Guernsey warning after jellyfish sighting

People in Guernsey are being warned to be careful on the beach after blue jellyfish were spotted off the coast.

The States issued an official warning after reports of sightings at Perelle, Cobo and in Alderney.

The blue jellyfish has tendrils that are about a metre long and can sting like a nettle.

Islanders are being urged not to touch them if they are found washed up on the beach and to try to avoid them when swimming in the sea.

'No vinegar'

Marine biologist Richard Lord said the creatures were driven by prevailing winds. They develop on sea beds and then grow.

He said: "Some people say use vinegar but that can make the stinging tentacles fire more. Cold water is the best way to reduce the intensity of the sting."

Doreen and Charles Langlois went for their daily swim at Cobo on Thursday and were surprised to be surrounded by jellyfish.

Mr Langlois said: "We went down on the to beach and where the tide was low there was one about the size of a side plate and a few smaller ones scattered around on the seaweed."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-28256525

Seal pups released back into wild by Guernsey animal shelter

Two grey seal pups rescued over the winter have been released back into the wild by a Guernsey animal charity.

Jethou Bumblebee was found in November and Hanois rescued in January. Both were sick, injured and less than half their ideal body weight.

Steve Byrne, GSPCA manager, said the seals had been driven ashore by the unseasonably rough seas.

He said: "Although a little unsure at first they were soon playing and enjoying being back in the wild."

'True privilege'

Mr Byrne said the months of intensive care and nearly 2,000kg of fish, the majority of which was donated or funded by public donation, had paid off.

He said the two pups had developed a bond and hoped this would help them in the wild. They were released from Jethou on Wednesday.

Geoff George, animal collection officer, said "The whole event from the rescue to the release has been a real highlight of my career and makes the job so worth while.

"To see them back in the wild was a true privilege and to actually see them jumping out of the water and Hanois even catch his first fish helps place my mind at rest that they will do well."

The charity aims to fundraise over the summer to improve its seal unit by making the pool bigger and fitting a pump system in case any further rescues are needed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-22201637

Guernsey swift numbers in decline

Islanders are being urged to make homes for Guernsey's declining swift population by a local ornithologist.

Ornithologist Vic Froome, of La Societe Guernesiaise, said the birds had become increasingly rare because of a decline in the number of nesting places.

He said: "Swifts are being pushed out of houses mainly because of insulation."

Mr Froome said the birds do not take up a lot of room and simple steps could be taken to give them a place to stay.

He said: "These swifts are tiny creatures ...They do not fill up your roof space with dirt, with muck, with anything."

The birds annually migrate to the British Isles around the end of April and stay only long enough to breed before returning to Africa in late July.

Mr Froome said people could encourage and assist swifts by building nest boxes in their homes.

He added that many of the island's swifts were to be found in St Peter Port, and likened the town to "manmade cliffs."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-17732655

Ecologist searches for new shrimp species in Guernsey

An ecologist hopes to find previously undiscovered fresh water creatures in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

Lee Knight, from Devon, has spent 14 years travelling the UK looking for new species of cave dwelling blind shrimp.

He said little was know about the cave fauna so new species were often being discovered worldwide.

Mr Knight said as recently as 2010, a species never before seen in Britain had been discovered in a cave on the Mendip Hills of Somerset.

He said: "Work has found they are more widespread then first thought.

"In the entire Channel Islands there's only four records, one of which is from Guernsey and due to a lack of any sort of systematic survey work I highly suspected we will find other species, and certainly new records for current species."

The Guernsey report was of a species known as niphargus aquilex, which was found in St Martin in 1907.

Mr Knight is due to visit Guernsey, Alderney and Sark later this year and has asked islanders with wells or boreholes to give him permission to explore their underwater systems by contacting the Guernsey Biological Records Centre.

He said the sample process involved lowering a net, with an attached weight, to the sediment at the bottom of wells and boreholes, where the creatures are generally thought to live.

The net is then pulled up and down a few times to disturb the sediment before the net is hauled to the surface, hopefully catching shrimps on the way.

Mr Knight said the process is repeated three times at each site and his equipment could take samples down to 100m in depth and boreholes as small as 5cm in diameter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-16831751

Chicken cull planned near Guernsey's Vale Castle

Up to 150 chickens living near Guernsey's Vale Castle are to be culled unless their owners claim them.
The Commerce and Employment Department said it had ordered the birds to be killed for reasons of traffic safety and to prevent the spread of disease.

Owners wanting to claim the birds have been given until 25 August, when the cull is due to begin.

Sue Vidamour, of Promoting Animal Welfare, said: "I think it's necessary. I'm concerned as to how they'll do it."

'Dumping ground'
She said previous culling attempts by the department had been carried out using "traps that don't work".

A spokesperson for Commerce and Employment told BBC Guernsey that the license it was issuing for the cull "requires that the birds will be culled by a professional pest control company using humane methods".

In 2005, more than 200 chickens were removed from the site just to the north of the castle.

But Ms Vidamour said the problem had recurred because of islanders disposing of the birds.

"It's a well known dumping ground for cockerels," she said.

"These particular birds breed very well... so they increase in number quite quickly."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-14504014