Les Pierres de Lecq ( Jèrriais: ''Les Pièrres dé Lé'') or the Paternosters are a group of uninhabitable rocks or a reef in the Bailiwick of Jersey between

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

and

Sark Sark (french: link=no, Sercq, ; Sercquiais: or ) is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of ...

, north of Grève de Lecq in Saint Mary, and west of the

Cotentin Peninsula The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. Only three or four of the rocks remain visible at high tide: L'Êtaîthe (the eastern one), La Grôsse (the big one) and La Vouêtaîthe (the western one). The area has one of the greatest

tidal range Tidal range is the difference in height between high tide and low tide. Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and Sun and the rotation of Earth. Tidal range depends on time and location. ...

s in the world, sometimes being as much as . The name ''Paternosters'' is connected with a legend relating to the colonisation of Sark in the 16th century. According to this legend a boatload of women and children was wrecked on the reef and their cries can still be heard from time to time in the wind. Superstitious sailors would say the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

when passing the rocks, hence the name ''Paternosters''. The rocks are considered to form a biogeographical boundary between a cold and a warmer part of the ocean. Together with the diverse geology of the area and the differences in wave exposure of the different parts, this creates a diverse range of habitats and considerable

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

. The variety of algal assemblages support a range of invertebrate species and provides a nursery area for many fish species. Among the fish for which this area is important are the

European sea sturgeon The European sea sturgeon (''Acipenser sturio''), also known as the Atlantic sturgeon or common sturgeon, is a species of sturgeon native to Europe. It was formerly abundant, being found in coastal habitats all over Europe. It is anadromous and b ...

, the

short-snouted seahorse The short-snouted seahorse (''Hippocampus hippocampus'') is a species of seahorse in the family Syngnathidae. It was endemic to the Mediterranean Sea and parts of the North Atlantic, particularly around Italy and the Canary Islands. In 2007, colo ...

and the Atlantic salmon. The rocks have been listed as a Ramsar site and support a variety of small cetaceans including

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

Names of the rocks

The rocks all have individual names, listed here in Jèrriais: * ''L'Êtchièrviéthe'' * ''La Rocque du Nord'' *'' L'Êtaîse'' or ''L'Êtaîthe'' * ''Lé Bel'' * ''Lé Longis '' * ''La P'tite Mathe'' *'' La Grôsse '' (Great Rock) * ''La Grand' Mathe'' * ''La Greune dé Lé'', or ''La Bonnette '' * ''La Greune du Seur-Vouêt'' * ''L'Orange'' * ''La Vouêtaîse'', ''La Vouêtaîthe'', or ''La Vouêt'rêsse'' * ''La Cappe '' * ''La Douoche'' *'' Lé Byi '' * ''La Rocque Mollet'' * ''L'Êtché au Nord-Vouêt'' *''La Galette'' *''La Briarde'' * ''La Sprague'' *''La Niêthole Jean Jean'' or ''Lé Gouoillot''

References

*''Jersey Place Names'', Jèrri, 1986,
Les Pièrres Dé Lé

External links

(PDF) Ramsar site
{{coord, 49, 17, N, 2, 12, W, region:GB_type:isle_source:kolossus-ruwiki, display=title Bailiwick of Jersey Ramsar sites in Jersey