Island 2000 Trust Blog

Artists and friends of the ‘Gift to Nature’ scheme will be at Dimbola Lodge Museum at 11am on Sat 8^th March to view a new range of unique and specially commissioned donation boxes for the scheme.

The wooden donation boxes were made by Vestas as part of an ‘Arts & Business’ supported project. These blank boxes were then given to six commissioned artists for them to redesign, decorate and transform into beautiful boxes that would encourage people to donate money to Gift to Nature.

Anne Bodemeaid, Michael Forrest, Gemma Bell, Miranda Amapola, Jeff Dyson and Chris Jenkins have collectively produced a great array of inventive and novel designs. Such was the appeal of the design challenge that a number of other boxes will be on display that have been designed by friends and staff members of Island 2000 Trust too.

The boxes will be on display in the tearoom at Dimbola Lodge for a further week if you would like to go and see them for yourselves. To find out more about the Gift to Nature scheme and how to become a ‘friend’ please visit www.gifttonature.org.uk . After the display the boxes will be put to use and find their way into Island businesses and Tourist Information Centres

Enterprising sparrows have adopted an old swallows nest with interesting results (we found this in a shed while we were searching for Barn Owls). The swallows (writing in transit of course) have complained that the conversion is clearly unsympathetic to the original design. They go further and describe the new build as ‘hideous’ and ‘just typical of those chavvy sparrow types’.

We don’t have much to grumble about weather-wise on the Isle of Wight. Sandown Bay is the sunniest place in the UK, winters are mild and life is good. But there is hardly ever any snow. Which leaves us with thousands of children (and adults) deprived of one of life’s finest pleasures - building snowmen. This is such a fundamental of humanity that last year Island 2000’s revered leader, Ian Boyd, decided he had to do something. Sandman Snowman was born. For more on last years event see this post. The event was so successful we repeated it this year, but relocated to Shanklin. While it was rather chilly we had a fantastic sunny day, with around 60 people joining in over a couple of hours. The standard this year was possibly even higher than last years, with some truly stunning contributions. Participants also made generous donations to Gift to Nature, supporting our ongoing conservation work across the Island. More pictures are available on our special Sandman Snowman Flickr pages.

Forget afternoon tea breaks, afternoon rowing breaks are the future! After too long in front of the computer monitor, Dan’s suggestion of a quick trip out in the boat was too tempting to refuse. So Dan, Simon and I sloped off for a bit to row out from East Cowes seafront into the Solent. It was a beautiful afternoon, with silky smooth seas and the sun low in the sky over Cowes. What a fantastic way to reinvigorate yourself before heading back to the office for some more hard work. For half an hour…

The video below shows some select bits from our little voyage, including some views of Island 2000’s home, Venture Quays (formerly known more interestingly as the Columbine building or Columbine shed) - just look out for the Union Jack. You can also see just how easy to transport and put away our boat is - even in a first floor room!

Well what else would you call a flint finch?

Winter’s an excellent time to have a wander along Ryde sea front and look for birds. There a Mediterranean Gulls all over the place, grebes and sea-ducks just offshore, Redwings galore up in the park and who knows what else. One of the most delightful sights though is a flurry of Sanderling as they rush about at the water’s edge picking up whatever uncovers there. Somehow they look as if they’re on a different speed-setting to the rest of reality. This lovely picture of Sanderlings roosting on a shingle bank isn’t actually from the Island - it’s from Rye Harbour and the fabulous nature reserves there. To see more amazing wildlife photography visit their website: rxwildlife.org.uk