The 2023 volume of Wight Studies, Volume 37, is now available to browse online. You can now download papers from this publication on our website, at no cost.

A new page has been created which links to Volume 37 and will in future hold links to further volumes from our proceedings:

Wight Studies: Proceedings of the Isle of Wight Natural and Archaeological Society

With many thanks to those who helped with this, particualrly Roger Herbert and Anne Marston.

– Matthew Chatfield

We are aware of at least two instances of an authentic-looking email apparently from former president Matthew Chatfield being sent to people in the society concerning financial matters.

If you receive such an email, do not act on it. These are scams and Matthew has not sent any such messages. If you are concerned, contact Matthew or the Society office directly by phone or email;  otherwise simply delete the message and disregard it.

You may also see messages from other society officials in a similar vein. Even if you are sure the message is genuine please always check with the sender directly before taking any action.

Find out more: local scam advice website IWASP

Colin Pope, Tina Whitmore and Matthew Chatfield were the guests of Portsmouth City Council’s Cumberland House Natural History Museum, where curator Christine Taylor showed us around the museum and we learnt about ways to catalogue, conserve and display collections of delicate and old biological specimens.  We also saw some amazing butterflies in the butterfly house.

This free attraction is just a few minutes’ walk from the hovercraft terminal at Clarence Pier, recommended for a visit.

Examining the specimens at Cumberland House

A visit to Cumberland House

Iain Outlaw has supplied the 2019 moth report which is now available for download.

He commented: “Although recording effort was slightly reduced, more than 14000 records were received from 38 contributors and covering 149 sites. A total of 833 species was recorded.”

Mary Edmunds of the Wight Nature Fund has passed on some news about the future of the organisation and its reserves.

From 1 January 2021, the Alverstone and Newchurch reserves of Wight Nature Fund will be managed by the Hampshire and IW Wildlife Trust. The future management of other sites managed by WNF will be discussed in the new year.

Mary adds: “With the loss of Bob Edney and a depleted committee, we feel assured HIWWT will continue our work and the reserves will be in good hands.  We would like to thank everyone for their support over the past thirty years.”

The Isle of Wight Moth Report 2018 is now available, and can be downloaded here.

Iain Outlaw says: “In what turned out to be a good year for moth recording there was a slow start to the season. The first three months of the year were particularly poor with overall numbers and species diversity lower than normal.

“A prolonged spell of hot dry weather in June and July saw a big change in moth numbers and a decent run of migrant moths. (more…)

Some new observations of True Bugs (Hemiptera) by lain Outlaw.

(more…)

Black Locust Gall Midge (Obolodiplosis robiniae) on the Isle of Wight and some interesting parasitoids

Iain Outlaw

Although I was aware of this gall midge I hadn’t previously looked for it. In June I noticed several False-acacia or Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) trees in flower on Shanklin Big Mead so I had a look for the galls. The large trees were not easy to examine but fortunately there were also lots of self-seeded saplings close by. Checking those saplings the galls were immediately obvious so several were collected for examination. (more…)

Biological recording and its influence on wildlife conservation at Briddlesford

A presentation given by Jonathan Cox to the 2017 Isle of Wight Recorders’ Conference

Artificial structures and ecological enhancement

Presentation by Roger Herbert and Alice Hall to the 2017 Isle of Wight Recorders’ Conference

The Isle of Wight Moth Report 2016 is now available to download here.

Iain Outlaw writes in the introduction to the report: ” Although the first two weeks of January were mild the following months were dominated by wet and unsettled weather causing a negative impact on Lepidoptera. (more…)