Watch the birdie!

The themes for the 2009 Isle of Wight Photographer of the Year competition have just been announced: ‘It’s a Small World’ is the theme for the main category with ‘It’s a Very Small World - Go Wild on Wight’ forming the second.

It’s a Small World - is a fairly open theme and could include; macros, close-ups, travel landscapes and locations (small world distances), small objects, flowers, animals or anything that you as a photographer consider relates to this theme.

‘It’s a very Small World - Go Wild on Wight’ - make the everyday extraordinary. Get intimate with wildlife and bring the natural world that little bit closer to home. Using your skills, celebrate our Island’s biodiversity by exploring your local patch and uncovering nature’s hidden or little known treasures.

Images submitted to ‘It’s a very small world’ must be in colour and depict the natural world on the Isle of Wight. You have until 18th October 2009 to submit your images online. To find out more details on how to enter visit www.iwpoy.org. Please remember to read the rules carefully and Good Luck!

Thanks to the input from very many local recorders, we have now produced a revised LBAP species list comprising both national priority species and the ones which we consider are important for the Island - view the revised list here.

This has proved to be quite a long list and we now need to select a representative list of around 50 flagship species that we will concentrate on promoting and finding out about how they are faring.

The list needs to cover the whole range of plant and animal groups, both national and local priorities, and be species that we are already or are likely to be recording on a regular basis.

We have suggested a list of flagship species and we would welcome your feedback on this - view the draft flagship species list here. Have we got it right? Are there species missing? Should some be removed and replaced by others? Please send comments to ecology@iow.gov.uk

The 3rd Annual Isle of Wight Recorders Conference was held on Saturday 7th February 2009 at Arreton Community Centre

Around 50 people attended the conference with some even braving the snow and travelling over from the mainland!

The event was extremely successful with informative talks in the first half on the Island's farmland breeding bird survey and the status of the Glanville fritillary.

Tea and spectacular cake was taken during the interval and the second half of the conference delivered the results from the IWNHAS Wildlife Watch Survey, a useful insight into to Mapmate - the species recording software and finally, the integral part that local recording plays when compiling Environmental Impact Assessments.

Thank you to all the speakers who took part, those organisation who kindly put up displays and the Isle of Wight Recorders for all their ongoing hard work.