Durrell's conservation work in Jersey

Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands and sits between England and France in the English Channel.

The 45km² island is home to Durrell’s headquarters, Jersey Zoo, and a variety of fascinating wildlife. Jersey’s coastal habitats, like the clifftops, heathlands and sand dunes, make the island a haven for many coastal species.

The red-billed chough was a prominent sight in Jersey’s skies until it became extinct on the island around 1900. Now, through habitat restoration and captive breeding and release, the chough has successfully returned to Jersey.

By 1987, only one small population of agile frogs remained in Jersey following a pesticide spill and continued predation on spawn and frogs by other species. We've been working to save the agile frog from extinction since then, and through habitat management and tadpole head-starting, agile frog populations are increasing.

45km²

island size

species directly protected

wild choughs

What we're doing to help in Jersey

Restoring native pastures

Bracken, a rapidly growing fern, previously dominated the clifftops and covered the pastures, an important feeding site for choughs and other birds.

What we're doing to help

Land management programmes control the growth of bracken and remove it from the landscape through monitored grazing using Manx loaghtan sheep, allowing feeding sites to flourish.

Bringing back the chough

Choughs are believed to have become extinct in Jersey over a century ago due to the loss of clifftop farmland, which led to the increase of bracken-covered clifftops rather than hedge-lined grassy fields. The bracken grows quickly and makes it nearly impossible for coastal birds and other species to feed.

What we're doing to help

Together with our partners, the National Trust for Jersey and States of Jersey Department of Environment, the Birds On The Edge project is working to restore and manage areas of coastal habitat, breed and release choughs, and closely monitor the reintroduced birds.

Saving the agile frog

The agile frog is found nowhere else in the British Isles. Water pollution, changes in land use and agricultural intensification led to its population decline, as well as predation on frogspawn by ducks and non-native fish, and predation on adult frogs by domestic cats.

What we're doing to help

Land management and habitat restoration are helping to create sustainable environments for agile frogs and other reptiles and amphibians in Jersey. By head-starting tadpoles at the zoo every year and then releasing them into protected areas across the island, we've seen an increase in agile frog numbers across the island.

Our partners

The National Trust for Jersey | Government of Jersey

Species we're helping

Red-billed chough

Agile frog

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Birds On The Edge

Choughs are the flagship bird of the Birds On The Edge project, and we hope that with long-term continuous management of the island, we will see more than just choughs returning to Jersey.

Find out more about the reintroduction of the red-billed chough and the habitat restoration work on the island.

Visit Birds On The Edge

Jersey

Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands and sits between England and France in the English Channel.

What we're doing to help in Jersey

Restoring native pastures

Bracken, a rapidly growing fern, previously dominated the clifftops and covered the pastures, an important feeding site for choughs and other birds.

What we're doing to help

Land management programmes control the growth of bracken and remove it from the landscape through monitored grazing using Manx loaghtan sheep, allowing feeding sites to flourish.

Bringing back the chough

What we're doing to help

Together with our partners, the National Trust for Jersey and States of Jersey Department of Environment, the Birds On The Edge project is working to restore and manage areas of coastal habitat, breed and release choughs, and closely monitor the reintroduced birds.

Saving the agile frog

The agile frog is found nowhere else in the British Isles. Water pollution, changes in land use and agricultural intensification led to its population decline, as well as predation on frogspawn by ducks and non-native fish, and predation on adult frogs by domestic cats.

What we're doing to help

Our partners

Species we're helping

Agile frog

Birds On The Edge

Where we work

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