Charity 'looking at reserves' for storm repairs

Tree surgeons continue to clear damaged and dead trees from Fern Valley, Jersey

The National Trust Jersey is looking at other ways to fund repairs to its woodland as it said its storm budget was "well and truly used up."

It said over £20,000 had been spent and Jon Parkes from the National Trust for Jersey said he was "looking at reserves everywhere I can to, sort of, sort these problems out.

"The level of skill required to do this work is very high and there's a cost that comes with that.

"It would be ok if we had only one site across the island... but of course we have lots we have to consider so the implications for this financially for the Trust are huge.

Hidden dangers

Fern Valley has been closed to the public since the island was damaged by a tornado on the 1st November 2023.

Storm Ciarán caused significant damage to many of the charity's sites and Fern Valley was one of the worst affected.

"There are a lot of hidden dangers here," said Mr Parkes.

"There's lots of dead, broken wood above the path. If you were to walk in here you might not be aware of that but a slight gust of wind can bring that down.

He added: "On the whole, people have been very respectful. We do have occasionally people walking through and we politely explain to them why it's dangerous to be in here."

Jon Parkes says "the financial implications for the charity are huge"

The National Trust has avoided doing work in the valley during the bird breeding season to "put nature in front of everything that we do," explained Mr Parkes.

"The level of disturbance here during the storm was very high," he said.

"We have squirrel populations here, lots of breeding birds, so keeping out of those areas when they have an opportunity to breed during the summer, we felt was really important.

"Once we move into next spring, we hope there will be no more disturbance and the birds can have it back to themselves."

The work at Fern Valley is expected to take several weeks but the charity hoped it would open again to the public before Christmas 2024.