Lundy Island's seabirds triple after rat removal

28 May 2019

The number of seabirds on an island in the Bristol Channel has soared following the eradication of rats, conservationists have revealed.

There has been a boost in the numbers of Manx shearwater, puffins and guillemots on Lundy Island 15 years after a project to remove rats ended.

The RSPB said the number of seabirds on the island, off Devon, had tripled to 21,000.

The charity said the recovery had "far exceeded our expectations".

Helen Booker, senior conservation officer for RSPB, said: "This study clearly shows how quickly and positively seabirds respond to the removal of non-native predators.

"Of course, we had anticipated major population increases when the project was launched, but the scale of this recovery has far exceeded our expectations."

The project was launched in 2003 by Natural England, the Landmark Trust, the National Trust and RSPB, and aimed to eradicate the rats because they posed the biggest threat to the survival of the birds.

Continued

No more rats on Dog Island

Bird numbers and other wildlife populations are starting to recover on Dog Island in Anguilla in the Caribbean, following an intensive five-month programme to eradicate black rats and two years of careful monitoring.

Covering 207 hectares, the island is the largest Caribbean island to be successfully cleared of non-native rats to protect the island’s threatened wildlife.

Dog Island is an internationally-recognised Important Bird Area, with over 100,000 pairs of nesting seabirds. It also supports lizards found nowhere else on earth and endangered sea turtles, which nest on the island’s white sandy beaches.

However prior to November 2011 the island was also infested with thousands of invasive, non-native black rats, which caused severe damage by suppressing native flora and preying on eggs, chicks, and other animals.

The eradication took place between November 2011 and March 2012 and was a collaborative initiative among the Anguilla National Trust, the Government of Anguilla (Department of Environment), Fauna & Flora International, the RSPB, and the island’s owner– the Anguilla Development Company.

Continued