Tortoise art trail takes over Jersey to help protect endangered species

If you’re out and about in Jersey this summer, be prepared to meet a colourful giant tortoise named Margo. She’s one of 50 sculptures that will form part of the Tortoise Takeover – an island-wide public art trail, of which RBC Wealth Management is Education Partner, created to raise funds for Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust . The money will be used to build Durrell’s new Tropical House at Jersey Zoo.

Throughout July and August, the sculptures – designed and decorated by artists from Jersey, the UK and further afield – will be found across the island, from St Helier to wild rural and coastal locations.

The Durrell team partnered with Wild in Art to make the sculptures before they go to the artists. Wild in Art has been creating exciting art trails around the world since 2008 – although this is the organisation’s first-ever tortoise trail.

And if that isn’t enough, kids from schools and community groups will be designing 65 smaller, “young” tortoises as part of the project. Out of all the tortoises, RBC Wealth Management “shell-ected” Margo as the tortoise it wanted to sponsor.

The artist who brought Margo to life was Dublin-based Shirley Copperwhite , whose design represents plants from some of the habitats in which the giant tortoise species live, such as Madagascar and the Galápagos Islands.

Aside from her interest in ecology and botany, Copperwhite is a big fan of the TV series The Durrells, and says she was inspired by a quote from character and founder of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Gerald Durrell, who said, “You cannot begin to preserve any species of animal unless you preserve the habitat in which it dwells.”

“While the [tortoise] design was influenced by that quote, the look and feel of the design is more about Margo, Gerald’s sister,” Copperwhite says about the link between Margo, the tortoise and the TV series. “[Margo] was a very colourful character, and so is the design for our tortoise, which is aptly named after her. Margo ran a boarding house in Bournemouth, where Gerald housed the very beginning of his zoo, in the back garden, and where she threw bohemian parties that featured some very fascinating people.”

Protecting endangered species

The tortoise art trail comes at a time when the species is under significant threat. According to Alex Shears, director of Communications and Fundraising at Durrell, chelonians – which include tortoises, turtles and terrapins – are now the most threatened vertebrate group in the world and need our help more than ever.

“We work with several species of tortoise around the globe,” she explains. “One is the ploughshare tortoise in Madagascar, which is the rarest tortoise in the world and is under threat because of the illegal wildlife trade. We also work with Aldabra tortoises, which are a giant tortoise species. We use them in our work in Mauritius to serve as ecological ‘engineers’ to replace the function of the extinct Mauritian tortoise.”

Shears believes the new Tropical House has the potential to be something special. In addition to providing a home for a vast range of species at the zoo, including some of the most endangered reptiles and amphibians, it will be far more sustainable and energy efficient.

Funds for the Tropical House are going to be raised in a multitude of ways. Not only are organisations, such as RBC Wealth Management, sponsoring each tortoise sculpture, but once the trail is complete, the artwork will be auctioned off to the public.

While the trail is the heart of the campaign, Durrell is encouraging people to get involved in as many different ways as possible – from hosting quizzes and tortoise-themed dress-down days to holding bake sales of tortoise-shaped biscuits. The company also suggests people use the trail to see what Jersey has to offer when it comes to nature, such as enjoying a sea swim at every coastal tortoise location.

A key part of the Tortoise Takeover is educating young people about both tortoises and conservation in general. “One of the great things about this project is that it really involves the whole community,” says Shears. “All the small tortoise sculptures will be going out two weeks earlier, because we want to give the young people who created them their moment in the spotlight.”

Something for the entire community

Part of the education programme RBC Wealth Management is sponsoring consists of Durrell addressing schools and community groups in Jersey to help young people learn about conservation and nature through art.

“We have an education team at the zoo,” says Shears. “And we’ve worked with them to produce a creative learning pack, which has a host of ideas on how to embed information about tortoises into a school’s curriculum. And we’re able to go in and do a whole range of outreach work, thanks to RBC’s support.”

The relationship between RBC Wealth Management and Durrell is a long-standing one. “We’ve partnered with them on the Future Conservationists programme, which is all about getting teenagers to consider conservation as a possible career,” explains Gail McCourt, who is head of Private Client Fiduciary Services at RBC Wealth Management in the British Isles and is based in Jersey.

“We have six main pillars when it comes to supporting charities and the community, and the Tortoise Takeover covers four – youth, wellbeing, the arts and the environment – so it’s a perfect fit.”

Durrell is a charity that many RBC Wealth Management employees in Jersey already care about – in fact, one team organised a quiz before Christmas, which raised more than £1,000.

“The Tortoise Takeover is a really cool, easy and accessible way to get people out and about and thinking about their local environment,” says McCourt. “It’s something we’re very proud to be part of and we can’t wait to see Margo and the other tortoises on the trail.”

The Young Tortoise Trail starts on 16 June and the Tortoise Trail starts on 1 July. Both run until 31 August. People will be able to access the trail through a special app. For more information, visit the programme’s website .