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Jersey wildlife
Homo sapiens is not the only species to have made its home in Jersey. The Island is a rich environment for all kinds of flora and fauna.
Unlike Guernsey, which has a limited range of fauna because it was the first of the Channel Islands to be isolated from mainland Europe by the sea at the end of the last ice age, Jersey has a population of reptiles and amphibians.
Among the latter is the common toad, Bufo bufo, an animal whose French name, crapaud, has been adopted as an affectionate nickname for all Jerseymen. However, in terms of natural history, there is nothing very remarkable about the common toad, a species which is widely distributed in the UK.
The same cannot be said of Jersey's frogs. Far from being common, they are the agile variety, which is found nowhere else in Britain. Sadly, the agile frog is not thriving, so even those who visit one of its few strongholds, the area around the pond at Ouaisnˇ, can count themselves lucky to have seen a single specimen.
It can be argued that too much attention is paid to the agile frog and other endangered species such as the cirl bunting. These animals are both interesting and significant, but the true glories of Jersey's fauna and flora are not the rarities but common varieties whose profusion helps to make Jersey what it is.
Take, for example, gorse, which must rank as one of our commonest large plants. Now that it is no longer used to fire furze ovens for baking bread, few give it a second thought. However, by any standards the blaze of gold created by its flowers on headlands and heaths in late spring and early summer is spectacular. It also rewards examination at close quarters. The fine reddish tendrils which clamber over many bushes belong to dodder, a parasitic plant which draws sustenance directly from the gorse plant's spiky foliage.
The green lizard, sadly in decline, and the wall lizard (which appropriately enough has found a stronghold at Mont Orgueil), the Jersey tiger moth and the white-toothed shrew are most certainly treasures of the natural world, but they are impressive only in miniature.
If you are looking for real impact, seabirds are a better prospect. The herring gull is the commonest of these, but its antisocial - or at least anti-human - activities have earned it a bad name.
For the acceptable face of Island birdlife it is best to visit the north coast, where you can take your pick of aerial and aquatic stars from among the stiff-winged fulmars, jet-black, green-eyed shags, larger-than-life black-backed gulls and clown-faced puffins which frequent the area.
Offshore, at the Ecrˇhous and the Minquiers, you can, without difficulty, add herons, egrets, terns, curlews and even kingfishers to the list.
Increasingly, Islanders are realising that Jersey wildlife is not restricted to dry land. There is a greater awareness, for instance, that an important group of bottlenose dolphins frequent our waters and that grey seals, which were once a considerable rarity, can now be seen not only offshore but among the reefs at La Rocque.
This article updated: 2002/07/02 09:27:05
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| ......timelines...... |
| After making the long and difficult pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1515, Richard Mabon, Dean of Jersey, built the two chapels which can still be seen on the mound at La Hougue Bie. |
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