Of dormice and Greek men called Spiros
When the young Gerald Durrell and his family moved to Corfu in 1935, it didn’t take him long to get to grips with the local wildlife. It absorbed him so much, the boy grew up to make a career of it. Not only did he write My Family and Other Animals , he also founded Jersey Zoo and became a champion of the underdog. Two months into our Big Fat Greek Gap Year, and I have also become very close to the local wildlife of this beautiful island. I’ve been stabbed by a palm spike, bleeding like a stuck-pig and stung by a jellyfish. To top it all, a noisy family of edible dormice has moved into the attic. Bless them, they’re nocturnal so think nothing of starting a game of acorn billiards just as Mr Grigg and I are about to nod off. We’ve witnessed the conception of a litter of puppies while trying to eat a stifado outside one of the village tavernas, been woken by the sound of dogs, geese and turkeys every morning and been adopted by a ginger cat who thanks us for a cha...