A series of streams feed the Wroxall Stream. The first of these starts just north of Rew Farm and then flows in a northerly direction to the west of the village of Wroxall. A second spring rises at Middle Barn Lane to the south of the village of Wroxall and flows alongside Manor Road past Montcrief Farm into the village of Wroxall where it is largely culverted and emerges to the west of the village to join the stream from Rew Farm.
North of this confluence the stream flows past Lower Winstone Farm and Donkey Sanctuary under the main Godshill to Shanklin road (A3022) close to Millbank Farm and continues north past Bobberstone Farm. It is joined by a small tributary originating close to Princelett Farm and gradually veers westward to pass north of Bathingbourne. It continues westward, south of Waightshale, to join a series of drainage ditches and a small stream between Lessland and Moor Farms. The stream then leaves the subcatchment to join the main Eastern Yar just east of Little Budbridge at an elevation of less than 20 metres (AOD).
In the south of the sub catchment the stream is confined to a narrow channel with a strip of woodland along each bank. North of the village of Wroxall the watercourse is flows through a flatter pastoral landscape with larger meadows, wetland and pasture alongside the stream. North of the main Shanklin to Godshill Road the stream once again becomes more confined to a narrow strip of pasture/meadow and on occasion to a narrow channel through a band of stream bank woodland surrounded by large arable fields.
Further Reading
East Wight Watercourses Report December 2012
Water Body Summary Wroxall Stream
The technical bits
The Catchment Data Explorer is an Environment Agency tool which helps you explore and download information about the water environment. It supports and builds upon the data in their river basin management plans. Read about Wroxall Stream here.
The Wroxall Stream is currently classed as ‘Poor’ quality within the Water Framework Directive. This means it is failing, and the aim is to improve. The objective set are ‘Good’ status by 2021. Issues include phosphates and soil erosion. Invasive non-native species also contribute to its challenges. Click for a fuller explanation. This is an ambitious target, but we have plans!
In 2014 we mapped all the issues we were aware of with regards to the Eastern Yar Catchment. This map can be viewed here. Please let us know if you know of other issues.
Photo Survey
More recently we’ve carried out a photographic survey of the stream which you can see below (the map also shows other watercourses we’ve surveyed)
Projects
Our Wroxall Wetlands project works with farmers to trial small-scale ways of stopping run-off. Our Plant Positive project is tackling Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed. You may wish to get involved.
Explore
Walk the Wroxall Trail from Ventnor to Budbridge where it joins the East Yar River Trail. Full details and a leaflet can be found here.
View the stream from above thanks to some fantastic drone footage, click here to view.
Our work in East Wight is supported by