reserves.
However the Trust will never be able
to manage all the significant areas of
biodiversity around the two counties, so
the next best thing is to try to influence
landowners, land managers and farmers
to look sympathetically at managing
their own land for nature conservation.
In 1998, the Wildlife Trust embarked
on its Isle of Wight Red Squirrel Project,
which sought to influence the management
of woodlands across the Island for red
squirrels. With English Nature, the
Forestry Commission and the Isle of
Wight Council, the Trust identified core
areas for red squirrels and contacted
all the landowners it knew. Eighty-five
letters and 61 visits later the Trust formed

the basis for the JIGSAW grant scheme
launched in 2000. By 2005, the Trust’s
efforts in promoting the JIGSAW scheme
had resulted in 192 hectares of new native
woodland being planted, either next to or
connecting sites of ancient woodland.
In 2004 the Trust launched its Isle of
Wight Living Landscapes Project with
funding from Leader+, the Isle of Wight
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
and English Nature. In the three years
since its launch, the Project Officers,
Richard Grogan and Lucy Wager, have
visited over 100 farmers and discussed
the management of over 5,000 hectares
of land (13% of the Island’s total land
surface). The Trust has also helped
landowners apply for the new Entry
Level Stewardship schemes, Higher
Level Stewardship schemes, Site of
Special Scientific Interest Management
Agreements, Woodland Grant Schemes
and