Seabird Recovery Project
The Lundy Seabird Recovery Project was a plan to increase seabird productivity by eliminating their major land predators, the Brown and Black Rats that lived on the island. The project was started in 2001 as a partnership between Natural England, the RSPB, the National Trust, and the Landmark Trust. As Black Rats are nationally rare, the project attracted criticism from some mammal and animal welfare groups. The Lundy Field Society could not reach a unanimous position and therefore neither opposed nor supported the project (Webster 2003). After two winters of poisoning and an additional three years of monitoring by Wildlife Management International, Lundy was declared "offically" rat-free in 2006. The seabirds, however, had noticed the change, and both Manx Shearwater and (Atlantic) Puffin chicks were seen in 2005.
By the end of 2013 over 1200 Manx Shearwater chicks have been ringed on Lundy. These successes are mirrored by increased numbers of seabirds in whole island censuses. Manx Shearwaters increased from ~300 pairs in 2001, to ~1000 pairs in 2007, to ~3000 pairs in 2013. Numbers of Puffins, Common Guillemots, and Razorbills are also the highest for many years. Another milestone was reached in 2014 when the first European Storm Petrel chick was ringed. Although adult Storm Petrels have been caught on the island, this was the first confirmed breeding for this species on the island, and means that there are now 11 species of seabird successfully breeding on Lundy.
