Well, it’s certainly been an interesting few months, hasn’t it? I imagine a lot of you, like me, are stuck indoors and getting a little bit restless. So, I figured I’d blog about something that I promised I would ages ago – my trip to Jersey last Easter to work with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. Put some ambient ocean sounds on in the background and you can pretend you were there with me!
A bit of background for you. The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (DWCT) is an international charity with the mission of “saving species from extinction”, set up by naturalist Gerald Durrell over 50 years ago. Their focus is often on island species, such as animals in Madagascar and Mauritius, as they tend to be more specialised – and therefore more susceptible to changing pressures. The charity works closely with local people to promote conservation, science and training to secure the ongoing sustainability of their projects. DWCT also runs the world-famous Jersey Zoo, where my placement was based.
While you may think that DWCT is all about saving species in the far-flung reaches of the globe, they are actually very passionate about their local wildlife. Enter Birds on the Edge – a Jersey-based project that is looking to reintroduce a number of species missing from the ecosystem. You see, up until the start of the 20th Century, farming practices on Jersey were largely pastoral – herds of sheep and cattle were allowed to roam right up to the edges of cliffs and kept the grass short. But then along came new agricultural techniques, with machinery that was too heavy to work on the cliff top. The grass grew, and removed a key habitat for a number of bird species such as yellowhammers, skylarks and red-billed choughs.
Birds on the Edge has so far focussed on the red-billed chough, a charismatic member of the corvid family with a distinctive red bill (hence the name). Trial releases began back in 2013, and as of Easter 2019 there were 14 breeding pairs on the island – how amazing is that? The project is overseen by Liz Corry, the Senior Keeper. A lot of the birds on the island were born on the project, and are contributing to a sustainable population. Each individual is ringed and named, my favourites being Dingle, Chickay, Skywalker and Chewbacca (I’ll let you guess what day those last two were born on!).
As well as the wild population, DWCT also keeps a couple of choughs in captivity. These birds help boost the population and provide learning opportunities for people visiting the zoo. The zoo currently looks after a breeding pair, named Tristan and Pendragon (or Penny to her friends) and an individual named Gianna. I got to hang out with Gianna quite a lot – but more about her later.
One of the key aspects of the project is managing the habitat. Choughs favour grassy areas to forage for invertebrates with a vegetation height of about 2-3cm. It would be impossible for the team to manage this mechanically, so they introduced a herd of Manx Loaghtan sheep to do the job for them. This has been very effective, and the birds and sheep coexist very happily indeed. The staff also set up a number of nest boxes for the choughs to use. These have been met with moderate success but…
… they much prefer the quarry around the corner!
This is the Ronez Quarry, which produces a range of products such as asphalt, aggregate and concrete. Needless to say, it’s very noisy and very dusty. The choughs don’t seem to mind, however, and every single building on the site has a breeding pair nesting in it.
Typical!
Over the headland from the quarry is Sorel Point. This is the main base of operations for the whole project, and is home to the Durrell Aviary. This is a monitoring station for the staff, allowing them to check up on the choughs and capture any that require medical attention. That is, if the choughs haven’t managed to figure out how to outwit the staff!
The aviary is also the site of the supplemental food. Every day at 4pm, Liz will signal to the choughs with a whistle that it’s time for dinner. A huge black cloud will fly over and then the staff sit back and watch the choughs as they dig in. Artificial sources of food are something of a hot topic in the conservation world. The intention of Birds on the Edge is to provide food until the population is established enough that they can fend for themselves.
I spent a lot of time at Sorel Point for the week I was on the island. This location was definitely Jersey’s chough hotspot because of the proximity of the quarry and the fact that food is guaranteed. I assisted with the general maintenance in the aviary, which involved wielding a screwdriver more than once. Top tip for budding conservations: learn how to use tools – being able to fix things is definitely an asset.
One of the things I did was fix the enrichment areas. These were fairly basic – just square holes in the grass which we filled with exciting things like pieces of slate and bits of china, which we would then throw mealworms in and the choughs would have to find them. The choughs absolutely loved them.
I was also given the task of monitoring Vicq and Osbourne, who had taken up residence in the nearby nest box. Allegedly. I only saw them once on my first day and they never came back. My theory is that the sheep got a bit too close and scared them off – but that’s not something we had the capacity to monitor whilst I was there.
Another job I had was walking the south-west coast of the island to see if the choughs had returned to the spots they had taken to the previous summer. Spoiler alert: they hadn’t. I may have been doing the transects too early in the year for them to have been at this part of the island, but it was disappointing not to see them. But as Liz reminded me, the absence of choughs is just as valuable data than their presence. I did see a number of other great species, including gulls, oystercatchers, brent geese and curlew.
The final wild site I visited was Plemont, where breeding pair Earl and Xaviour had made their home. I only got to go once, and it was pouring with rain, so I spent most of my time ducked into a World War 2 shelter (the island is covered in them). I did, however, get a very far off glimpse of them and they sure were a sight for sore eyes.
So, that was what was happening outside the zoo – what about inside?
I got to spend some time with captive chough, Gianna – an absolute cutie who completely and utterly stole my heart. She is an ambassador for the project, and when needed acts as a surrogate mother for any eggs Tristan and Penny reject. She currently lives in a very large aviary by herself, away from visitors, so it’s important that she’s kept simulated and entertained. One of the ways we did this was through enrichment. We would hide sticks for her, which she would then find and take into her box. This served a two-fold purpose; it gave her something to do but also helped rebuild her confidence in the space after an eye infection.
She also loved a good tickle!
It was a massive honour to be able to contribute to such a fantastic project. Whilst I was there, I helped to build up a picture of what the choughs were doing socially, their foraging habits and where they were nesting, as well as some interspecies interaction. I also got to contribute to both the general running of the zoo, as well as assisting with the aviary. I was a certified ‘help’ according to Liz.
I learned loads during my brief time on the project. I had the opportunity to use the conservation skills I’ve been building up on the course on a major project by an international organisation. I discovered the complete range of skills required for a project like this, from observation notes to good fieldcraft and even greasing hinges! I got to spend a week studying a species up close both in captivity and in the wild, as well as being able to pick the brains of an expert. It was an amazing chance to learn so much about red-billed choughs, a charismatic species that is coming back from the brink.
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