Shiants episode five: challenges and rewards
Welcome to the fifth instalment of our work on the Shiant Isles Recovery Project from Thomas Churchyard. The project is an initiative to remove non-native black rats from the isles in order to provide safe breeding sites for Scotland’s globally important seabird colonies. It is part funded by the EU LIFE+ programme and is a partnership between RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Nicolson family, who have been the custodians of the Shiant Isles for three generations.
Since my last blog the team has continued working hard on the Shiant Isles black rat eradication, checking every bait stations throughout the three islands every two to three days. The operation runs until the end of March, so we are now in the most critical phase, ensuring that we find and eradicate any remaining rats. This has meant a serious ramping up of our monitoring work. The team are currently at work across the islands using a variety of detection methods to search for those rats that may not have been attracted by the bait – ‘fussy rats’. These methods include tracking tunnels, trail cameras and chew blocks made of flavoured wax and soap. The hope is that this extremely intensive work will last about six weeks, and that no animals will be found despite it. If any animals are found at this time then we will need to put more resource into baiting those areas.
All being well, we plan to finish this intense monitoring by the end of March and will then begin our camp breakdown, leaving the islands (almost) in the same state as they were when we arrived. It will then be another two years before a final check takes place in the winter of 2017/18 when we hope to follow the successful project on the Isles of Scilly and be able to call the Shiants rat free.
John Tayton (WMIL) and Tom Churchyard (RSPB Scotland) prepare a rope access anchor before abseiling down to bait stations. Photo: Tara Proud
Life on the islands isn’t straightforward and everyday living has its challenges. Although we have use of the small bothy on Eilean an Tighe which sleeps four we have installed temporary expandakabins for use as extra sleeping space and storage. On Eilean Mhuire we only have one of these cabins and without the use of a fire the temperature often drops close to freezing inside – it is a good job we have excellent sleeping bags. The Shiants are not on the national grid or mains water so we run a small generator every evening allowing us to keep radios, phones and torches charged as well as powering a small light. For water we fitted a tank and guttering to the bothy to collect the rain. Rain water is one thing we have never been close to running out of and apart from when big storms blow seawater into the tank it tastes delicious! Food arrives with each weekly change of the staff rota. It is a big responsibility to buy the right amount and type of food to feed the team for a week.If you get it wrong or if weather delays the next boat for a few days there is no popping down to the shops one evening to replenish supplies.
Good waste management has been essential for both the health of the staff and to ensure that we do not provide any sources of food for rats. All rubbish is stored in sealable buckets, including human waste and removed from the islands every week to be taken to facilities on Lewis. The toilet itself is a tent containing a modified seat which uses one use bags (bog in a bag), these can then be tied and stored in biohazard buckets.
The work has not been straightforward either. As detailed in my last blog we have placed bait stations across all the areas of the islands. Given the complexity of the Shiant Isles, this hasn’t only meant wandering over mountain, moor, heath and coast. It has also required accessing beaches cut off from the rest of the island by vertical cliffs, grassy slopes overhanging the wild Minch, and ledges on cliff faces. This has been one of the greatest challenges for the team. All of these hard to get at areas have required the use of ropes access, and a small team of us trained in these techniques before the project started with Mountain Leaders. We are using a twin rope system, one for all our main descent and ascent with the second acting as a back-up in case of a fall. We work in pairs, one person on the ropes and one person at the top acting as the buddy. This is important for safety, but also means we can take turns on the strenuous rope work; after ascending a vertical 100m you need a rest! Health and safety requires us to carry a full set of safety equipment, as well as a backup system in case of an emergency. This means that checking a single station down a cliff requires two people, 300m of rope, three sets of climbing equipment, rigging equipment, bait and bait stations and, most importantly, plenty of biscuits and tea! This all needs to be carried to each climbing route, abseiled down and climbed back up. Add to the mix some winter weather and you have the perfect recipe for the best night’s sleep of your life!
John Tayton (WMIL) descends Garbh Eilean North-West cliffs. Photo: Tara Proud
However tiring the rope access may be it does come with the reward of visiting parts of the islands that no person has been to before, and the views of the steep cliffs and their huge basalt columns are just stunning when viewed up close.
Our ability to get on the ropes is very weather dependent, and this winter has had its fair share of wind and rain. Although the new convention of naming storms hitting the UK has seemingly increased public and media interest it can give the impression that the weather is not that bad in between. Well I can tell you from experience that even weather without a name is more than capable of being very wet and gusting at 70mph! At times the whole team has been confined to the bothy and cabins waiting for this to pass, sitting in front of a warm fire, reading books and listening to the forecast hoping it will tell us things will improve.
Storm Henry bringing big seas to the Shiants. Here you can see the bothy with the temporary expandakabins used as accommodation and storage. Photo: Jack Ibbotson (WMIL)
As spring approaches we really hope things will be getting better on the Shiant Isles not only for us, but also for the wildlife that has endured the winter here and for the thousands of seabirds that will soon be returning to breed. If we have been successful then 2016 could be the first year in over 300 that the Shiant Isles is rat free. What a welcome back that would be.
The Shiant Isles Recovery Project is a partnership between RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Nicolson Family, it is funded by EU LIFE+ Nature [LIFE13 NAT/UK/000209 – LIFE Shiants] and private donations. The eradication is being led by Wildlife Management International with the support of Engebrets and Sea Harris Ltd.