BIRDS ON THE BRINK

Each issue, the team behind Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) looks at conservation issues surrounding different species from the UK and beyond, using beautiful images to inspire. This month it focuses on Lundy, rats and Manxies – killing in the name

Lundy is a rugged island located in the mouth of the Bristol Channel, its western flanks facing the full force of the Atlantic. Owned by the National Trust and leased to, and managed by, the Landmark Trust, Lundy was traditionally fêted among ornithologists for its seabirds. By the end of the 20th Century, its status was waning, in part due to Man’s exploitation of the marine environment, but also because of the impact that predatory rats were having on breeding birds.

With echoes of New Zealand, in 2002 a project began to eradicate the rodents ( both Brown and Black Rats were longestablished) and it was an antipodean team that undertook the work. The project involved the collaboration of RSPB, Natural England, the Landmark Trust and the National Trust; and was a success, with Lundy being declared ‘rat free’ after four years. Since then, bird numbers have risen steadily: in 2019 the RSPB said the population of seabirds on Lundy had tripled to 21,000 birds, with Puffins increasing from just 13 birds to 375.

Of particular interest is the Manx Shearwater, whose Lundy population has grown from 297 pairs (prior to rateradication) to 5,504 pairs in 2019. The UK has a particular global responsibility for Manx Shearwaters, because something like 80% of the world population breeds here. Of these, the vast majority breed in just a few locations in Britain and Ireland: 40% on the Scottish island of Rum, and 50% on Pembrokeshire islands including Skomer and Skokholm.

This breeding concentration makes them extremely vulnerable to local extinctions, and highlights the need to establish new colonies and reinvigorate ones like Lundy that without human intervention would most likely have faded into oblivion.

Interestingly, it is not just the seabirds that have benefited from the eradication of rats. A predictable consequence has been a dramatic increase in numbers of ground-nesting birds, such as Wheatears and Sky Larks. A perhaps unforeseen consequence has been a noticeable improvement in the quality of native vegetation and habitats, most significantly the ‘waved’ maritime heath that tops the island, away from land which is ‘farmed’. Although the observations are subjective, it seems that even the Thrift that carpets Lundy’s West Side, is doing better than ever before, as well.

Lundy’s coastal cliffs were once famed for their seabird colonies and, if all goes according to plan, their fortunes will be restored in decades to come

Lundy’s Puffins have also been winners in the rat-eradication stakes with a breeding population that is rising steadily year by year

A Sky Lark singing from one of Lundy’s granite stone walls. Like Wheatears, ground nesting birds like this have benefited greatly from the removal of predatory rodents, as have the flowering plants

Prior to rat-eradication, Wheatear nesting success was paltry on Lundy. Today, the population numbers in three figures, which must be one of the highest breeding densities in Britain

Manx Shearwaters spend their UK days at sea and only return to land under cover of darkness. At dusk, birds can be seen gathering in large ‘rafts’ off Lundy’s west coast

Consummate fliers, Manx Shearwaters are capable of sustained gliding, with the contrast between the dark upperside and white underside revealed as birds bank and manoeuvre