In May 2023 I spent three weeks in the Caribbean Island and UK Overseas Territory of Montserrat, at the request of the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF), to help build the horticultural skills of the Montserrat National Trust (MNT).
Montserrat, one of the Leeward Islands in the eastern Caribbean, lies 43 km SW of Antigua and 64 km NW of Guadeloupe. It’s a mountainous volcanic island 17 km long and 11 km wide (approximately 200km2), with streams and waterfalls amongst dense tropical rainforest and a rugged coastline. It’s known as the Caribbean’s Emerald Isle and despite its small size has a large diversity of life, with over 100 bird species recorded (including the endemic Montserrat oriole – which is on the badge of the MNT), over 1200 invertebrate species (including ~120 endemics), 13 mammals and ~800 native plant species, including three endemics and over 130 tree species. Other animals of interest include iguanas (believed to now be an endemic sub-species of Black iguanas) and the endangered ‘Mountain Chicken’ – the world’s second largest frog! – found only on Montserrat and Dominica.
My journey there:
Three flights took me there – IOM – Gatwick, Gatwick – Antigua, and Antigua -Montserrat for the last leg. The Fly Montserrat flight from Antigua was an 8-seat twin engine Britten Norman BN-2 aircraft, where I sat right behind the empty co-pilot seat with the best view in the aircraft, and I filmed the stunning views on our approach and landing.
Delmaude Ryan, MNTs Administrator, met me at the airport. Delmaude had prepared my itinerary and was my go-to for help during my stay. She presented me with the keys to the MNT pickup truck to use during my stay and I followed her, getting some very hands-on experience of the twisting and hilly roads on the way up to my accommodation at the delightfully named Gingerbread Hill.
Soufriere Hills Volcano:
Montserrat is renowned for the devastation caused by the Soufriere Hills Volcano, which erupted several times between 1995-2010 and dominates the island’s recent history and culture. The eruptions resulted in approximately two thirds of the island becoming (and still is) a no-go zone, including the capital city of Plymouth. In addition, two-thirds of the island’s population of over 12,000 people, left, never to return home.
I had a guided tour of the remains of Plymouth – a modern day Pompeii – and it was quite emotive to see the solidified pyroclastic flows covering much of the city, with the tops of taller buildings just poking out of the volcanic debris. We parked on the jetty at the coast, which is now far shorter as the land mass has expanded with the volcanic ash. It was interesting to see trucks depositing graded volcanic ash next to the jetty ready for export and shipping for use as an aggregate on construction work on other islands. My visit to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) really helped my understanding, with a film that included many news clips for the period the volcano was erupting.
In the last week of my stay on Montserrat there was a screening of a new documentary on the volcano, Ben Fogle and the Buried City, screened in the auditorium at the Montserrat Cultural Centre. I was surrounded by local people, whose ad-hoc commentary added much to the experience, and it was a special experience to remember from my time in Montserrat.
Conservation:
Montserrat lost approximately 45% of its forest to volcanic activity, and the abandonment of livestock has created a significant feral animal problem, with donkeys, pigs, goats and rats, causing degradation of areas of native vegetation, while invasive floral species, such as the purple allamanda Cryptostegia madascariensis are smothering native plants. The arrival of the chytrid fungus is also threatening the critically endangered mountain chicken. It was interesting to see the forest regrowth on large areas of the pyroclastic flow, with pioneer trees such as acacias dominating. I sense that there is much to be learnt from post volcano botanical succession.
The Montserrat National Trust was established in February 1970, and has been at the forefront of preserving and conserving the cultural, historic and archaeological heritage of the Island. UKOTCF has supported conservation in Montserrat for over 20 years working with the MNT, Montserrat Government, and others.
I’d been asked by UKOTCF to enable MNT to increase their nursery production of native plants to support the UKOTCF Adopt a Home for Wildlife Project, funded by the Darwin Initiative (Project number DPLUS155). I’d also been asked to engage with the Montserrat Government, local farmers, the island’s only secondary school, and public. I had taken annual leave from Manx Wildlife Trust, UKOTCF covered my expenses, and I volunteered my time.
Getting Started:
My first day was all about meeting people, agreeing my schedule, and having my first look at the botanic garden and nursery. I met Sarita Francis – Director of MNT, and who sits on the UKOTCF Council with me, in person for the first time, as we had previously only ever met via Zoom online. It was also great to meet Chris Sealys, from St Lucia, who had recently been appointed the MNT Conservation Officer. Chris’ appointment was a great fit in terms of my aims, as his background is botany, forestry and botanic gardens. Chris now oversees all things botanical and horticultural for MNT, and his understanding, implementation, and contribution to the training I led was excellent.
In the evening I met a range of invited guests at the MNT, including the Minister of Agriculture & Environment, senior members of his team, representatives of the Farmers Association and other MNT staff, and there was clear enthusiasm for new knowledge and training.
MNT Nursery Development:
The MNT plant nursery looked like it had been set up very well around 20 years previously, but now needed some rejuvenation. Working closely with Chris and others in the MNT team we undertook a revamp, particularly of the propagation benches and compost making areas – as detailed in the latest edition of the UKOTCF Forum Newsletter, my UKOTCF report and in a short film I took of Chris describing the bench improvements, which is on YouTube.
Propagation Workshops:
I delivered two propagation workshops at the Montserrat Government nursery: firstly an Introduction to Vegetative Propagation at MNT, and then Grafting & Air Layering (more details in my UKOTCF Report). There was a great turnout for both workshops with staff from MNT and the Montserrat Government, Department of Agriculture and Environment and local farmers. The grafting workshop was of particular interest to many, and the Director of the Environment, and the Acting Director of Agriculture, as well as the Minister of Agriculture & Environment all participated.
I’ve previously delivered horticultural training in some wonderful places to some lovely people, but the two workshops in Montserrat are right up there in terms of enthusiasm and appreciation from the audience at the opportunity to learn. This reenforced to me why I so enjoy capacity building work. The appreciation was particularly evident when I met Johnson, one of two Haitians in the MNT gardens team, and who had attended both workshops. After we had exchanged ‘Good morning’ and I was walking past he beckoned me to him and said in broken English “the training sessions have been very good for me, and I want to thank you for your teaching of us. I hope you will come back”.
Connecting with Agriculture:
I enjoyed having the opportunity to engage with the Montserrat farming community. I spent time with Elvis, the Government’s Farm (Crops) Extension Officer, who took me to the two Government plant nurseries, to ‘Adopt a Home for Wildlife’ project sites, and to see farms growing various crops.
I had a good meeting with the Farmers Association, and it was interesting to hear the importance many of them put on working in accordance with the moon cycle, something most British farmers now disregard. It was also interesting to learn of the major pest problems they encounter – agouti and iguanas, upon which they are seeking Government support to control. I did often see both agouti and iguanas during my stay, and Gingerbread Hill has many iguanas around the site.
Another lovely example of the warmth I received was one evening while I was having a walk and I came across a local farmer, Matilda, who had attended my workshops. Matilda is full of enthusiasm for farming and said she would like to show me her farm plots, and clearly wasn’t taking no for an answer! I spent the next couple of hours with her in her little van, travelling around the north of the island to four different farm sites: her pig (and soon to be chicken) farm, her plantain/banana patches, and to her friend’s (Billy’s) fruit and vegetable field. It was a lovely tour, and I was delighted to remind myself that this was precisely the sort of experience I’d aimed for when I did my MSc in International Horticulture, and 21 years later here I was having a farm tour in the Caribbean!
Public Engagement:
I had a jam-packed itinerary for my 2.5 weeks on the island, including a range of other engagement activities. I went twice to the island’s only secondary school to meet the Student Leadership Team. I gave them an insight into the Isle of Man, and they were interested to hear about long tails (the word rat is not used in the IOM as it’s bad luck), fairies and the TT races! There is enthusiasm to link up with an IOM school and I made a film with the students to show to IOM school students to try and inspire that connection to take place. On one of the Saturdays I enjoyed helping Delmaude and Chris run a session for Monty’s Messengers, the kids club run by MNT, where Chris led a session where we all made bird feeders out of plastic bottles. I also delivered an evening horticulture event for the public, where they had chance to see the re-vamped MNT nursery and some grafting demonstrations, assisted by Mildred the farmer, who was definitely my best student!
I was interviewed four times on local radio, firstly by Claude Brown (President of Montserrat Farmers Association) for the weekly farming programme, then Elvis, Chris and I were interviewed live on the weekly radio Montserrat farming and environment show. I was on the weekly MNT radio programme chatting with Delmaude and my final appearance was on the Cultural Show with local celebrity/radio DJ Rose. The best thing about this appearance was listening to the live on-air speaker, with school students being interviewed who were talking enthusiastically about our meeting at the school earlier in the week and reciting information about the Isle of Man – particularly the fact that we don’t say the word ‘rat’. They were debating the use of the word Monster-longtail should they ever visit the IOM, and also enthused about the potential link with an IOM school, which I hope can happen.
Marine Conservation & Diving:
I was keen to engage with marine conservation on the island and this worked out wonderfully well. On the morning of my first day, I was invited to attend a presentation at MNT by Dr Nicola Webber (Exeter University) and Amdeep Sanghera (Marine Conservation Society) on Montserrat Turtle Conservation, which was a great introduction.
Scuba Montserrat run by Andrew and Emmy is the island’s only scuba diving business and on my three Sundays on the island, I joined them for dives. Delightfully, I got to see first hand the Montserrat Artificial Reef Project, the work they have been carrying out to combat the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD), and I assisted with two dives to translocate rare corals from Little Bay, where there will be dredging done as part of the construction of the expanded port facilities, into the next-door Rendezvous Bay. My film footage of the translocation dives is on YouTube. I enjoyed my time with Andrew, he cares greatly about conservation, they are doing what they can in their island to make a positive difference, and they have just been awarded funding for three more Darwin Plus Local projects around coral conservation.
My trip to Montserrat overlapped with a visit by Dr Tom Hart (Oxford Brookes University) working on a Darwin Plus Main project with the Montserrat Government. I joined Tom and staff from the Government on two boat trips to survey seabirds. The first was a late night to survey Audubon’s Shearwaters, where we went by boat to cliffs around the north of the island, played call of shearwaters, listened for responses, and then located birds with a thermal image camera mounted on a drone. My second boat trip was a circumnavigation around the whole island to count whatever birds we encountered. I enjoyed a wonderful 2.5 hours seeing the entire island, seeing the volcano and pyroclastic flows from the sea, and spotting birds, including 3 species of terns (lots of Least Terns near Plymouth), Brown Pelicans, 100s of Caribbean Martins, good numbers of Brown Boobies, Tropic Birds, and a Laughing Gull.
My last day:
On my last day, we enjoyed a 4 plus hour hike through forest and down a dry riverbed/gorge, chewing sugar cane and harvesting mangoes and other fruits. We saw a male Oriole bird, both yellow and red heliconias, and 3 Racer Snakes, as well as the island’s interesting petroglyphs. In the evening I took the opportunity to watch the basketball finals, where the Panthers beat the Dragons in a great atmosphere, and, as it is in small islands, people must take on multiple roles and so I was not surprised to see the Minister of the Environment refereeing!
Local folklore says that anybody who drinks water from the Runaway Ghaut will return to Montserrat one day, so with the encouragement of Chris, Delmaude and Sarita, I made a point of stopping and taking a drink.
It was a delight to go and visit Montserrat – a lovely place and most importantly, I felt useful and very much appreciated by the people I engaged with. The volcano dominates the culture of the island, and over quarter of a century after the last eruptions began, approximately 66% of the island remains closed. It was inspiring to see how the Montserratians have accepted, adapted and sustained to the circumstances, and I was particularly inspired to talk to the young people of the Student Leadership Team at the Secondary School. I will aim to stay in contact with the team from MNT, champion Montserrat as a Council member of UKOTCF, aim to foster links with IOM schools, and (with the water of Runaway Ghaut inside me), will clearly look forward to my return!
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