In that same period, however, wildlife expert Mike Stentiford has kept his gaze firmly on the Island’s coast and countryside, and has dedicated thousands of hours to helping Islanders to understand and appreciate Jersey’s great outdoors.
But after nearly four decades, the 80-year-old, who trained and worked as a signwriter before becoming a bank messenger and then a States environmental officer, has penned his last column and signed off with a characteristically cheery farewell.
Mr Stentiford still bristles with enthusiasm when it comes to all things environmental. He began contributing to the paper in 1979 as the leader of Jersey’s Young Ornithologists’ Club, and took on a monthly spot the following year.
In those early days he would use a typewriter before heading up to deliver a hard copy to the paper’s Five Oaks headquarters. His submissions often included a sketch of a particular bird that he had chosen to focus on, although as he looks back at a scrapbook of cuttings, he is all too quick to play down his adept illustrations with a wave of his hands.
After three decades, he was asked to commit to a weekly column – a move which dramatically upped his output, which dipped only for a short time in 2011 while he was out of the Island for several weeks receiving treatment in Southampton for prostate cancer.
Mr Stentiford said that each submission usually took him two to two and a half days to complete, and he fondly recalls that the nicest compliment he received was from a stranger in St Helier who described his work as ‘informative, but with a twinkle in its eye’.
Speaking from his Trinity cottage, which appropriately sits in a dense green country lane, he added: ‘I think what I will miss most is the discipline of it – knowing you have to do it, knowing that you have a deadline and that you’ve got to come up with the goods.
‘In that respect, I will miss it, but after such a long time, you have to move on and get some new blood in. Some weeks were easier than others. Some weeks you would have an awful lot to talk about and other times you would be searching for something to write about.
‘I enjoy the fact that it’s been going for such a long time, which shows there is plenty to write and shout about.
‘The first step was when I ran the Young Ornithologists’ Club and the JEP asked if I would do something on a monthly basis.
‘The column has changed quite dramatically over the years. First it was purely about birds, then wildlife, then it spread its wings to the whole environmental issue.’
Reflecting on his time and involvement with a range of environmental campaigns over the past 35 years, Mr Stentiford said it was sad that the Island had lost so many committed conservationists who never got to see the progress made recently to preserve parts of the Island’s coastline.
Some of the best-known campaigns he has helped to lead include the Line in the Sand, in which thousands lined up at St Ouen’s Bay to oppose coastal developments in October 2009, and the more recent drive to encourage Islanders to ‘Love Plémont’ and restore its natural beauty.
Mr Stentiford paid tribute to conservationists Frances and Dick Le Sueur, Gerard Le Claire, Bob Burrow, Pete Double, Joan Banks and Margaret Long, adding that the dedicated group were largely unknown but had played a hugely important role in promoting environmental issues for decades.
‘Nature conservation had no stronger or passionate voices,’ he said. ‘I knew them well and we all supported each other. It’s been an incredible loss of environmentalists in a short space of time. They were so, so supportive.
‘I’m getting on in years, as everybody knows, and you try to look back, take stock and say what have been the achievements? What’s there that I instigated all those years ago that still happens today?
‘I had a think and was quite surprised that there are still things I started that have continued. In the 1990s I resurrected the Jersey Conservation Volunteers, which today is growing in strength and numbers. It was just a simple thing at the time which has shown its worth.
‘In an attempt to get people on their feet, I formulated the Jersey Walking Group, which is still as buoyant and boot-worthy as it was in 1991, when it came about. I also stole an idea from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and, with huge help from the JEP, we launched the annual Jersey Great Garden Birdwatch, which is still going very well.
‘In 2002 we came up with an idea to help people blow away the calorie cobwebs on 1 January, which turned into the annual Turkey Buster walk. This year will probably be my last one, but I’ll play it by ear.
‘Looking back at those achievements I like to think they have made a bit of a difference. But nature is not quite on the agenda for society as much as it was when I started all those years ago. The world, the Island and people have changed for so many different reasons.
‘How important is nature in people’s lives? How important is it if hedgehogs are declining or this bird, or that is in decline? At the end of the day people might feel a bit sorry, but they probably wouldn’t think about it much more than that.
‘But I will always maintain that the natural environment, in particular the coastline, will become more and more valuable. It has inspirational value, spiritual value and therapeutic value. Although people may think there are times when we don’t need it, there always comes a time when we do. It’s something that most people may dismiss, but we all need the freedom of the coastline to enjoy it in any way we want to.’
Mr Stentiford is a former president of the National Trust for Jersey and still has strong ties to the organisation; despite no longer having to pen 850 words for this paper each week, he is set for a busy 2016.
In recent months he has helped to structure a new initiative designed to promote and preserve Jersey’s Coastal National Park – the wild areas at the Island’s limits which receive extra protection from development under planning policies.
He explained that the interim working group leading the project was ready to launch a scheme this year. It hopes to do for the coastline what Genuine Jersey does for local produce – to bring people together and show what the Island has to offer.
He is optimistic about the future of conservation in Jersey and is quick to praise the good work being done by schools and other groups who introduce young Islanders to Jersey’s natural environment.
Signing off his final column on 19 December, Mr Stentiford wrote: ‘My own personal take on all this as I look back is that, likely as not, largely unnoticed by society generally, a huge amount of hard graft and dedicated compassion by mostly non-government organisations and individuals has, and is, being lavished on maintaining the status quo of our natural environment.
‘Like a school report, there is always room for improvement, but as a conservationist, I am willing to say that the Island is, on the whole, doing rather well.’
