'Guernsey's oldest tortoise', 85, missing for four days after escaping from garden

  • Kate Prout has been to meet Maggie, who has cared for Tim the Tortoise since she was a little girl.

Guernsey's oldest tortoise, who lived through the Channel Islands' Occupation during the Second World War, has vanished from her home near Jerbourg.

Tim, 85, has been missing for four days and her owner, Maggie Talbot-Cull, says she is concerned about her whereabouts.

Maggie was given Tim as a gift from her godmother when she was a little girl growing up in post-war Guernsey.

She said: "My godmother gave him to me after the war. She'd kept him in her greenhouse right through the war and then gave Timothy to me.

"For 25 years, we thought he was a boy - then the vet said he was a girl and we never changed the name."

Tim is spritely for his age, and has been known to travel at some speed. Credit: Maggie Talbot-Cull

Despite their reputation as slow creatures, Maggie says Tim can be quick when she wants to be.

She added: "She's lived here most of her life in this rather rundown house - she even has a conservatory. She was kept in a greenhouse during the war and we wanted to keep that."

Missing posters have been placed around the Jerbourg area in the hope that people walking along the island's cliff paths will keep an eye out.

Maggie says Tim loves the sun but won't survive the winter and she'd like her home soon.

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