Isle Of Wight Business Receives Wilder Award After Spotlight Shone On Nature’s Superheroes

An Isle of Wight business has scooped a special award for its innovative approach to conservation and nature recovery.

Artecology, based in Sandown, has been awarded the Innovation For Nature Award in this year’s Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust Wilder Awards.

The business crafts regenerative ecological environments for wildlife and human communities focusing on creating novel ‘intentional habitats’, designed specifically for enhancing biodiversity and bio-abundance using nature-based solutions.

It was particularly praised for its innovative Vertipool: an artificial rockpool habitat used successfully on a range of coastal flood defence structures, providing an effective adaption to the challenge of sea-level rise.

Nine awards have been given to individuals, groups and businesses across the region working to help nature’s recovery.

Other award winners were:

• The Young Changemaker Award given to Arun Carson, aged 14, from Bransgore in the New Forest
• The Wilder School Award given to Hounsdown Primary in Totton
• The Individual Action for Nature Award went to friends Hazel Metcalfe and Sarah Smith from Whitchurch near Basingstoke
• The Wilder Neighbourhoods Award was scooped by Wilder Bramley based just north of Basingstoke.
• The Business of the Year Award won by Havant-based FatFace
• Nature Recovery (Land and Sea) Award was won by The Lockerley Estate in East Tytherley near Stockbridge.

Finally, two awards for Outstanding Contribution to the Trust were given to Di Mitchell, of Buriton, near Petersfield and John Ayres, of Fleet.

Presenting the awards at the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust conference at Lakeside North Harbour in Portsmouth, Trust President Megan McCubbin said:

“We are delighted to celebrate the champions of nature across our communities.

“Many people are doing remarkable work to help nature flourish and make Hampshire and Isle of Wight wilder and greener, but our winners today have gone the extra mile with their passion, creativity and unstinting hard work.

“It is through the efforts of all our champions that nature will recover, and we can achieve our dream of a better, wilder future.”

The conference and award ceremony were held at Lakeside North Harbour which has been working in partnership with the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust since 2015.

The Trust ecology consultancy, Acardian, has conducted multiple surveys on the site, as well as a Wilder Portsmouth Officer and volunteer Outdoor Learning Tutor providing talks and guided walks for staff on the site.

The site at Lakeside North Harbour provides some fantastic biodiversity, as shown in recent ecological surveys conducted at the site in 2022:

• 42 species of birds were recorded during breeding bird surveys (most commonly blackbird, wren and blue tit)
• 12 species of butterflies
• Five species of bumblebees
• Eight species of dragonflies and damselflies

Hannah Terrey from the Trust said:

“We love our partnership with Lakeside and we would like to thank the team for enabling us to hold our conference here. It’s such a good example of how business and nature can thrive next to each other!”