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The Violet Bank: A rock and stroll paradise
Once proposed as a site for a new airport, this south-east coastal area is now a protected haven of gulleys, pools and reefs
BACK in the 1980s the Violet Bank, that vast area of rock, shingle and sand off the Island's south-east coast, was nominated as the site for a new airport.
Just reclaim some land, the proponents of this scheme said, and we can slap down concrete for runways, an apron and a terminal with no problem at all.
Not long afterwards, a politician who should have known better said that we should forget the idea of an airport - the south-east intertidal zone was ripe for a massive housing development. Just reclaim some land and we could build as many box-like starter homes as the Island was likely to need.
Later, saner counsel prevailed, and Jersey's south-east coastal areas were designated a special site under the terms of the Ramsar Convention, an international agreement devised to protect the world's endangered wetlands.
Ramsar, named after the Iranian city on the Caspian Sea where the convention was inaugurated, does not prevent traditional activities such as fishing, shellfish culture or seaweed gathering, but it does stand in the way of development and despoliation.
Those who support the protection which the Violet Bank now enjoys from contractors with earth-moving machines and teams of construction engineers find it easy to argue that the environmentally sensitive route was overwhelmingly the right one to follow.
Their starting point would be that the gulleys, weed-covered reefs and mysterious pools of our far south-east are Jersey's only remaining wilderness. Every other part of the Island has been touched and altered for ever by the hand of man.
Not so the Violet. Setting aside the isolated outpost of Seymour Tower, a few beacons and steel structures for rearing oysters, the bank remains as it was in prehistoric times. It is, moreover, a precious natural resource as well as a place for human beings to wander in solitude.
Birds ranging from bleating red-billed oystercatchers to yellow-footed egrets and from electric blue kingfishers to the ever-present herring gull use the bank to forage for food and as a sanctuary.
When the tide rises, the feeding grounds are taken over by fish. Bass chase sandeels, wrasse crunch green shore crabs and shoals of grey mullet graze on algae growing on the rock and weed, moving from place to place like shadows.
These same species use the flats and banks as grounds where their young can grow to maturity in warm, well-lit shallows brimming with food organisms such as prawns, marine worms and plankton.
Even the areas of sand and shingle which look quite barren to human eyes more used to lusher landscapes are full of life. Vast numbers of razorfish, venus clams, praires and necklace shells live secret lives below the surface, their presence betrayed only by signature marks or by jets of water which squirt five feet in the air as the shellfish withdraw to safety as footsteps draw near.
This richness is available for all Islanders to enjoy at no cost whenever the tide is out.
Surprisingly, despite the presence of walkers, people setting nets, spinning for bass, catching razorfish with salt or raking for sandeels, the Violet Bank never sees crowds. This is perhaps because of the evil reputation the area has for trapping the unwary.
It is true that the way in which the pattern of gulleys fills on the flood is capable of cutting people off, but only those foolhardy enough to ignore the tide tables will get caught.
Even without knowing the time of the tide, it is possible to gauge when it has turned. Just watch for a band of scum-like sediment appearing at the water's edge.
Sudden fog can still be a hazard, but even this presents no real threat if you carry a small compass in your pocket.
Jersey is hardly large enough to warrant the creation of a fully fledged national park. If, however, such a move is ever contemplated, the Violet Bank would have to be top of the list of potential locations.
This article first appeared in the Jersey Evening Post as part of the Pride in Jersey series, marking the Island's 1204-2004 celebrations.
author - Rob Shipley
This article updated: August 2003
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| ......timelines...... |
| Jersey was liberated on 9 May 1945 by troops of Operation Nest egg. The Island rejoiced as the Union Flag was hoisted once again. |
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