We’re working on a restoration plan for a splendid roadside verge site at Arreton that’s become rather overgrown. It still has an excellent flora though and one of its many specialities is the lovely Blue Fleabane, not at all a common plant on the Island.
Dave Dana, dragonfly recorder extraordinaire, has reported 2 very exciting records from the Gift to Nature pond at the sandown Wetland Walk. He found Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense and Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata, both rather scarce on the Island and the former scarce just about everywhere! This is a great reward for the conservation efforts of the Trust, many volunteers and Southern water who own the site. Here’s one of Dave’s fabulous pictures of the chaser.
We’re working through both the Gift to Nature and Landcare programmes to develop a series of carbon-conservation projects under the title ‘Island Climate Care‘. One such project is a focus on Isle of Wight wetlands to gain a better understanding of their carbon capture role. We are especially interested in the deep peats of the East Yar Valley where we have worked to keep water levels high and the peat wet for the past 10 years but we are only now beginning to realize the essential importance of protecting and managing these as flooded prehistoric carbon stores. There’s still a lot to learn, about the methane/CO2 balance, about water quality and peat formation and about coastal and estuarine peat. There is a growing recognition too that ponds in the landscape provide a vital service as silt-traps and organic stores. We create or restore a pond somewhere on the Island every year but now we see them as contributing to a bigger picture. Island Climate Care will be working with partners on specific schemes to protect and enhance Island rivers, marshes, floodplains and ponds not only to conserve wildlife but also to take some demonstrable local action against climate change.
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Flooded Peat nearAlverstone.