Despite the early showers, visitors turned out in their hundreds for the annual Fort Victoria Foray – the biggest and best yet held on the 19th August at Fort Victoria Country Park near Yarmouth.

With activities at the Fort, in the woods and on the beach there was enough to keep families busy for hours, with many staying for the whole day. 15 conservation, traditional crafts and arts organisations provided a whole range of activities including woodland crafts, forest skills, woolspinning, facepainting, bird feeder making, rockpooling and storytelling plus lots more.

On the day visitors were encouraged to explore the Naturetrail around the Country Park, observe and photograph wildlife and report findings back to the Naturespot team, who also ran the Island’s first BioBlitz event at Go Wild in the Woods in June earlier this year. There were experts on hand to help people identify their finds with both visitors at the event and also followers online being updated of the growing species tally throughout the day via www.ispot.org.uk and www.facebook.com/wildonwight.

In total, an amazing 358 species were recorded from the event which is an incredible achievement in such a short space of time. Some of the highlights included a huge poplar hawk moth and a Jersey tiger moth, recorded by Ian and Cath Fletcher who ran moths traps overnight.

Huge thanks to everybody who took part in the day and congratulations to the Isle of Wight Council’s Countryside Rangers for organising such a great event, looking forward to the 2011 Foray!

Images from left to right: Volucella, a large hoverfly, 11 spot ladybird by Ian Boyd, Jersey tiger moth, Poplar hawk moth