Last year marked the 10th anniversary of the rat eradication programme here on Ramsey. It was a mammoth effort by the RSPB staff and volunteers working here at the time, plus a team of experts from New Zealand company, Wildlife Management International. During our recent trip to NZ, Lisa and I met up with Mike Bell, who led the project, to update him on the encouraging results since 2000.
Rats arrived on Ramsey in the late 1800’s from shipwrecks. This voracious non-native predator resulted in the extinction of puffin and probably storm petrel from Ramsey. Manx shearwaters managed to hang on in small numbers and have more than doubled in the 10 years since eradication. Storm petrels have bred for the first time on record but we are still waiting for puffins to return. There are encouraging signs however. Over the past two years we have recorded an ever increasing number of birds resting on the water with our other auks so we have deployed puffin decoys in an attempt to lure these gregarious birds up onto the cliff slopes.
Wheatears were also easy prey to rats and we have seen their numbers grow substantially since eradication. Nesting in stonewalls and burrows they were always vulnerable to rats and during wall repairs decapitated females were found, still sitting on their nests.
The eradication of introduced species is a global problem which is at the forefront of seabird conservation today. New Zealand have more than their fair share of problems with rats, stoats, weasels, hedgehogs, deer and pigs all having been introduced to the country by man and all having a negative impact on the countries native wildlife in one form or another. For more details see here.
The authorities and wildlife charities carry out sterling work on islands such as Tiritiri Matangi and the mainland Hutton’s shearwater restoration project in Kaikoura. Both sites have been completely cleared of predators allowing rare and endemic species to be reintroduced. RSPB are currently involved in a massive rat eradication project on the UK overseas territory of Henderson Island. See here for more details on this project.
After eradication, biosecurity is key. Here on Ramsey we have strict quarantine rules to try and ensure that rats (and other rodents – house mice can be just as destructive.) never make their way back onto the island. Despite people’s best efforts this can still happen, as on Ulva Island, NZ, This is a stark reminder to us all of the importance of our continued vigilance