About 6 years ago I started 'working' as a volunteer for the Jersey butterfly Monitoring Scheme - they broke me in gently with a nice little farm site that belongs to the Jersey National Trust then I took on 2 sites on the NW of the Island, one very small and the other being the 2nd largest on the Island that can take a while to do depending on distraction encountered en route, these can vary from lost visitors to slow worms crossing a path.
So this year I have been luck enough to add a 4th site and it is lovely. The previous walker was very sad to give it up but he was finding it a little difficult and I think given he is 88 it is allowed.
So without further ado let me introduce you to the South West corner of the Island
Most of the route is on good paths
to the right there is quite often a Little Egret or two to distract and it also offers a place to spot basking Green Lizards - if you have a eye for them
This little lady will be a star of the screen soon as she was being filmed by a documentary team when we walked it last week
As the path turns to the left there is a German WW2 bunker looking out over the sea - so far spotted various Pipits and wrens enjoying foraging around it and you open out onto this view
the track starts to gently slope down
There is an old small quarry on the left that could prove interesting
and then I remember what I am doing here
It's worth using ears as well as eyes because the sound of something in the undergrowth warrants a closer look. Not the best picture but a male Green Lizard showing a fabulous throat
Now down some steps into a little bay, trying not to step on butterflies and lizards on the way
This is a good place to spot Turnstones and Oystercatchers
a good warm wall - wonder what I will find along here over the summer
Now we turn up to the left and start to climb - there is a stream on the right and houses along with Scotch pine - eyeing up the cones for a project later in the year if the squirrels leave me any
and then we are back out into the open and a small bit of track
turn right through the style
and then to the only potential challenge of the site - up the side of the field. Fine on a cool day after rain but on a hot dry day will be difficult footing - it's pretty soft sand and having spotted a well dug in tractor last week it can get deep! but never mind there will be plenty of things to distract me
It is with a bit of relief that we come out onto the heath at the top
There is a bit of archaeology to distract
now on the homeward stretch
stunning views from the top
and it's downhill all the way
Rosy dog quite likes it - plenty of sniffs and as she is going quite deaf it is a fairly safe area for her to be off lead - she doesn't loose sight of me but she wishes there were more muddy puddles
Not bad for a 1/2 to 3/4 hour walk
Caroline in Jersey
Edited for spelling!
Cin J
That looks like great butterfly habitat. Has Green Hairstreak potential in parts, I reckon (think you get those on the Channel Islands?)
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Oh yes aiki, I now have probably the two best sites on the Island and will be very disappointed if I don't get good numbers. On my NW site I have been known to walk sections twice - first to count the Green's and then anyone else, numbers can reach 600 on one section which challenges my recording abilities at times.
WOW, 600 Green Hairstreaks in one walk!!
We see the odd one but not many. Last year we had an unreal experience on the île d'Oléron camping, we chased a hairstreak in the early morning & finally got a photo, it was an Ilex Hairstreak. A first for us. Then we saw another & another & by the end of the day we had seen hundreds. It must have been a mass hatching, something we'd never seen before. Perhaps it's the coastal influence.
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Look who turned up today, right on cue ;)
That's a great start, they really are the most beautiful green. Your weather must be better than ours, no self-respecting butterfly would be out today.
What a beautifully coloured butterfly. I don't think I've ever seen one.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Lovely colours on the butterfly.
J