Information and resources

Many sources of information about the Island’s estuaries are available online. Click on the links below for:

Isle of Wight Rivers - A good summary of all the Island’s rivers - produced by the Environment Agency.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest
All sites have a citation detailing the features of interest within the site. These are available on the English Nature website.
Try Medina Estuary SSSI or Yar Estuary SSSI

Or click on the link below and search for the site you are interested in.
http://www.english-nature.org.uk/special/sssi/search.cfm


European designated areas
For information on the Solent European Marine Sites try:
http://www.solentforum.hants.org.uk/SEMS/homepage.html

or for more general information try
http://www.ukmarinesac.org.uk/


Rights of Way
The Rights of Way Strategy can be viewed on the Council website at
http://www.iwight.com/living_here/getting_around/row.htm


Biodiversity

The Biodiversity Action Plan is a national initiative that came from the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Isle of Wight’s Biodiversity Action Plan sets out the principles and projects developed for the benefit of habitats and species in the local area. The first stage of the plan was to produce an audit of the Island’s biodiversity called: Wildlife of the Isle of Wight

Further information about the Biodiversity Action Plan can be found on look at the Countryside Section’s excellent website.

Within the Biodiversity Action Plan there are Habitat Actions Plans (HAPs) which relate specifically to key habitats on the Island and include information about the extent, condition, legislation and actions for enhancement. The links for some relevant HAPs are below but a full list is another useful thing on the splendid Countryside Section’s excellent website.

Solent Coastal

Wetlands


Yarmouth Harbour has a general advisory Committee that meet every month (except August) to discuss Harbour issues. The minutes of these meetings are available to the public and can be seen by clicking on this link General Advisory Committee minutes


There is also an excellent website all about the Isle of Wight’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which incorporates the Western Yar Estuary.

The Centre for the Coastal Environment includes the Coastal Visitor’s Centre which is a great resource for the public and school groups. It also has a large library of information on coastal issues including coastal defence and instability.

Other information is available on the websites that are listed on the links page.