Welcome to the second instalment of our work on the Shiant Isles Recovery Project from Davide Scridel - 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. The project 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.
Shiants episode two: bird metropolis alive again!
Imagine a large, busy and noisy capital full of unusual smells and interesting feathery inhabitants - each of them exhibiting truly individual personalities.
Shags are fascinating pre-historic looking creatures which occupy the dirtiest district in town; razorbills are the cops - always wearing shades - policing the big city; puffins are the silent, innocent looking citizens and guillemots are the bankers in their smart little suits. Dominating from above are the white-tailed eagles and golden Eagles, living the high life, looking for opportunities from above. This was me, Laura and Niall’s metaphorical view of the boulder field seabird colony after months of intense work in one of Europe’s wildlife wonders!
As spring progressed, those large early-season rafts of auks showed vivid interest in visiting the boulder field and the grassy slopes of the island. After a few weeks of constant courtship, here it comes; the first shag egg followed by the razorbills, guillemots and at last the puffins! Walking must be done with extreme care here due to the slippery snowy guano which covers the rocks, but more importantly because every square metre can hold one, two or even three eggs or little chicks!
Wildlife in bad weather
Dr. Eddie Graham of the University of Highlands and Islands wrote in his blog: “Overall, the May and June 2015 period was the second wettest on record since 1873 in Stornoway, the fourth dullest and tenth coolest since 1900. Put altogether, these are by far the worst weather statistics for May and June combined since records began in Stornoway in the mid-1850s.”
Having experienced the elements from May to August, the RSPB Scotland Shiants team couldn’t agree more! And if wildlife could speak I am sure they would agree too… For example, we noticed that puffins breeding in areas faced by strong wind and rain did worse than birds breeding in more sheltered well-drained sites.
After days of intense searching in puffin burrows to find puddles and mud instead of the eggs and chicks we were hoping for, it become very obvious just how vulnerable seabirds can be and how important this project is. Climate change and unsustainable fishing are, in the long-term, complex challenges for these birds to face and whilst we are fighting to provide better policies, we also need to act in the short-term. Providing seabirds a safer breeding site, free of invasive ground predators like rats, will surely help in increasing the resilience of these and other species in our seas.
Blooming Shiants and stormy days
As the season progressed, the surrounding sea felt richer in life. Puffins, razorbills and kittiwakes were returning to their youngsters with mouthfuls of sand eels bigger than before whilst the “local” pod of 20+ common dolphin became more of a regular sight in front of the bothy. Usually you see them slaloming along line of Galtachan rocks. While, minky whales and basking sharks were familiar visitors for whoever was working on the south of House Island; the views from that spot over to Skye are superb!
It is at this time of the year that the Shiants Auk Ringing Group comes to island for two weeks. Under the professional supervision of David Stevenson, Jim Lennon and Alister Clunas the team ringed non-stop for two weeks; any and all species that they could. We also worked together to survey our primary target species - the mysterious storm petrel and the stunning Manx shearwater. For the latter we played the sound of a male stormy purr call on potential breeding sites, continuously from an mp3 player, but with no positive response. And we got similar results when surveying for Manx shearwater. This confirms the absence of both birds as breeding species here.
The potential for them to colonise the area however is huge. Not only have we managed to ring hundreds of stormies in the space of only four or five nights, suggesting that the Shiants function as important feeding grounds, but Claire also found the first breeding evidence of Stormies on Fladda-chùain - an island very close to the Shiants.
Manx shearwater bones were also discovered by archaeologists excavating a 17th and 18th century midden heap on one of the islands, supporting the theory that they were once present on the Shiants. Similarly, surveys in the 1970s found storm petrels around the islands with brood patches. However, systematic surveys to find breeding birds on the islands have been unsuccessful. Evidence from global studies demonstrates that the current absence of shearwaters and storm petrels on the Shiants can be attributed to the presence of rats.
Goodbye Shiants
It is on this note - whilst remembering storm petrels moving across the water's surface in a series of bounding leaps - that our last journey back from Shiants to Stornoway is framed in my mind. By now razorbills and guillemots have abandoned their terrestrial behaviour, and are floating amongst their youngsters in the surrounding sea. Only the silent puffin and related pufflings, with some late breeding shags are still present in the boulder field.
The Shiants have taught us a lot about life and wildlife and our thoughts go out to the next team that will experience the Shiants in the dead of winter!
If you missed out on our first installment of the Shiant Isles project you can read it here.