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New bid to restore Jersey’s coastlands for wildlife

23^rd June 2010

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust has joined forces with the National Trust for Jersey and The States of Jersey Planning and Environment Department to launch a major new campaign to restore coastland habitats to revive the island’s declining or locally extinct farmland bird species.

The coastlands are a major part of Jersey’s natural heritage and form a very important habitat for native wildlife such as field crickets, heath grasshoppers, and several species of wild bird. As these areas have become less valuable for farming, they have been abandoned and overtaken by bracken. As a result species such as the yellowhammer and cirl bunting have disappeared from Jersey and important insects have become increasingly rare.

The campaign will initiate a number of actions to restore coastland habitat which will hopefully see a number of species return to these areas, others may need a helping hand and Durrell will develop plans with the partners to support the translocation of birds to the island.

Mr Duhamel, Deputy Minister for Planning & Environment stated “We are pleased to be working on this collaborative project with the other conservation organisations in Jersey, together we are better able to deliver our commitments to the Bern convention and convention on biodiversity (Rio convention)”

As part of this programme Durrell has initiated a very exciting breeding programme for the red-billed chough, Britain’s rarest crow, which has been missing from Jersey for over one hundred years. This programme has been kick started with a £10,000 donation from local company Minerva Trust. A group of birds which will form the nucleus of the new captive colony has already arrived at the Trust’s headquarters in Trinity.

It is estimated that only 500 pairs of choughs currently remain in the United Kingdom. The species once thrived on Jersey’s coastline but as the farming practices which provided its ideal habitat changed, it declined and was extinct locally by the end of the nineteenth century.

Dr Glyn Young, Conservation Biologist at Durrell said “Restoring the island’s coastland habitats is essential if we are to stop the long term decline of Jersey’s species. Through this partnership with the National Trust and the States it will be possible to start implementing management measures such as new grazing regimes to bring back the low level vegetation that is so characteristic and with it many important species for the island.”

“Bringing back the chough is hugely exciting. Our initial plan is to develop a captive colony and then hopefully a free flying flock within our grounds at Trinity. If successful we’ll then release the birds onto the coastland where we’ll monitor their progress. Given their charismatic behaviour choughs would make a very good flagship for coastland restoration in Jersey.”

Along with the generous financial support provided by Minerva Trust, staff from the company will also have a ‘hands on’ role in this project and will work alongside teams in the field.

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