Christmas Bonus!

We have been really fortunate to have worked with Arts &Business this year who helped us foster new partnerships with some great Island businesses. We are doubly lucky to have been chosen by them to get a Christmas bonus -

"We are delighted to make our Christmas donation this year to the inspirational arts organisation Island 2000. We are pleased to have supported the work of Island 2000 and its business partners in 2007". Thank you from us all at Island 2000!

Happy Christmas

Be Kind to Toads

Here you see a rather pitiful sight.

A skinny little toad we rescued from a concrete bunker into which it had presumably fallen and become trapped. It was terribly thin but still quite active, so we released it onto some nice wet and wormy ground where it might feed up in peace. I tried to encourage it with a woodlouse but it seemed a bit reluctant to have a go. It was the best I could find at the time. The really sad thing is that it isn't just this unfortunate individual toad that's having such a hard time - it's all of them. Back in the summer there were revisions made to something called the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP) and in particular to its list of species of conservation concern - in other words the plants and animals in decline across the country. There are a few shocks in it. The once familiar Toad as we've said, but also Hedgehogs, Starlings, House Sparrows and Eels. Creatures we think of still as familiar and even common-place (whether we've seen them recently ourselves or not) really aren't anymore. There's a great deal we can all do though to help, perhaps at or in our work, certainly at home in our gardens, and more generally in the way we respond to what we see going on in the world around us. We are very lucky here on the Island to share in an environment so well-blessed with wildlife, truly a refuge for so many species in serious decline or even now extinct elsewhere across the south. But that doesn't happen by accident and it's neither a given nor a guarantee for the future. There's an awful lot of hard work going on out there to protect and conserve wildlife - not just because it's green and good but because the natural world is a part of our daily lives and a part our wellbeing. Without it around us even the shiniest of nice new technological marvels is a pretty dull thing. So be kind to toads please.

Reappearance

Twenty-five years after her disappearance in a mysterious canoing accident, Jo walked into East Cowes police station, apparently unaware that she had ever been missing.

Mysterious Woods

Dan and I at a secret location in the eastern Isle. We were surprised to discover trees with strange root patterns, twisted gnarled branches, and even faces! We were scouting out this jungle for caves and a possible finale to the Vectis poetry competition.

Mud, mud, glorious mud

Island farmers enjoyed the feel of mud, glorious mud, between their fingers on a workshop at Kings Manor Farm on 21 November.
The workshop was funded by the Environment Agency via Isle of Wight Land Care (www.landcare.island2000.org.uk) to discuss the serious topic of soil management. One of the most popular parts of the day was the soil testing, when everybody took a ball of soil in their hands and had a good feel to find out what type of soil it was. But that was no surprise to Rowan Adams, the Land Care project manager, who reckons she's not the only person who enjoys getting a bit muddy.
Farm conservation advisers John Blamire and Colin Hedley led everybody through the process of assessing their farm field by field for soil erosion risk, and discussed ways of making sure that rain can get through the soil rather than washing it away, so that soil stays on the farm - which means better yields and profits for farmers, and less pollution for water downstream.
The workshop was hosted by Kings Manor Farm (http://www.ferguson-museum.co.uk/contact.htm), who also provided an excellent lunch made almost entirely from local Isle of Wight food, including milk from their own cows.
Any Island farmer or grower who missed the workshop has a second chance - there's another one on Tuesday 22 January. There are also two other workshops - nutrient and manure management on Monday 14 January, and water conservation on Monday 11 February - see http://www.landcare.island2000.org.uk/free_workshops.htm for details.

November Newsletter

The latest exciting instalment of the Island 2000 newsletter is now online. To read the November issue, or any of the back issues, just visit the newsletter page.

Fully decorated German apartments to rent

I have just returned from a family trip to Frankfurt's Christmas Market, where we spent much time marvelling at tat from a different culture. I was very taken however with the fantastic painted bird boxes on offer at one stall. I now feel we have done the poor old Grey Wagtails and House Sparrows a dis-service with our 1960-esque concrete carbuncles. I wonder if we may find tiny burned out cars lining the Troll Trail before long, and the better off birds emigrating to Germany where they can buy a stylish pad for a few Euros.