Today’s blog is written by Jacques Villemot, Marine Policy Officer, on how Lundy Island and its surroundings are of international importance for threatened seabirds and urgently need adequate protection.
Lundy Island, off the north coast of Devon, is and has always been a place of great significance for our seabirds. Vikings even gave it its name over 1000 years ago based on the sites’ significance for some of Britain’s most beloved flying critter – Lund-ey translating to Puffin Island.
Far from only nesting puffins, the island is one the country’s most significant seabird colony, hosting 11 species in total (puffins, of course, but also Manx shearwater, storm petrel, guillemot, razorbill, fulmar, shag, kittiwake, herring gull, lesser black-backed and great black-backed gull). In recent history, the island had lost some of its significance for seabirds, becoming a shadow of its historical self. Birds’ population on the island declined to just 6,000 individuals in 2000, the colonies being greatly threatened by invasive mammals who had been introduced to the site.
However, a partnership between RSPB, Natural England, Landmark Trust and National Trust carried out an Island Restoration project between 2001 and 2004 to give the seabirds a chance to claim back their nests. Using both government and charitable resources, brown and black rats were successfully removed from Lundy, and with biosecurity measures maintained since, the birds were able to re colonise the site. Last year, 27,000 individuals were surveyed on Lundy – including 7,000 Manx shearwaters alone – a 450% increase in numbers in just over 15 years!
Beyond the land, the waters surrounding Puffin Island are also of great significance for UK birds. Tracking data has recently shown where Lundy’s nesting seabirds were relying for food at sea, giving precious insights as to where protection is needed to ensure seabird colonies don’t become safe places to starve. These waters are also of great significance to an eminent visitor between July and October, the Balearic shearwater. This bird’s population is facing extremely rapid decline and is recognised by IUCN’s red list to be critically endangered. It is in fact the UK’s only critically endangered bird, and recent studies analysing the area around Lundy have shown that it supports up to a quarter of the species’ total population in October, with numbers likely even higher during peak season for their UK wintering, in August and September.
Yet, despite the site being one of the most significant seabird colonies in the UK and supporting one of the country’s most endangered species, it is barely protected. The island itself has been designated as a Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI) for some of its species, but not all – and the level of protection afforded by this label is far from sufficient. Besides, beyond excluding some of the species nesting on this internationally significant island, the protection doesn’t extend to the waters around it either. In practice, this means that none of the seabirds’ feeding areas, food source or flyways are protected. This also means that the critically endangered Balearic shearwater doesn’t benefit from any protection.
With increasing pressures from climate change and human developments and activities at sea, it is urgent to address this clear gap in the country’s network of Marine Protected Areas.
As such, the RSPB is calling for Government to step up the protection of Lundy Island and its surrounding waters, so it may become a Special Protection Area (SPA). This new protected site needs to apply to all 11 seabird species nesting there to safeguard the incredibly significant seabird assemblage depending on the area, but also need to extend at sea to ensure their foraging ground and flyways are protected and include the increasingly rare Balearic shearwater to finally provide a protected area for this bird in UK waters.
To do so, we will need your support! Having an area declared as protected can be a lengthy process, and communities have a crucial role to play in mobilising Government to act. Please watch this space for more updates.