Island 2000 Group

Sandman Snowman 4

25/01/10 •

Our fourth annually celebration of the Island’s lack of snowman-making opportunities took place on Hope Beach, Shanklin on Sunday 24th January. of course this year the event was given the rather marvellous twist of following on from an extraordinary period of real island snow! So amongst the many wonderful sandmensnowmen there were snowmensnowmen and even [...]

A Most Unusual Sight…

19/01/10 •

Something rarely seen on the Island: deer tracks and droppings. These were photographed today in a field in Brighstone, the pointed hoof slots and neatly cylindrical droppings strongly suggest deer and not sheep; there were three sets of tracks followed the field edge before disappearing. These are very likely escaped animals (there are one or [...]

Times are hard…

14/01/10 •

The snow offers great opportunities to practice your wildlife sleuthing, following tracks and signs and working what this footprint means and whose might be that spoor. Some of the signs remind us though just how hard it is out there for wildlife to find enough food to combat this cold. Take a look at the [...]

Ferntastic!

14/01/10 •

I was out surveying in the miserable fog and slush listening to the redwings coughing in the gloom when all at once I came across this fantastic fern covered in ripe orange sporangia, somehow rather summery and warm-looking. It rather cheered me up.
The fern is most likely to be the Western Polypody Polypodium interjectum.

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