Jersey

Just got back from a short break to Jersey. It was meant to be a weekend to north west Scotland, but the forecast of 70 mph winds and torrential rain was not appealing, so we decided to head for the sun. It was mainly a cycling holiday, and we covered around 80 miles in three days. Jersey is not renowned for its birds, but we did ok. Best birds we saw were Dartford Warblers, Marsh Harriers and adult Mediterranean Gull.


Jersey Thrift (left). Larger than the thrift we see in Britain, and flowering later, this is one of the specialities of the island. Oystercatcher (right) nesting at Elizabeth Castle, St Helier.

Mont Orgueil, Gorey.

Jersey has the only population of wild Green Lizards (left) in the United Kingdom. Notice how this animal has its back legs raised leaving its belly on the ground so that it can extract the maximum heat from the day. Les Quennevais Dunes (right) is one of the best sites for seeing them.

We visited Jersey Zoo, now known simply as Durrell, after it's founder Gerald Durrell (left), the author of amongst others "My Family and Other Animals". There were lots of fascinating creatures at the zoo, but one of my favourites was the White-backed Duck, a species I have never seen before even in captivity. It was very Little Grebe like.

Elizabeth Castle (left). This castle is on an island just off St Helier. The earliest parts of the building up above in the background date from around 1600. The square in the foreground is Georgian and if you look at the top of the old castle, you can just make out a concerete structure. This is the the command centre of the Nazi fortifications in the castle. Incredible to think that such an old castle was still being fortified for battle as recently as 70 years ago. The whole island is littered with nazi bunkers and other fortifications, and Jersey was the only part of the United Kingdom to be occupied by the Nazis in the second World War. The photo on the right is Corbiere point, which is where the Jersey Thrift was photographed.