Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2014 | Page 54

COUNTRY LIFE

The State of Nature
ON OUR DOORSTEP
Richard Grogan
Hampshire & Isle of Wight
Wildlife Trust

T

he recent State of Nature
report launched by Sir David
Attenborough, shows that across
the UK wildlife is in trouble, with many
species declining at a worrying rate.
The report is a stark warning – but it
also offers signs of hope. The report
assessed some 6,000 species and
found one in 10 at risk of extinction in
the UK.
The threats to wildlife are many and
varied; the most severe being the
destruction of valuable habitats or the
loss of the quality of what remains.
Historic destruction now means much
of our remaining wildlife is isolated in
fragmented landscapes.
The State of Nature is a national
report; yet, how has the wildlife
of Hampshire, the Island and the
neighbouring seas fared? We have
sampled what we know to bring the
results of this national study down to
our local patch. Our local wildlife is
not immune from national trends. By
understanding what is happening, we
can direct our efforts to where it may
best help wildlife.
The Island’s heathlands: Between
1850 and 1984, the heathlands of
the Isle of Wight declined by 79 per
cent; only 33 hectares still survived in
1984. The catastrophic loss of habitats
has been accompanied by the local
extinction of species such as field
gentians and pennyroyal mint.
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www.visitilife.com

A recent health check of the UK’s wildlife showed it was
not in good shape. Is local wildlife in the same state?
We investigated and, although trends are similar, we
uncovered some good news stories.

Since 1984, the Wildlife Trust has
worked on restorations at Bleak
Down, St George’s Down, Ningwood
Common, Brighstone Forest and
Bouldnor Forest to increase the
area to approximately 100 hectares
of heathland on the Island. Many
of these habitats are still raw and
immature, but they are slowly being
colonised by heathland species, such
as the nightjar, dodder and flea sedge
together with butterflies of open
ground areas such as dark-green
fritillaries and grizzled skippers. This
work has also prevented the extinction
of the reddish buff moth from Britain.
Marine habitats: The Solent is
internationally important for eelgrass
– a group of sea grasses

e by
Ph ot o: Brent Ge esm
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llin
Gi
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(flowering plants) that grow in the
inter-tidal and sub-tidal zones.
Eelgrass is an essential habitat for
a wide variety of marine life such
as cuttlefish, stalked jellyfish and
commercially important fish species.
It is also an important feeding ground
for wading birds, ducks, geese and
swans.
Eelgrass is under threat from reduced
water quality, together with damage
and removal by destructive activities.
It is thought that eelgrass was once
far more widespread. Historically, it
was recorded in Southampton Water,
where it is no longer present. There
are still several well established beds
elsewhere along the