Jersey wildlife project looking for people to watch ponds

Pondwatch aims to collect information about wildlife sightings in Jersey's ponds

Wildlife fans are being encouraged to help keep track of Jersey's pond life as part of a project.

The island's government has organised a free Pondwatch event at the Frances Le Sueur Centre in Jersey National Park on Saturday.

Pondwatch aims to gather sightings of wildlife in Jersey's ponds and get more people involved with nature.

Saturday's event will provide training on how to survey the ponds and what animals to look out for.

People can get involved with the scheme in two ways, with the first involving looking for wildlife in ponds for 30 minutes, requiring no training.

The alternative is to carry out five surveys, each taking between 30 and 60 minutes, which does require participants to attend a training event.

Liz Walsh, the Government of Jersey's senior environment officer specialising in biodiversity, said the project offered a great chance to spend more time in nature.

'Get engaged'

She added the information collected from the surveys would be important for scientific research and the conservation of protected species.

Ms Walsh said: "Now is a really good time (for surveys) as there's lots of activity going on in the ponds.

"It is a really good time to get engaged and find out a bit more about what's going in our very important water bodies."

Anyone who wants to attend the training event or find out more information about Pondwatch should visit the project's website.