Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

There's a small meerkat colony at Durrell, a dusty compound full of pipes, tree stumps and fake anthills, where the staff hide their food. The folk at Durrell work hard to ensure that their charges live as close a life as possible to the wild, and their years of experience count for a lot. The result of that work is an engaged and inquisitive group of meerkats that show much of the group dynamics we expect from their TV stardom. They're also really very noisy...

At the end of a long day they're exploring the tree stumps, looking for grubs, chittering their excitement at each discovery, tumbling over each other in their urgency. Even so, the watch for predators must be kept up, lest a cruising marsh harrier decide to swap field mice for something larger.

After all, even Jersey isn't safe...


Watching closely


On the prowl


In the stump


Observing the photographer

Trinity, Jersey
August 2010