Mike Merritt
September 22 2017,
12:01am, The Times
Storm petrels have been recorded
calling for the first time on a chain of Hebridean islands after thousands of
black rats were cleared as part of a £1 million eradication scheme to save
seabirds.
The characteristic “churring” of
the endangered birds was heard this summer from their breeding burrows, an
encouraging sign that the project’s conservation work is paying off in the
Shiant Isles and the birds may be nesting.
The EU-funded project by RSPB
Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Nicolson family — the private
owners of the islands — began in 2014 to provide safe breeding grounds for
Scotland’s globally threatened seabird populations on the Shiants, in the
Minch, five miles off the coast of Harris.
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