Good News from Lundy – Boost for bird numbers on Lundy after work to eradicate rats

Eradication of rats on Lundy the large increase in the number of seabirds on the island of Lundy off the southwest coast of England. A new study led by the RSPB found that the number of seabirds on Lundy has tripled to over 21,000 birds since 2006, with the number of Manx shearwater pairs up from 297 to 5,504, and puffin numbers up from just 13 to 375. This significant increase in numbers comes after a partnership including Natural England worked to eradicate rats on the island. Rats are not native to Britain, and evidence had shown that they were eating the eggs and chicks of the ground-nesting birds. 

Whilst seabirds elsewhere in the North Atlantic are not doing well – OSPAR

Marine birds are valuable indicators of ecosystem condition. OSPAR assesses the abundance and breeding success of marine birds.

In the Norwegian Arctic, the Greater North Sea and the Celtic Seas, there has been a considerable (>20%) drop in abundance compared to the levels observed 25 years ago, for more than a quarter of the marine bird species assessed. Frequent and widespread breeding failure has been observed for many species, especially those feeding on small fish in the surface waters of the Greater North Sea and Celtic Seas. Prey availability is likely to be driven by ecosystem-specific changes, possibly impacted by commercial fisheries and climate change.

In the last OSPAR Quality Status Report (QSR 2010), OSPAR highlighted the occurrence of breeding failure in parts of the Greater North Sea and the Arctic, and stressed the need for research into links between environmental factors and the long-term health of marine bird populations.   Click here to read more