More great news from Lundy

[Malcolm Ogilvie]

A paper has just been published in 'British Birds' on the Manx Shearwaters breeding on
Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel. Rats were eliminated from Lundy in 2004, accompanied
by the usual wrong-headed complaining from Angus Macmillan.

In 2001, a survey found just 297 breeding pairs of shearwaters. The next census, in 2008,
four years after the rats had gone, found 1081, then in 2013 there were 3451, and in 2017,
5504. And from half a dozen breeeding localities in 2001, there are now nearly 50.

Other seabirds have also increased, with Storm Petrel being proved breeding in 2014 for
the first time, a doubling of Razorbill numbers and Guillemots increasing by over 250%.
There were just 5 Puffins on the island in 2004, wheras in 2015 there were 375.

This is yet another fantastic result following the elimination of non-native rats from an
island with breeding seabirds. And the good work continues despite the opposition from the
likes of Angus.