Wildlife Photography on the Isle of Wight

My recent Wildlife Photography on the Isle of Wight

I visited the Isle of Wight in June 2018 to visit the Isle of Wight Festival but after this I stayed 10 days on the island. Wildlife on the Isle of Wight is quite amazing. There is a huge variety of wildlife from rare butterflies and red squirrels to buzzards and huge dragonflies. I have outlined below some of my recent Wildlife Photography on the Isle of Wight.

Had I known that Wildlife Photography on the Isle of Wight was so good I would have ventured further around the Island. However 10 days was more than enough to get a feel for the species of Wildlife which live on the island.

The Isle of Wight as a Wildlife Photography location

I first visited the Isle of Wight in June 2016. On that occasion it was cold, wet and very windy. This time, in June 2018, the temperature was around 28C consistently and it was warm with little wind. Amazing conditions to explore this beautiful island off the south coast of the UK.

Normally with wildlife photography, I find you have to be a bit more observant or sometimes lie in wait for an opportunity. I found that Nature and Wildlife Photography on the Isle of Wight is made easier because you seem to get opportunities come to you. There seems to be a microclimate on the south coast of the island which has flora and fauna not found anywhere else on in the UK. I saw butterflies, beetles, dragonfly, damselfly and birds which seemed to be waiting for you to photograph them.

In this blog post I’m going to post some of the wildlife photos I took on the Isle of Wight along with the locations where they were taken. There is also a global map at the foot of the post which outlines all the photos. I hope you like the post.

I’m not sure exactly what type of butterfly this is. My wildlife identification skills are not great but from my research it could be a Lycidae flying beetle but I’m not sure. It looks too butterfly like to be a beetle. If you know please leave a comment in the section below.

Again, I am making a huge leap and I’m going to say this is a Coenonympha tullia or Large Heath butterfly. I am basing this on the streak of brown and the small eyes on the wing. If I’m wrong, please let me know in the comments below. This photo was taken on the south coast of the Isle of Wight.

This is a series of two images. On the esplanade in Ryde on the north of the Isle of Wight, there was a large pond full of swans. Just as we passed one swan in particular started to flap. I was in the right place at the right time.

Here is the second image of the swan in full flap. Quite an impressive wing-span.

In the Ventnor Botanical Gardens you might see these little lizards as they warm on rocks and then scamper away as you approach. This was taken from a distance with the 70-300mm lens as any approach would be met by an exit, stage left, by the shy lizard.

This photo and the following 2 are of an amazing dragonfly which left around the Ventnor Botanical Gardens. It hopped and flew from plant to plant. It did not stop for long. Any approach was met by it flying away. I found that it returned to the same spot every 3-4 minutes, so I decided to wait nearby. My patience paid off and I got some great shots as you can see below of this amazing dragonfly.

The close up image was taken with a shallow depth of field, aperture of f/4 so as to focus on the subject, get a faster shutter speed and also blur the background.

While walking to a clifftop viewing point I spotted this bird flapping in the tops of the trees, almost as if it had caught something. I walked towards it with the 70-300mm zoom lens attached and just kept shooting. This was one of the best shots.
This is a Male Kestrel.

Photography Locations – Isle of Wight

All the locations of this Wildlife Photography on the Isle of Wight blog post are shown on the map below.