Island habitats
Woodlands
The total area of woodland occupying known ancient sites is 1,614 hectares covering just over 4% of the Island's land surface. Around 900 hectares are known to be of ancient origin (woodland for over 400 years). This ancient woodland holds the greatest biodiversity including Isle of Wight helleborine, red squirrel, common dormouse and bats. The west river valley woods at Gatcombe include an area of alder woodland which has national importance, as peat cores indicate that this area has supported alder continuously since 7000 BP.
Neutral Grasslands
An estimated 151 hectares of species-rich meadows remain on the Island, which represent approximately 1% of the South East Region resource. The grasslands at Newtown contain the largest green-winged orchid colony in the country with over 250,000 plants being found in good years
Acid Grasslands
About 92 hectares of unimproved acid grassland survive on the Island. Two very rare types, found in restricted areas of the Brading Marshes, are dominated by mat grass and wavy hair grass respectively.
Calcareous Grasslands
Ten percent (653 ha) of the species-rich chalk grasslands in South-east England are found on the Isle of Wight. These provide homes for specialist insects such as adonis blue, small blue and chalkhill blue butterflies, sometimes in very large numbers.
Lowland Heath
Once the north of the Isle of Wight was dominated by heathland, with a similar character to the New Forest, but over 80% has been lost since 1900 and it is now restricted to 63 hectares of dry heath together with 3 hectares of wet heath. The Wildlife Trust has made this habitat our priority for restoration and conservation on the Island.
Freshwater - rivers, lakes, ponds, streams and marshes
There are calculated to be 81 hectares of biologically-rich marsh and just 6 hectares of biologically-rich fens, flushes and mires. However the Island has some 78 hectares of reedbed, home to large numbers of cetti's, reed and sedge warblers as well as the occasional overwintering bittern.
Coastal habitats : cliffs and slopes
The Isle of Wight cliffs are a stunning addition to our range of habitats. There are some 53 km of maritime cliff around the Island's coastline.
The sea cliffs and slopes frequently support rich and specialised plant and animal communities, many on the northern limit of their range. Seepages, springs and pools provide the wet mud required by many species of solitary bees and wasps for nest building and suitable conditions for a rich assemblage of other invertebrates, including glanville fritillary and rare plants. Ponds are important for breeding great crested newt. Chalk cliffs at the eastern and western extremities hold significant populations of breeding seabirds as well as peregrine falcon and raven.
Coastal Waters
Intertidal and subtidal reefs in the Solent and Poole Bay area occur mainly around the Isle of Wight. It includes 133 hectares of intertidal reef habitat, these being rocky shores that extend below the shore.
The greatest proportion of European coastal chalk (57%) and many of the best examples of littoral and sublittoral chalk habitats are located on the coast of England.
The limestone rock at Bembridge provides a variety of habitats which support a rich diversity of marine life in the intertidal and subtidal. Some species are at the eastern edge of their range. The chalk cliffs at Culver and Freshwater to Alum Bay display rare chalk cliff algal communities, ranked as being the fourth and fifth most important in the country.
The marine habitats of the Island are of great biogeographical significance, and support some of the richest plant and animal communities in the area. The waters form the northern limit of a number of more southerly species. They also mark the boundary between the warmer waters of the western Channel and the cooler waters from the east, providing a transition between warm-temperate (Boreal-Lusitanian) and the cold-temperate (Boreal) provinces and their associated biogeographical elements.
In addition, biological reefs can form as a result of reef building creatures. Sabellaria spinulosa reefs are solid but fragile structures, rising several centimetres above the seabed. They cover large areas and persist for many years often on sediment areas. As such, they provide a biogenic habitat that allows many other associated species to colonise.
