Inhoud
Mike Stentiford's lifelong passion for wildlife began when, as a small boy during the blitz on Exeter, he became an evacuee at a farm on Dartmoor. One evening Mike joined his farmer host to visit a badger sett where the sight (and smell!) of these wild animals hugely impressed him. After service in the RAF and marrige Mike Joined his parents on their passage to Jersey where his father had accepted the managership of a St Helier grocery shop.
Birds were Mike's number one interest and he was soon busily involved in the formation of the Young Ornithologists Club which did so much to encourage a generation of Island youngsters. Thereafter followed a series of practical initiatives aimed at furthering an interest in the protection of Jersey's natural landscape and wildlife. A special focus was St Ouens Bay which was gradually transformed from a rubbish dump and playground into a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Mike has been actively involved in the Jersey Conservation Volunteers, the Jersey Walking Group and in organised walks provided by Jersey Tourism. For many years he contributed to BBC Radio Jersey and continues to write a weekly column for the Jersey Evening Post. As the 'Birdman of Jersey' he has hosted many well known visitors to the island, among them Percy Edwards, Eric Morcambe, Johnny Morris, Sir Harry Secombe and former Chancellor Ken Clarke.
His long-term and full-hearted commitment to ppopularising and protecting Jersey's natural Heritage has won him many plaudits which culminated in his award of an MBE in 2000. In May 2008 Mike became President of the National Trust for Jersey and celebrated his first fifty years in his Island home. Blame the Badger is his inspiring testament and a fitting celebration of a half-century of achievment.
