“If you’re lucky whilst out walking you may catch sight of some of the Island’s rarer wild flowers – some are so rare, like the Wood Calamint, that the only place in Britain where they can be found is here on the Isle of Wight.

“It occurs in one valley in the chalk and just grows on one sunny bank. It was discovered by the eminent Victorian botanist, Dr William Bromfield, who covered the whole Island and wrote Flora Vectensis,” said Colin.

“He discovered it as being new to Britain and it still grows there today although in much smaller quantities,” he explained. “Many years ago Woolworths had a picture of it on their carrier bags.

“Our rarer flowers are quite showy,” he continued. “Field Cow-Wheat grows around the Ventnor area and was quite a serious weed of the wheat fields as it would contaminate the crop and workers would pull it out by hand.

“Now it’s confined to a few sunny banks at the wildlife trust reserve at St Lawrence and it’s out through July and August.

“The Pyramid orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) is found across the downs from Culver to Freshwater and it’s also found in cemeteries on the Chalk such as Mount Joy (behind Carisbrooke Castle). Because it does so well it was voted the County flower by Plant Life about six years ago,” said Colin.

“Cemeteries are good places to look for wild flowers as they are often left to grow. The reason for this is that the cemeteries were traditionally taken from farmers’ fields and haven’t been changed.

“The meadows at Newtown are full of flowers and there you can find the Corky-Fruited Water-Dropwort. It’s quite common with us but  found mostly in central southern England. It’s also found with Dyers Greenweed, a dwarf yellow broom that was used for dying cloth.

“Meadows and salt marshes like those at Newtown, St Helens and Yarmouth are the place to go to see Sea Lavender, a nice showy plant, and Knapweed has purple heads and is tallish, and so good for bees.

“Also Ventnor Down and Headon Warren are good places to see all the different heath flowers and the dwarf gorse that is in flower with the heathers. The other thing to see on Ventnor Down are the bilberries,” added Colin.

“Early flowering Gentian flowers on chalk down land and is only found on the Isle of Wight, Wiltshire and Dorset and we get a lot of it over here,” he explained.

“If you go to the Duver at St Helens look for the tiny blue flowers called Autumn Squills that flower in August and September – it’s the only place in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight where they grow. They look like miniature bluebells and are also found on the cliff tops of Devon and Cornwall.

“By and large we’ve been quite fortunate as most of the plants that Victorian botanists found are still with us. You can also see the exotic plants that escape from gardens like the succulents and echiums,” said Colin.

‘These thrive because it’s warm and sheltered and it adds character to the Island. The cliff walk from Sandown to Shanklin is good for this – you see a lot of exotic plants that have escaped from gardens.

“Red Valerian is a particularly prolific garden escapee. Insects love it as it is a good source of nectar and in Ventnor it has been named ‘Ventnor Pride’ as it grows on the cliffs. But when it grows on walls it can do a lot of damage – at Quarr Abbey it has caused considerable damage to the medieval ruins.

But Colin also wanted to warn our readers. “Harm is done by digging things up and trampling them down, so keep to the paths in the meadows,” he stressed. And, of course, it is an offence to dig up rare wild flowering plants, or indeed any plant from land where you do not have permission.

Dr Colin Pope is Ecology Officer for the IW Council, making sure that the council takes nature conservation into account. He is a very keen botanist and keeps a data base of all Isle of Wight plants, flowering plants, lichens and fungi as well as working closely with the Natural History Society www.iwnhas.org

For starters there are the gibbons – the Lars Gibbons to be precise – that whoop out their distinctive cries. If you’re lucky you will hear them as you arrive at the car park, welcoming you in.

In actual fact they are warding off other females – that’s the human females that come near to their cage. “They only do it when women and children come near,” said owner Don Walser. “The think you’re coming into their feeding territory. All gibbons sing but it is the females that instigate it.”

Don is still in the process of building the park with his son Antony. Currently they are constructing  a ‘honeymoon house’ for two Capuchin monkeys: Martin, who looks like a bit of a bruiser, came to the Haven from Glasgow and it took Don 18 months to find him a mate, a sweet little female called Loulou from a French zoo.

“We raised and appeal to bring Loulou over and then we had to build her a quarantine cage,” explained Don. “Now that she’s finished her quarantine we have to build a neutral cage for them to meet in. First they get to know each other through the wire and then we’ll introduce them in the outside part of the cage.”

All of the monkeys and the owls in the Haven have been born in captivity and have been unwanted by their previous owners for various reasons. Some have been born disabled and therefore can’t be used in breeding programs; others are pets that people could no longer keep that ended up in zoos. There are currently 44 monkeys at the haven and most have come from UK zoos, and about 24 owls.

It was owls that were Don’s first love. “I’ve rescued animals all my life and in the 1970s I got involved with the RSPB and started a breeding programme with barn owls – there were only three breeding pairs left in North Hampshire because of the change in farming methods and use of insecticides.”

Owls, he told us, need short grass to hunt and there had been a decline in dairy farming and the insecticides that were being used at the time make their egg shells soft. “We released 56 into the wild, and we also took some up to Cumbria to release them there,” said Don proudly.

Some of the owls in the Haven come out to meet the public, including Tawny Owl Beau who can be stroked on his breast. “They reckon over 30,000 are kept as pets in the UK. There’s been a craze for keeping owls since the Harry Potter films,” he explained. “We’ve got some hand reared ones that we bring out for talks and to let people stroke them.

Monkeys at the Haven include a pair of Colobus monkeys, which were hunted for their beautiful long white tails that were used for fly swatters and ladies coats. “The tail acts as a parachute,” explained Don. “But they have no thumbs – Colobus is Greek for disabled!

Djebra the red tailed Gwenham had been a pet in Israel and came to the haven from Twycross zoo because he couldn’t get on with the female there, but he doesn’t get on with Don either, getting very agitated when he comes near. Apparently, like people, monkeys can take an instant dislike to an individual.

“Xanu the Siamang Gibbon had never swung on ropes before he came here. His former keeper came and couldn’t believe it,” remembered Don. “We like to think we’re doing our best for them,” he added.

Neireid and Fudge are two different leaf eating monkeys from Indonesia, both as cute as can be. Fudge with his red hair and Neried with her delicate features. Both have treble stomachs like cows and have a tendency to do something that little children find hilarious.

If you opt for a Keeper for a Day or an encounter experience you can enter the cage of the Marmosets, an absolutely wonderful thing to do, especially for children. The inquisitive extended family of Marmosets scamper ll over visitors’ heads and shoulders, searching for food and checking them out in a most intimate fashion. It’s absolutely fabulous.

But it’s those Lars Gibbons that steal the show. The minute they start whooping the whole park comes to a standstill and everyone heads for their cage to find out what’s going on, which makes them whoop even louder. It’s such a feel-good happy sound – you find yourself joining in. Apparently it has even been known to help people with S.A.D and M.E.

Luckily the Haven is open all through the winter as well as the summer months – see the website for opening times on and off season.

Jays – our crazy, exotic, pink and blue crows: they skulk in the woods all summer and never come out, but in the autumn they go absolutely bonkers for acorns  and spend all their time planting , planting, planting, only to then forget where they put them all. There’s an awful lot of oak trees, and quite possibly oak woods, that owe their existence to this bird.

It’s a species that does very well on the Island thanks to lots of small woods and no grey squirrels (which will follow jays and nick their precious acorn caches, the rotters), and the numbers are boosted in the autumn with the arrival of  mainland and continental birds, some passing through, some staying for the Island’s milder winter. This is when they are at their most visible, seemingly suddenly everywhere, and there have been some truly spectacular flocks elsewhere in the UK – 3000+ in Cornwall for example!

Our jay, more fully named the Eurasian Jay to distinguish it (by its extensive geographical range) from the other two in the genus, has a splendid sounding latin name with a spot-on derivation: Garrulus glandarius, the chatty acorn eater, how very apt. And for a crow, it is an exquisite creature, pink and black and white and flashing metallic blue in the wing as you will know if you have ever picked up, on a woodland ramble, a feather such as this -

There’s stacks of crow mythology of course, counting magpies, avoiding ravens, staring at crows etc etc, but not a lot it seems on jays. So I’d like to propose some new lore, some contemporary jay magic, and it goes like this:

Jays seen in May – your luckiest day;  seen in September – still a day to remember, even though you’ll almost certainly see another one tomorrow.

Actually that really doesn’t scan all that well.

I’d missed him when he visited Dimbola last year and as I was in Newport anyway it seemed an ideal opportunity to check him out – and the Wildlife Day for that matter.

I arrived at just before 2pm to discover that Brian wasn’t on till 6.10pm and that Joe Duckworth from the League of Cruel Sports was on at 4.30pm. I bought three DVDs from one of the cat protection groups and ‘won’ a small stuffed bear for my dog from the League Against Cruel Sports stall and drove over to Newtown Estuary.

Why Newtown, I hear you ask? Well it was the last sunny day we were going to get for some time and my dog loves it there, as do I. We met a really interesting ‘birder’ while we were eating our picnic by the black shed on the old quay too. Apparently there are three visiting Ospreys in the vicinity. Unfortunately we didn’t see them, but we did see a very angry swan. Tallulah was most indignant about his posturing and hissing and ran at him, but luckily he was faster than her and she didn’t fancy jumping into the water or we’d have been in a lot of trouble.

Then we meandered back to the Riverside Centre and got there at around 5.15pm – enough time to catch the end of Joe Duckworth, I had assumed (not literally you understand) and in good time to hear Brian May on the subject of culling badgers.

But all was not as it seemed. David Williams from the Badger Trust was talking when I arrived, then Joe Duckworth took over for a very short time at around 5.30pm and Brian, who was sitting up at the back when I arrived, was introduced at about 5.45pm and had finished talking by around 6.10pm – clever stuff thought I, he’s making sure that only those who really believe in this cause, not rubber necking fans, get to hear his message. I may be wrong here, but if I was him I think that might be what I’d do.

He bounded up to the front, wearing one of those long black Crombie styled coats that he favours that suit him so well, and with that wonderful cloud of hair that frames his face; then proceeded to talk very eloquently on the subject of the imminent badger cull.

“This has been going on a long time…” he began. “Badgers have been victimised consistently…and make no mistake about it we’re in a cull now. In some areas you will see more badgers on the road and it’s not because they’ve been hit by cars…they’ve been shot, gassed or poisoned and put on the roads. They’re actually very good at getting across roads and they’re good swimmers. If you see a badger in the road, think about that…” We did.

“I have become very friendly with two people at the ISG (Independent Scientific Group) – Woodruff and Donnelly were the two main researchers -and the conclusion was that culling badgers could make no solution to bovine TB. DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is full of scientists but you can choose which scientist you use. You can find a scientist to tell you what you want to hear.”

Hand on hip he looked down to the floor, lending gravitas to what was coming next. “When I came into this it was about foxes. I realised that if David Cameron became Prime Minister he would re-introduce fox hunting.

“For the farmers you have to have some sympathy. TB causes about ten per cent of premature death in cows,” said Brian. But he then explained that farmers are no strangers to killing their animals in any case. “As soon as a cow can’t produce enough milk it is sent off to the abattoir,” he pointed out.

He also took a quick pop at himself at this stage, talking about how people might see him as an interfering interloper who happens to be famous. But in his life as a public figure and as an astronomer he said that the following had occurred to him:

“I don’t see why the human race can consider itself to be the most important species on the planet. The badger has been in this country 60,000 more years than us – why wouldn’t it have more rights than us?” he asked the audience to much applause.

“Cameron’s family are heavily into the shooting industry,” he shot across the bows. “I put a large poster in the Cromwell Road saying “Save Me” about fox hunting… I went into the offices of Farmer’s Weekly, alone and unarmed…” he added to much amusement. We were beginning to really warm to him now.

“When I first went up on a cherry picker in front of my poster I felt alone. Now, in front of my poster of a badger I no longer feel alone. I feel good because we have a ground swell…” The room erupted.

“We have this thing called Team Badger – please go to teambadger.org and sign the petition and go through your address books and send invitations to sign it to all your friends. Once we have 100,000 signatures it will have to be debated in parliament.” (On the evening there were just over 84,000 and counting).

“We will not lose this war,” he concluded. “We will change the way people think about wild animals.”

And then he was off to the back of the room where he signed countless autographs, posed for photographs with attendees with considerable grace and charm and signed the limited edition T Shirts he had brought with him for those who had purchased one. I have to admit that I ran round to the Badger Trust and bought one and had it signed too. Well it’s not every day you get to talk to Brian May.

Organised by our good friend Anthony Churchill, who was wearing his Morning Cloud polo shirt for the occasion (he was Ed Heath’s navigator you know) the trip had been hastily arranged because it was such a fantastic day. It was on that Saturday when we all thought summer had come at last, if a little late. Obviously it hadn’t (that would be too perfect) but for that one day it certainly did a very good impersonation of being a pretty damn wonderful day in every way.

Down at the Haven for 1.30pm we all piled onto the new bigger boat that Ocean Blue are using for their coastal tours – the last one has been sold to Sierra Leone as a water taxi from the airport we were told by Lucy Strevens who with husband Sean were taking us on this trip. This one is 0.6m wider than the previous one and more economical to run and it certainly seems very stable. We wandered with ease around the boat as it made its way down the coast, with Lucy giving us a very interesting commentary on the history and geology of the area.

Just out of the Haven we stopped to pull up a lobster pot and the kids on board were thrilled to find the blue lobsters (their usual colour before they are cooked) and snapping crabs within its interior. Most were too small and had to be thrown back, but I think we got one full sized crab that was put into the ice box. Everyone was keen to have a look at the creatures and a couple of the more daring amongst us had a go at picking them up for a photo opportunity.

Then it was off again along the coast towards St Catherine’s Point and lighthouse, passing the converted coastguard cottages that make up Orchard Bay’s beautiful house with its own beach. Famous for being the base of a drug smuggling operation that was foiled in the year 2000, those on board remembered the stories associated with one of the largest drug hauls of recent years. Was there a wet-suited diver who spoke only French found in Pelham Woods? And were the police undercover in nearby hotels impersonating scout masters? We’ll never know for sure…

Binnel Bay was another interesting story and the remains of the harbour built by the German dilettante William Spindler in the Victorian era is still very in evidence just off shore. It didn’t survive for long as a working harbour, but it’s become quite a curious folly.

Next we turned 180 degrees and headed straight out to sea. Apparently we went about a mile out but it hardly seemed more than a few hundred yards. Sean and Lucy then unpacked the mackerel lines and showed us how to drop the weight into the sea – the fish would be caught on the two or three feathered hooks on the line as long as we pulled the line upwards and then dunked it down again.

It looked so simple and Lucy and Sean caught two or three fish on every line they put down. Others on the boat were having similar luck. I, however, was useless on the fish catching stakes and almost gave up for lack of interest. But eventually I caught a little one, and then ten minutes later I got a slightly bigger one. (Taking pity on me they did give me four to take home though, which was kind of them and they were delicious grilled with a little butter.)

Lucy showed the little ones (and us) how the beautiful skins of the fish helped to disguise them against predators – green, blue and black on top to fool birds that they were just part of the sea and silvery white underneath to make them invisible to those swimming beneath them.

Mackerel lines wound up and put away and fish safely stowed in the ice box and we sped back to the Haven, posing at the back of the boat with the wake churning behind us. It was pretty exciting – the boat does go at a pace and it has two large engines.

Just outside the Haven we stopped for Sean to bait one of the lobster pots with the guts and heads of the mackerel we had just caught that had been expertly filleted by him before we sped back. And then we were back at the mooring, all too soon, with cold drinks beckoning from the nearby Met Bar. Of course you can also buy top quality freshly caught battered fish from Blake’s up above if you can’t wait to get home and cook your catch.

*see website for details

With his (now ex) wife Cherryl he decided to find a companion for Dillon and the rest is history. First they hired a paddock, which the donkeys quickly outgrew, then a field on the Forest Road that passing drivers would stop at to see the growing collection. Thus a Sanctuary was established near Newport in 1987, to provide a safe, permanent home for any donkey in distress or otherwise in need of care and attention.

But demand was so great that the site quickly became too small and, as donations were pouring in, they were able to afford a stunning farm overlooked by Stenbury Down and the Worsley memorial on the Newport road, just before you enter Wroxall from the north.

It was then that the donkeys began to flood in from every part of the country and some from further afield. Charlie tended to each and every one of them with his quiet patient manner and built up an encyclopaedic knowledge of all ailments of the donkey physiology. Some donkeys had been broken by heavy hauling, others had terrible foot problems. Dillon had a malformation of the spine – two spines had grown instead of just one because, Charlie thinks, he must have fused to his twin in the womb. A serious piece of x ray kit had to be brought over to find this out.

But luckily the donations were still flooding in and many people were signing up to the donkey adoption schemes ensuring that the medical care that these donkeys receive is second to none. With no entrance fee the scheme to adopt a donkey is only around the price of a family ticket and when you see the lovely creatures in the fields and the stables your heart will melt; your fingers reach for the plastic (or the cheque book).

On the Donkey Sanctuary‘s 20^th anniversary in 2007 Cherryl decided to put on a Grand Donkey Day Out to celebrate and the 118118 lads (Colin Carmichael is from around these parts and had adopted several donkeys) and a few Island bands helped to make a festive day of the proceedings. Comedian Jo Brand even put in an appearance as she happened to be visiting the Island.

Five years down the line and the Grand Donkey Day Out has metamorphosed into the Faux Fest and has happened on August Bank Holiday Weekend for the past two years. This year saw Legend – a tribute to Bob Marley, headline on Friday, The Bootleg Beatles on the main stage on Saturday and Ben as Michael Jackson bringing the event to a close on Sunday night. Other acts were Vogue Madonna, Simply Take That, I am…Beyonce, Ultimate Elton, Kinisha as Tina Turner, the Boardwalk Drifters and Shenton Dixon as Barry White and Stevie Wonder.

Dillon the donkey eventually died but lived in donkey luxury until the day he went to the great donkey fields in the sky. A raised round flower bed in the farmyard commemorates his passing and he still holds a fond place in Charlie’s heart.

To raise funds you can adopt a donkey, buy donkey-related gifts from the giftshop, purchase books and other second hand items from one of the barns, donate into the collection points around the site or buy a card to attach to one of the apple trees in the farm garden. People write a message to someone or an animal that they have lost and it becomes part of the fluttering decoration that these trees wear.

People return year on year to the Sanctuary to see the donkeys. One lady from the Costwolds raises around £10,000 every year with a group of friends, in memory of her husband and Charlie is touched by each and every person who shows an interest in his beloved charges. “People ask me which is the oldest donkey here,” said Charlie. “And I say “You’re looking at him,” ” he laughed.

Charlie has a healthy and gently wicked sense of humour and is partial to a can of Guinness. One year he tied each of his empty Guinness cans to a tree in the farmyard and a ‘Guinness Tree’ was born, finding fame on YouTube. Charlie was getting visitors from far and wide to see his Guinness Tree until it was deemed unsuitable by the trustees of the Sanctuary. Next year he’s thinking that it might metamorphose into a shoe tree, with people being able to donate a shoe (and a pound or two) for the donkeys.

The Donkey Sanctuary is open every day during the summer and in the winter months it is open on fine weekends and by appointment with the trustees/owners.

And there’s a load of colourful insects hoping for the same,  eager to make the most of late nectar supplies to fuel them through the close of the season. For many of them these truly are their last days as they won’t make it past the first frosts; soft insides can’t survive the damage that freezing delivers. For others there’s the urge to stock up for the long sleep spent tucked away from weather, hungry mice and birds.

But for now, regardless of the death or sleep option, there’s kind of mad abandon about the frenzied feeding on late summer flowers and it’s a great time to take a closer look. These insects are now so preoccupied with slurping nectar that you can get really close without them paying much attention.

All you need to do is look for a good display of wildflowers in a field, along a footpath, in the park, in the sun. Best of all are the yellow composites and the white umbellifers – things that look like dandelions and things that look like white umbrellas – but anything loaded with nectar will be buzzing just now.

There are for example swathes of the deep yellow fleabane all over the place in the late summer, especially common in damp places near ponds and rivers, and every bit is loaded with hoverflies. Get in there, take your time, stand still and let them come to you; you’ll start to notice some of the most spectacular insects that we have.

One of the biggest is the beautiful Helophilus trivittatus (Helophilus literally means ‘sun lover’), it really stands out with its bright, pale, lemon-yellow markings and you’ll surely find it if you scan the buzzing throng.

Another lovely hoverfly which catches the eye, but this one for its black and yellow wasp-like look, is Chrysotoxum festivum, here it is:

So here’s to a happy bug-hunting autumn and I hope to see you all, in scenes strangely reminiscent of  Dawn of the Dead, standing, staring, silent and still in field corners across the Island.

Have fun.

“All the land the NT owns is for the benefit of the nation, but it’s gradually changed, particularly over recent years,” said Robin who has worked for the NT for 23 years, 13 of them on the Island. “A few years ago I would have said we’re here to look after beautiful landscapes and wonderful wildlife for people to enjoy, but now there’s far more emphasis on connecting people with the landscapes we look after.

“We own about 10 per cent of the whole Island area. There’s currently an Outdoors Campaign which harks right back to the founders (of the NT) who saw there was a need to protect amazing countryside forever – there’s no other organisation that does that. In the 1930s and 40s a lot of houses came (to the Trust) because of the problems landowners had with inheritance tax.

“It didn’t take long for NT to get an image as being quite elitist but the Trust has tried to make it clear that it wishes to appeal to a wider range of people. We’re not a stuffy organisation just interested in country houses.

“I feel on the Island we’ve always wanted to do that, we still want to maintain these places as high quality landscapes, so a lot of what I do now is all connected with people, either providing specific opportunities and activities or ensuring that the places we look after are in good condition for when people visit.

“There’s a very strong feeling by IW residents that it’s their land and consequently you get differing ideas of how it should be kept. One of the perceived issues is cows: People say you can’t put cows on Mottistone Down because it’s a dog walking area.

“Getting across this idea that it’s a farmed landscape and being aware of the idea of how the landscape is managed is an important one. The English landscape is a farmed landscape and people like eating good food and quite a lot of it is produced on NT land. I’m sure our flower rich meadows and downsmust contribute to the quality of the food.

“It’s a very ancient traditional farmed landscape, farmed since Neolithic times. There are now ten tenant farmers who rent National Trust land. Many areas are grazed by cattle as they tend to produce the most varied vegetation structure for wildlife. We also have our own goats on the Ventnor Downs. They are good for eating back the Holm Oak regrowth to stop it from taking over the chalk grassland again. And we have  just over 100 Hebridean sheep, which we use to graze downs and meadows in restoration areas.

“The main bit of down we don’t own is Brading Down which is owned by the Council. We own the two extremities: Bembridge and Culver Down and the Needles headland, Ventnor Downs that has heathland on the top of the chalk because of the gravel and Chillerton, Mottistone, Compton and Tennyson Downs. We look after many of the best bits, which are mostly Sites of Specil Scientific Interest (SSSI) and all within the Island’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

“We have Mottistone Manor and gardens, Bembridge Windmill, the Old and New Batteries (at the Needles), the Old Town Hall at Newtown and the visitor point there along with Noah’s Ark and Hollis Cottage that have private tenants. We don’t have a vast area of woodland – Borthwood and woods at Newtown are the main ones.

“We have 37 cottages and houses including a row of buildings in Brighstone: 15 of the cottages are holiday lets, including two in Mottistone,three coastguard cottages at the Needles and two at St Helen’s Duver.

“We’ve taken on significant areas that consolidate our existing ownership: Easton field in Freshwater Bay, farmland at Shalfleet, a couple of other bits at Newtown, part of Mottistone Common and part of Bembridge Down.

“The downland flowers are amazing this year and some of the butterflies have done well too, depending on their life cycle. We’ve got a really good range of different types of habitat, chalk downs is the  main one but small lovely bits of heath in three different places, ancient woodland, Newtown Estuary/creek and St Helen’s Duver, which is stabilised sand dunes.

“We’ve recently acquired an area called Wydcombe near the Hoy Monument and it’s a really unusual part of the Island, more like Shropshire. If you’re in for a good long walk you’ve got a fantastic area there. The best way is to park at the Viewpoint car park at Blackgang or in Niton Village and then walk up on to St. Catherine’s Down before dropping into the Wydcombe valley.

“I recently rediscovered a path on Headon Warren that winds its way through the heather and gorse on the landslip. There are all sorts of paths that change; there are some secluded areas – you can get the feeling of wilderness in some places.

“Another good area for walking is around Chillerton Down. There is a large area of land here that is covered by National Trust covenants as well as the Down which is actually owned by the Trust.

“Increasingly we’re trying to make ourselves more accessible to people and we’re going to the local shows and encouraging schools to come out into the countryside to help with their learning. We want to keep the impetus going following the recent re-organisation of the Island’s schools. The fact that there are some great areas of National Trust countryside right on the schools’ doorsteps means there are greater opportunities.”

The NT run various fun activities throughout the year, many of which are co-ordinated by Helen Parry, who runs a whole programme of Wild Zone activities at Newtown and a summer Wild Zone Club. For more details see the National Trust website.

This month you could win a family ticket for two adults and three children to all four of the NT’s Island attractions: Mottistone Manor Gardens, The Needles Old Battery, Bembridge Windmill and Newtown Old Town Hall. Click here to find out more.

Alverstone

Very close to Alverstone Mead hide and in the middle of an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is High Pines on Lower Road in Adgestone. “A lot of visitors come here to see the wildlife because this is a very rural spot,” said owner Nick Skinner. Easy access to bridleways, footpaths and cycle paths make this an ideal location for walkers and cyclists or alternatively you can relax on the nearby sandy beaches.

Nearby are many local attractions such as the Roman Villa, Garlic Farm and Adgestone Vineyard. Sandown and Shanklin Golf Club with its challenging County Championship course is a short distance away. There are just two large first floor double guest rooms, both redecorated for 2012.

Newtown

Youngwoods Farm on Whitehouse Road is between Porchfield and Newtown and has its own nature reserve of 83 acres too. “In April and may we have swathes of green winged and southern marsh orchids and all manner of wildlife,” said owner Judith Shanks.  It is a wonderful base for artists, bird watchers, cyclists and walkers and has views over meadows and ancient oak trees to the downs, the West Wight and across the Solent as far as Lymington.

The Island stone farmhouse was first mentioned in records in the thirteenth century, when the area was all forested, and it was rebuilt in the eighteenth century. Chickens and sheep are kept around the farmhouse, barns and fields and there is a resident barn owl. Stabling for guest’s horses can be provided if required .

Brading

Oaklands House is right on the edge of Brading Haven RSPB reserve and at the foot of Brading Downs. You could even leave the car at home as it is just a short walk from Brading Station too – see www.trainline.co.uk. This large B&B has 10 en-suite air conditioned bedrooms and offers bed and continental buffet breakfast to adults only. All bedrooms feature an LCD TV with DVD player, an iPod dock, a silent refrigerator and a personal safe. Other facilities include a heated swimming pool, petanque, car parking, licensed bar, free Wi-Fi and a 24 hour honesty bar. Safe cycle and golf club storage is also available. Oaklands House is non-smoking.

Afton

Frenchman’s Cove is set in an acre of secluded grounds amidst National Trust downland, on the old road towards the Needles. Nestling beneath Tennyson Down, not far from the magnificent cliffs towering above `Frenchman’s Hole’, it has splendid country and Solent views and is one of the most westerly guest houses on the Island. The house has eight bedrooms and two family suites and all have rural aspects or sea views.

Wildlife such as badgers, foxes and rabbits frequent the acre of land around the house and a buzzard nests behind the coachhouse. For that feeling of being on top of the world, try the walk across the Downs to the tip of the headland for breathtaking views of the Needles and the sweep of the Dorset coastline.

Getting in Amongst Nature

Just up the road from Afton Marsh Local Nature Reserve and in amongst the apple trees of Afton Park Apple Farm sit The Really Green Holiday Company’s beautiful yurts. There are five 16ft fully furnished cream canvas yurts available to hire for self-catering or bed and breakfast holidays from April 1^st. Each yurt sleeps up to five people containing a double bed (including one with a four poster), a double futon or day bed and a single camp bed if required and every yurt has its own outdoor cooking and seating area. There is also the ‘Dome’, a large undercover tented area, providing weather-proof cooking, eating and seating facilities and a communal area for guests to mingle or you can take breakfast and other meals at Afton Apple Farm’s café. There is a solar/wood burner fuelled shower and compost toilets. This is an ideal base from which to discover the wildlife and beauty of the West Wight, whilst sampling a green way of living.

Best in the Wild

The very best place to see squirrels up close is the hide on Alverstone Mead nature trail. Take hazelnuts with you and place them on the feeding platform and before long you will hear them scurrying across the roof and then down the sides of the hide. The squirrels come very close to you and they are particularly tame because of the frequent visitors. Please do not feed them Brazil nuts under any circumstances as they are poisonous to squirrels and too many peanuts will thin their bones – find hazelnuts to feed them if you can. There are also hosts of wild birds on the feeders that hang from the trees who will take nuts left out on the hide shelf – on the day we visited there were blue and great tits, hedge and house sparrows, chaffinches and robins. Ducks, pheasants and moorhens were ground feeding around the hide.

Parkhurst Forest also has a dedicated squirrel hide and walkway from the car park off of Parkhurst Road. It’s a ten minute uphill walk through the trees to the hide, which is marked from the car park. Large squirrel sculptures will show you that you’re on the right track, but the real squirrels are harder to spot.

Centurion Copse on the edge of the RSPB reserve at Brading Marshes has red squirrels amongst its old oaks. You can walk here from Bembridge or across the old sea wall from Brading Station. Behind the Griffin pub in Godshill is a tree-lined walk to Beech Copse where you will see squirrels and they are also prolific in the ancient Borthwood Copse near Winford and America Woods just outside Shanklin.

Best at the Attractions

Robin Hill must be the best family-style attraction for seeing red squirrels as they not only have a special hide in the woods but Helen Butler from the Red Squirrel Trust holds a squirrel talk and activity day every Friday during the summer season (from March 30th 2012) at 3.30pm. You will also see red squirrels scampering across the lawns of Osborne House if you keep your eyes peeled – look to the left as you drive in and up in the big trees between the house and the walled garden or in the trees around the Swiss Cottage.

Best on the Farm

The Garlic Farm has loads of red squirrels in the trees above the farm and they breed here too. They will venture down to the area outside the café and you can watch them scampering down the wall and along a rope to pick up food that has been left for them.

Best at Tea Gardens

Shanklin Old Village has the largest number of tea gardens with visiting squirrels in one area.  Pencil Cottage and The Old Thatch down in the village both boast of their garden visitors and if you take a walk down past the top of Shanklin Chine to Rylstone Gardens the tearooms up there have squirrel feeders and frequent furry visitors – they also have a brightly coloured pitch and putt in the middle of the tea gardens that is quaint and vintage and there are hundreds of planters full of flowers. If you pay to walk down through Shanklin Chine from here you may see more squirrels.

Best by the Sea

At Fort Victoria in Yarmouth behind the model railway exhibition is a great place to see squirrels as there is a feeding post that they frequently use. The woods of the country park behind this attraction are also a good place to spot squirrels.

Best on a Bike Ride or Walk

The Freshwater to Yarmouth cycle track along the old railway line is wooded for most of its length and squirrels can be seen in the trees. Similarly the Cowes-Newport cycle track following the old railway line is also a good place to spot them, but if you are on a bike please be aware that they may run across the pathway.

In spite of this a walk in the countryside will offer up a fantastic array of wild flowers and as people are becoming increasingly interested in such things it is really worth taking a pocket guide for wild flowers and heading off on a country walk. Just last week after a walk along Culver Beach I walked up on to Culver Down through a lovely meadow of wild flowers, quite literally carpets of colour. With Carline Thistles, Self-heal and Wild Thyme all flowering in drifts amongst the grass. The early rush of orchids is somewhat over now but there are still plenty to be found and with the rather strange year that we have had climate-wise there are some interesting combinations of flowers that do not usually flower at the same time. It appears to be a particularly good year for knapweeds and there are some very strong deep purple ones along the roadside on Mersley Down.

I remember as a child walking the footpaths and bridleways of the Island with my parents when we came on holiday and how irritating it was to have them keep stopping to look at “weeds”. It seemed then to be a massive waste of time and just another delay in getting to a beach or having an ice cream or generally doing fun stuff.

Now over 40 years later I walk the same paths and byeways and stop and look at the rich and varied flora of the Isle of Wight and now see just what a joy it is to take in the beauty all around.I am not sure whether it was those formative years that have led me to this enjoyment of nature or if it is just a function of age, but I do know that if you are prepared to take the time there is just so much to see and so much to learn.

I would encourage all families to give the countryside a try, be not hasty and take time to observe that which is literally at your feet. The trend for wildflower meadows that has become the latest garden style has been demonstrated in mass plantings in and around the Olympic Park and whilst these are quite wonderful to see they are contrived and will have to be managed. For decades the grazing regimes of the Isle of Wight have created large swathes of “natural” wildflower meadows that are as much part of what makes the Island as is Alum Bay, the Needles, the Downs, Shanklin Old Village, Cowes and Yarmouth.

So get out there, get walking and take a look around, you may be surprised at what a wild thyme you have!

In a moment, I was thrown into confusion. I hadn’t seen a grey squirrel for years, although when I lived on the mainland it wasn’t unusual. They’re cute, and entertaining. Kids in the park like to chase them, and old ladies like to give them nuts. But on the Island, the sight of the humble grey squirrel has a very different implications. In what will probably become England’s last grey squirrel-free county, the sight of one of the little grey creatures provides a very different reaction.

The Isle of Wight has a healthy and stable population of red squirrels. It’s the only population of the reds in the UK that isn’t threatened by the grey squirrels which were introduced in the 20th century, and have been spreading inexorably ever since. Vast sums have been spent, and great efforts expended to keep the mainland greys from spreading north. In the end, they will fail – at least in England, and maybe eventually in Scotland. But there is little activity needed to keep the reds safe on the Island.  So long as we can keep the greys from becoming established, there will still be a small but healthy population of native British red squirrels. These days, they make a genuine contribution to the Island’s tourist industry – go and enjoy the red squirrel hide at Parkhurst Forest, see the reds playing at Shanklin Chine or Robin Hill, or visit the hidden hide at Alverstone Mead nature reserve.

Spotting a grey squirrel on the Island would be a very serious matter. About ten years ago one was found dead, by a roadside. A post-mortem suggested it was a female that had recently given birth. A huge hunt was on to find any other grey squirrels – volunteers combed woodlands, set (humane) traps, laid sticky hair-tubes out to sample the hairs of any passing animals, and much more. Professional trappers were brought in from the mainland, and a publicity campaign was mounted. Every single sighting (and there were many) was followed up and investigated. Thankfully, not a single grey squirrel was found. Nor has any breeding population been seen since. Where the original corpse came from was never clear — maybe it was dead when it arrived, and someone threw it away.

But we are still vigilant. Volunteers still check out any sightings,  and just occasionally there are credible accounts that need further investigation. The fact that no grey squirrels have yet become established on the Island suggests that they probably can’t get here under their own power – and that even if they do, they might not automatically be successful. So there is good reason to think that continued watchfulness will indeed enable us to keep our beloved red squirrel for a while longer yet.

The flags are to be all individually decorated with prayers/wishes/dreams by members of the public and by local college students during May, June and July. The flags will then be ‘planted’ in the shape of a flame that will be visible from Alum Bay beach below when the Olympic Torch takes a ride to the beach and back on July 14th.

Eva Wolfram is also known for the wonderful labyrinths that she builds on Compton beach, and at other locations around the Isle of Wight, usually at special times in the seasons’ calendar and her decorated walkways are designed as meditative tools for making a journey and contemplation. This summer (2012) she will be building one at Compton on June 23rd from 4pm with low tide at 6.12pm.

“We will aim to create a walkable labyrinth in the tidal zone and celebrate the longest day of the year with a bonfire. Walking the labyrinth, you will have the opportunity to reflect on the changing of the seasons and on how they affect your own life,” said Eva. “We will be at the Compton Farm end of the beach (the far end down the steep wooden steps) and all are welcome! Bring a song, a story, musical instrument, drum etc, and let’s celebrate!

“A labyrinth has one entrance and once exit and is a dedicated path. Once you commit to the path you don’t have to worry about anything anymore, you just follow the path and trust that it’s going to lead you in and lead you out. A very nice metaphor for life as opposed to a maze where it’s all about getting lost and finding your way,” explained Eva. “Although that’s also a very nice metaphor for life,” she laughed. “It just depends on what you want,” she mused.

“They were used by all cultures as a pathway – there are lots in Greece,” explained Eva. “I was always interested in the mythology of ancient cultures: how they upheld their spiritual connections, what practices they followed and what little remains of those practices.

“Like the labyrinth in Chartres cathedral – there’s quite a large one there in mosaic on the floor, with the centre like a flower. The speculation is that it was built on a sacred site where the labyrinth was and the only way that the people could perpetuate the labyrinth was by building it into the floor.

“I hit upon this website where they showed you how to make a labyrinth and it all went from there. The very first one I made was in the Waipio Valley on the big Island of Hawaii in 2004,” said Eva.

“I think the first one I did here was for the winter solstice in 2005 at Compton. There was a dead dolphin washed up on the beach and it was really beautiful. Obviously it’s really sad too.

“There were loads of children who came with their families and we made two labyrinths: one we drew around the dolphin to ease its passage and then we made another one for ourselves. It was quite a touching thing – they all loved it.”

“I did another one at Bembridge for the Shore Lines Beach Art Walk with funding from the AONB, with other artists dotted along the beach. We felt inspired to make a sun one and that was also a workshop where I taught other people to make labyrinths.

“I like to see people interacting with nature that’s what my goal is in this work –to get people to go out into nature and through interacting with it get energized, but also to become more aware of their place within nature.

“I think that it is one of the great ailments of our culture that we are led to believe that we are above nature. It deprives us of our feeling of belonging, of purpose. We take ourselves out of the big picture and we are lost.

“If we are removed from nature and we exploit nature we hurt ourselves and there are all sorts of implications there. But rather than preaching I like to give people a different experience, so that’s what the labyrinths do. They give you the opportunity to have a direct experience with nature.”

In 2010, as part of the Live Arts event, organised by the West Wight Landscape Partnership, Eva built a land labyrinth, from willow and other natural materials, in the field by the cliffs where skylarks nest at Freshwater.

“So many people came to that installation but there was this one lady and her husband taught me how to see the skylarks. The guy was lying outside the labyrinth on the ground and was listening to The Lark Ascending that was playing on my iPod and he was watching the skylarks as they went up and down. You can’t see them unless you watch for them to go up – and they always go from about the same spot.

“She walked into the labyrinth and sat down in the centre and she was exactly as I had envisaged a skylark – completely exposed. People don’t realise that if they walk through the fields where they are nesting they won’t even see the nest before they step on it because it is so camouflaged.”

Eva has also made labyrinths at the Bestival and made one at Ventnor Fringe festival last summer, where people were encouraged to tie a ‘wish’ to a central tree, and she often makes them on the beach at solstices.

To see more of Eva’s work you can visit her studio in Cowes over the Open Studios weekend from July 20th to 23rd, 2102 where she will be exhibiting with her daughter Laura Eva.

All you need is a net with a fine mesh – although some creatures can be picked up without the need for one – and a bucket full of seawater to put your finds in. We asked our expert blogger Ian Boyd to give us the lowdown on where to go and what to look out for when you’re rockpooling on the Island.

 Basics

• Best time to go – 1 hour before low tide (check tide tables).
• Wear shoes with good grip –wellies are best.
• Take care! Rocks will be slippery especially those covered in seaweed.

 Remember

• Return all creatures when you leave. They cannot survive in your pocket.  Take photos instead.
• Don’t forget to turn any rock back over after investigating underneath, otherwise creatures may dry out in the sun.
• Don’t leave any litter behind.

 Bembridge – the best place to go

Limestone ledge with shallow pools. An excellent variety of marine life especially crabs- Shore crabs (most common green or black), Edible Crab- pinkish orange with black-tipped claws-look like Cornish pasties), Hairy Crab (hairy!!), Spider Crabs (long legged), Hermit Crab ( soft bodied crab living in the discarded shell of a mollusc) and Velvet Swimming Crab (stripy legged, red eyed crab –pretty fierce too).

Small fish mainly Shanny ( slimy skin, no scales can survive out of water tucked under a rock until the tide comes back in).

Sea anemones – red Beadlet anemones and green and purple tentacled Snakelocks anemone.

Prawns and shrimps

Lots of sea snails- periwinkles, dog whelks, limpets, topshells and soft bodied often frilly sea slugs.

No starfish but look out for their tiny relative Brittle Stars- tiny and pink (will fit on the top of your little finger tip) found on the under surface of rocks.

Sponges and Sea squirts.

Superb diversity of seaweed.

 Ventnor

Steps down from La Falaise car park in Ventnor, but also accessible pools from the south end of the beach.

Boulder strewn shore- not easily accessible for younger children.

General rock pool fauna, especially crabs (shore and edible), prawns, shanny, Beadlet anemone and sea snails.

Along the same stretch of coastline there are rock pooling areas in Steephill Cove and Monks Bay.

 St. Helens

Sandy shore with boulders – quite good for sponges in particular. Good general site. Good accessibility. Similar fauna to above.

 Fort Victoria near Yarmouth

Gravely shore-not rockpools as such, more dents and hollows in the clay and amongst the shingle. Turn over rocks to find creatures. Can be good for hermit crabs. Also great for fossils, especially fossil shells and bits of turtle shell.

 Compton

Clay and sandstone ledges – can be very slippery. Good for animals which bore into rock e.g. the fabulously named Boring Piddock!  Also good for general rock pool fauna. Has lots of the beautiful Peacocks Tail seaweed. Also good for dinosaur foot prints, sometimes these are the rockpools in fact!!!

 Freshwater Bay

Shingle beach with rocky area.  Several different species of limpet (yes there is more than one).

 Ryde Sands

Excellent sandy pools that go on for miles.  Brilliant for snail shells of all sorts and chasing fish fry and prawns. Shore covered in worm holes.

The point is that the Island is filled with amazing sounds just now. After a long delay while miserable April kept them all queuing on the other side of the Channel, our sweet-singing migrant birds are all now safely gathered in and shouting their heads off from hedge, wood and ditch. If you can stand the pain it is truly worth an early rise (better make it 4.30 am latest) to listen to the Dawn Chorus. No matter where you are I promise it is a life-enhancing experience.

So we have Blackcaps (press the ‘listen play’ button) and Willow Warblers, and of course the king singer himself, the Nightingale.

Not to be outdone our resident species put on a pretty amazing show too. The tiny Wren with that massive voice, the homely Robin and the elegant Blackbird. They all come into their own in May and June while there are territories to be defended and mates to be lured.

There’s also some weirder stuff going on out there. You must must must visit Parkhurst or Bouldnor forests on a warm evening this summer to hear the unearthly song of the Nightjar (accompanied by wing-clapping if you’re wondering what that other sound is), and if you hear this you really have done well because the liquid wet my lips comes from none other than the invisible Quail, a bird that very few have heard and even fewer have actually seen.

But amongst all the choral grandeur of the singing superstars it’s two rather plain but loud squawks that for me sum up the true sound of summer. One I heard for the first time this year on Yaverland beach at the weekend, though I’ve no doubt this bird has been skirting the Island shores and diving for sand eels for weeks already; you must have heard it and if you haven’t then just listen the next time you’re sat staring into the blue from Ryde sands, or Compton, or Sandown or any other beachy haven. It’s the Sandwich Tern. Melodious, no. Evocative, yes.

And the other is the devil bird itself, the Swift, the epitome of summer and a true marvel. It only lands to nest and will spend perhaps the first four years of its life never actually landing at all. It is a bird that has suffered badly in recent years, the victim of better sealed and insulated homes, too efficient conversions of old barns and buildings, all contributing to the slow disappearance of available nest sites and a steady decline in its numbers. There are though things we can do to help. Take a look here to see how to do your bit by reporting any significant sightings to Gift to Nature.

So take out those earphones, turn off the ipod and just listen, to the sounds of summer.

Most fun in fruit form, when picked as dandelion clocks, and then blown into the wind.

I found out it’s actually very difficult to confirm and takes experience. You need to take account of the season, the habitat and importantly look at the leaves as well as the flower, as some wild flowers are remarkably similar.

So here are a collection of some of the wild flowers I’ve seen during my spring walks on the Isle of Wight along Cyclepath 23. See how many you can spot on your walks…

Dandelion and Dandelion Clocks

Very common, spotted from bright yellow square-tipped pompoms and arrowhead leaves, loved by guinea pigs. Most fun in fruit form, when picked as dandelion clocks, and then blown into the wind.

Oxeye Daisy

Ooo-look! It’s a big daisy, look! Like daisies only bigger. Really easy to spot. Large, saw-like leaves at base of stem help differentiate them from scented mayweed flowers.

Foxglove

Neither a glove nor a fox. Pink, trumpet-shaped flowers that usually grow on one side of the stem.

Red Campion

Confusingly, not red, but pink, though you can see them in white and lighter shades of pink. Hirsute stem and leaves.

Greater Stitchwort

Can be confused with white campion, but look for yellow middle (stamen and pistil).

Wood Anemone

6 pointed star-shaped white petals, streaked pink underneath, with raggy-jagged leaves and not always found in woods.

Cow Parsley

These white clusters of flowers are easy to spot, growing tall, flanking the paths, with ribbed stems and fern-like leaves. Nobody has yet proved if cows think they are parsley.

Creeping Buttercup

Shiny yellow flowers, trailing stems and hairy leaves. Hold close to a person’s chin on a sunny day to see if the shiny reflection confirms if they like butter – or margarine. Fact.

Of course there are loads more and some I couldn’t identify reliably enough. I think I need more practice. Happy spotting on a cycleway or footpath near you!

Deep in the shade of all this vernal uproar lives a quiet ghost and it’s name is Toothwort or Corpse Flower or Dead Man’s Fingers. This is what it looks like:

Its pallid look comes about because it has no chlorophyll, there’s not a hint of green about it and it remains this slightly sickly yellow/pink for the whole of  its short flowering life. With no chlorophyll it’s pretty tough to photosynthesize (impossible actually) so how does Toothwort survive?

By vampirism.

It taps into the roots of the trees it likes (particularly hazel and elm) by means of pad-like suckers through which it drills into the host’s tissues and drinks up the nutrients in needs.

Just to keep the theme of undead botanicals going,  Toothwort also lives almost entirely in the dark; most of its fat little leaves stay permanently underground.  It may even be that these specialised leaves are  in fact  death traps for tiny soil animals, lined with digestive glands and hungry for whatever strays too close. This would makes Toothwort a quite exceptional thing- both parasite and predator, Dracula and Triffid.

There’s another less ghoulish explanation for all that subterranean apparatus though. Toothwort is an underground plant for the greater part of its life, popping up for these few short weeks in the early spring. This means that it cannot transpire in the normal way – water in through the roots and evaporated out through sunlit leaves above. This is no option for Toothwort, but neither can it rely on water draining out through its tissues because, as you’ll remember from your school science, osmosis means that water naturally moves from dilute to concentrated solutions and the solution in soil is much weaker than that in the plant. So it may be that those fleshy-looking leaves are actually water pumps, actively draining the plant’s excess.

Whatever the science, Toothwort is to me a truly marvellous and strangely beautiful addition to our Island springtime flora, just what’s needed to temper all that blue razzmatazz. I do love a bit of sinister.

Best Downhill

Brighstone Forest has a specially designed downhill trail for cyclists that wends its way down from the top of the downs. It’s part of the Tennyson Trail if you take it all the way from Freshwater to Carisbrooke. Ventnor Down is known as the ‘Killer Climb’ and it’s an good descent afterwards too – start at the Spyglass Inn on the seafront, follow Bath Road (if you can!) and Zig Zag Road to the top of the hill and then Downs Road up to the top and then you can take in the scenery on the way back down.

Best for Families

Route 23 is a long flat ride following the old railway track from Shanklin to Newport. You can even cross Newport on the new green cycle path and join up with the trail following the old railway line again and carry on all the way to Cowes.

Best Views

Tennyson Trail is hard to beat for views, especially as you descend into Freshwater or along the top of the downs. But there are also fantastic views from the top of St Martin’s Down and St Boniface Downs if you’re following a trail from Ventnor or Wroxall towards Shanklin.

Best Woodland

Parkhurst Forest has forest trails throughout its sprawling acreage and you may even get to see a red squirrel while you’re pedalling. White on Wight’s Cowes to Shorwell Trail includes a route through the forest and ends at a nice country pub, the Crown Inn. Obviously there’s Brighstone Forest too (mentioned above) but there are other smaller woods such as Firestone Copse that have bridleways crossing them.

Best Kept Secret

We were given this one by Jason Joshua at TAV Cycles in Ryde and it’s one of his faves, with variety of all sorts, woodland, downhill and a slog uphill at Coombley and a lovely return along the seafront. It’s about 22 miles in total, with a few hills but not extreme.

Start in Ryde at Haylands School in Playstreet Lane, turn into Dame Anthony’s Common and then up to Brickfields and on through Havenstreet. Opposite the IW steam Railway take the bridleway to Coombley and at the top of that hill turn left at the road – you can cycle on the greenery alongside the road here if you wish. Turn right onto the bridleway called Shepherd’s Trail and as you go down here look out for the bridleway to Knighton. Then up Knighton Shute bridleway and turn right onto Bully’s Hill. Continue on the road for a short way and then on the left opposite the viewpoint car park is a bridleway called the Nunwell Trail, which goes to Brading.

Through Brading and turn right at the church and at the end of the lane on the left pick up the old railway line through St Helen’s marsh. At the end turn right up into St Helen’s, through the village and right up to Nodes Point Holiday Village. Past the holiday village on the left is a bridleway to Seagrove Bay. Then from here it is along the seafront to Seaview and Ryde. If you want to ride it with TAV Cycles you can do so as ‘The Bike and Burger Ride’ in the IW Cycling Festival this September 2012.

“I moved to the Island in September 1999. I chose the Island because I wanted a base when I was not tour leading overseas. I really wanted somewhere a little more exotic but being an island each time I board the ferry I can fantasise I am going a little further afield! I’ve always liked islands: I grew up on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset although it’s not strictly an island.

“I have wanted to travel since I was 11 years old.  I decided not to go to university but instead I went to the University of Life. First I worked in ski resorts in Europe during the winter months and as a Holiday Rep in Turkey during the summer seasons from 1987-89 when Turkey was just opening up to tourism. In 1990 I joined Explore Worldwide as a Tour Leader.

“I’ve been leading safaris, walking and trekking holidays, boating holidays, cultural adventures, wilderness experiences and three month overland trips. In the last 21 years I’ve led tours in 70 different countries. I started in Turkey, then the Middle East, Africa then anywhere including South East Asia, Europe & South America.

“One of my favourite trekking tours was the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia. During the two week tour we trekked for eight days in a really remote area where we saw endemic species such as Gelada baboons that live in troops of up to 500 and the elusive Simien Fox. The locals are very traditional and friendly people. There is also a lot of history in Ethiopia.

“My favourite part of the Island is West Wight –‘The West is Best’. I don’t really have a favourite walk but I love to go up on the Downs for the views and along the coast: Tennyson Down, Headon Warren, Mottistone Down, above Blackgang to the Pepperpot and Hoy’s Monument and the Downs above Wroxall St Martin’s Down, Luccombe Down and Boniface Down. My favourite beaches are the more remote ones along Back of the Wight such as Shepherd’s Chine and Whale Chine.

“One of the most beautiful places I have trekked in is the volcanic island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. Although it is a departement of France, in the centre where we trekked it is inhabited by the Creole people amongst wild and beautiful vegetation and scenery. They run the mountain retreats where we stayed and provided us with delicious Creole food.

“Whilst I was working there the active volcano was erupting and classed as the most active volcano in the world. Volcanologists arrived from all over to watch the activity as the island of Reunion grew by about seven hectares and two new volcanos appeared out of the ocean. The lava was flowing really slowly and glowing at night so the volcanologists were able to camp right beside the lava flow to take the most amazing photographs.

“We were meant to be trekking around the volcano but we waited until it calmed down. Instead we did an early morning walk up an extinct volcano to watch the sunrise. Whilst it was dark we could see the active volcano glowing in the distance.

“One of my greatest achievements was trekking to the top of Kilimanjaro: a six day trek, four days up and two back down. When we set off to attempt the summit at 11pm we looked like Michelin tyre men with all our layers on. The temperature was minus 20 but we were lucky it could have been much colder if we had had a wind chill factor. At high altitude one’s body feels like lead so we had to stop and rest many times.

“Finally we reached the crater rim, Gilman’s Point, where we watched the sun rise. The porters brought us flasks of hot tea, which was very welcome. Many people give up at this point feeling pleased with their achievement but some of us did the extra 200m in the snow to the peak.

“When I reached the top at 5895m I was the only one up there until my friend joined me. It was amazing to be on The Roof of Africa. Looking down we tried to see the herds of animals that live on the plains below.

“During the flight back home the pilot announced that there was a fantastic view of Kilimanjaro. As I had a window seat the guy next to me asked, “Aren’t you going to take a photo,” and I replied, “I did when I was up there!”

“The walking on the Island isn’t wild and dramatic like some of the places I’ve been to but there’s so much variety. With over 500 miles of footpaths there’s plenty of choice from coastal paths, woodland and forest walks, healthland, up on the Downs and along the beaches.

“The goal has always been to set up a summer business on the Isle of Wight then to escape during the winter months. This will be the first time I’ve done a full summer season here. I lead regular walks mainly in West Wight plus I have a portfolio of walks as I offer myself as a guide for private groups too.

“I don’t just lead the walks I give interesting and entertaining information along the way. There’s so much to tell visitors about the Island including the history, geography, geology, famous Victorian visitors, smuggling, shipwrecks, ghosts stories, dinosaurs, festivals, flora & fauna and so much more. I am also a Guest Speaker for local clubs and societies and have a few PowerPoint presentations on my many adventures around the world.

“I always love returning to the Island especially during the summer. Wherever I go I’m an ambassador for the Isle of Wight as I love to promote it. I really want to create a lifestyle so I can be my own boss during the summer months doing something I enjoy and helping visitors to discover the Island.”

Strolling in the sun and marvelling at the myriads of early wildflowers opening in the warmth of the day, all accompanied by an incessant buzz of insects that one would more likely experience on a high summer day; I was taken far away from the humdrum routine of household chores, lawn mowing and such like that I could or perhaps should have been doing.

Within a few minutes I was up the hill walking in a sunken lane of great antiquity, boughs of trees yet to leaf creating an arching, living series of rafters equal to and surpassing many a vaulted ceiling built by man. Wood pigeons were noisily and amorously crashing about in the branches with fanned tails and puffed up breasts, whilst hosts of other birds flitted and chattered excitedly amongst the shrubby undergrowth. Unfurling ferns with their crosiers thrusting upwards looked splendid in shafts of sunlight streaming through the branches.

Soon this path would be a dappled shady walk with a woodland smell and cool air that brings relief for walkers coming off the open downs on a hot summer’s day.

Coming out in to the open and following the path a little further I spied one of the path direction posts, The Worsley Trail to Cridmore, half a mile; looking up a black silhouette of an enormous bull straddled the hill. It took a few moments for me to realise that this fearsome beast, an obstruction to my onward journey, was in fact a sculptural piece, a mere art installation, humorously placed and once identified it’s outline shape looking like a stylised creature illustrating Spanish wine bottle labels, causing the onlooker to smile.

On this day a light northerly breeze was blowing and for all the warmth of the March sunshine a certain chill was in the air. On this breeze the distant ringing of church bells could be heard just occasionally catching bits of their peels. This came as some surprise as I could only think that I was hearing the bells of the church at Carisbrooke some miles distant. Indeed this was the case and then I remembered that the bell ringers of Carisbrooke are amongst the best on the Island, having been voted the best strikers (I believe that is the term), on the Island in 2010.

If you really want to you can check them out on Facebook where a video of them has been posted doing their thing! Bell ringers, a curious and ancient pastime perhaps closet Morris Men who are too shy to dance in public!