The Christmas festivities are over and a new year is beginning; post offices and postal kiosks on the Isle of Man are replacing the rolls of labels featuring the festive ‘Crank Up Christmas’ series (see article) with a new series of designs for variable value stamps, which will be available throughout the year.
Like all previous ones, this series forms part of a philatelic collection released by Isle of Man Stamps & Coins, the philatelic department of the Isle of Man Post Office – the first of 2026: ‘Wild Isle of Man’.
This splendid (and large) series comprises ten stamps illustrated with photographs taken from Andy North’s book ‘Wild Guide Isle of Man’, published in May 2025. This travel guide explores the island’s natural and, at times, lesser-known landscapes; the island was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2016.
The ‘Wild Isle of Man’ collection comprises a set of ten ‘traditional’ stamps, a first day cover, a presentation pack (cover image) and booklets of self-adhesive stamps. It has also been produced in the form of variable value stamps.
The collection went on sale on January 6th 2026, however, all the ‘traditional’ stamps bear the face value corresponding to the postal rates that were due to come into force one month later, on February 1st (see table at the end of the article).