Location: Absorb and Respond
Writer Kathryn Rossati and filmmaker Reuben Mowle were commissioned in August 2025 to deliver Absorb and Respond, the Isle of Wight's Nature Calling project. The Isle of Wight National Landscape Youth Committee selected the artists through a competitive pitch process. The committee were particularly interested in following the journey both creatives go on as they form their response to the landscape whilst developing their individual creative practice. The Isle of Wight National Landscape team will be sharing that journey as it develops over the coming months.
Kathryn and Reuben will explore the Hamstead Heritage coast, one of two Heritage Coasts on the Isle of Wight. Focusing on Bouldnor forest – an area rich in wildlife and human history – writer and filmmaker will explore, research and form emotional responses to the landscape, using poetry and film to share their collaborative experience with a wider audience.
Kathryn and Reuben have spent time with the youth committee in Bouldnor Forest
Bouldnor forest is a 250-acre pine forest planted in the 1950s over heath and grassland. There are managed heathland ponds throughout the forest where dragonflies are abundant. Red squirrels, Nightjars and Nightingales can be seen along with White Admiral and Silver Wash Fritillary butterflies.
Plants scarce for nature can also be seen:
- Cyperus Sedge
- Heath Dog violet
- Pale Dog Violet
- Dodder
- Butterfly Orchid
On the edge of the Heathland is a 1938 pre-war scheduled monument with premediaeval woodland on the slopes leading to the sea, there since the last ice age. Bouldnor cliff is not your average cliff, it is in fact a submerged Mesolithic landscape, 11 metres underwater. During excavations carried out by the Maritime Archaeology Trust interesting worked flints in a lobster burrow were discovered. Further dives in 1998 and 1999 led to the discovery of burnt flints, hearths, wooden ‘platform’ structures and a worked wooden artefact that could be part of a log boat or trough.
The youth committee will be involved in the project as it develops and work with both Kathryn and Reuben. If you’d like to find out more about our youth committee or would like to join the group, drop the Isle of Wight National Landscape team an email. The group is open to young people aged 14-25 with an interest in arts, culture, farming, heritage, nature, wildlife or climate.
