Blog from Anna Feeney, LIFE Raft Communications Manager
For the past three weeks LIFE Raft’s eradication specialist, Biz Bell from Wildlife Management International Limited, has been here on Rathlin doing a readiness check of the project.
This means that she was checking to see if we’re in a good place for the ferret traps to go live. No part of the project goes uninspected. Does the safety alert work for remote field workers? Are the ropes being stored correctly? Will there be enough bait for the traps? How are we communicating with the community?
The list is lengthy and comprehensive, and we’re pleased to say that we have got the go-ahead – the ferret traps will soon go live!
Biz is heading off today for another project, with plans to return in January, but before she left I had a chance to sit down with her over a coffee at the Manor House on Rathlin. We talked about her experience, how Rathlin fits into the global eradication community, and the importance of biosecurity.
Anna: “Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?”
Biz: “I started off very young as a conservationist. My father used to work for the New Zealand Wildlife Service, which has now become the Department of Conservation in New Zealand, so we travelled around a lot of islands when we were kids. There are no native mammals in New Zealand apart from bats and marine mammals, so everything else whether it’s mice, cats, dogs, or mustelids are all introduced, and so of course they impact significantly on our native species.
“So we were developing ways to remove them from islands in a safe way. And over the years New Zealand got a reputation for island eradications and so as we got to travel the world. I started off in Mauritius, then into the UK after the Caribbean, eradicating everything from rats and mice to cats and goats.
“We’ve done five eradications in the UK and another 14 or so around the rest of the world.”
Biz throwing bait out of a helicopter on Redonda in the Caribbean. Credit: Silas Walton/FFI
Anna: “What are some successes that you’ve had?”
Biz: “One of the first ones I directed, Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, was eradicating black and brown rats. I always said I would know it’s a success when the tourists who stay at the lighthouse complain that the Manx Shearwater are keeping them awake. About 20 years to the day of the anniversary of the eradication, I heard from the ranger and the RSPB team that it was happening – tourists were complaining. Success.
“The population had gone from about 350 occupied nests to over 7,000 in just 20 years (in 2019 it was already 5,500). It just shows what removing a predator can do. Climate change, pollution, prey availability, they all have an impact, but sometimes changing that one factor can give a species a massive boost. It’s also something we can deal with – a lot of people wonder how they can help with something as overwhelming as climate change, but an eradication of a species on your own island, that’s something you can do, and it’s something we can all work together to get done.
“There are also entirely new industries they can do now because there aren’t any rats. Many new kinds of plants, fruits, and vegetables can be grown and they’re doing loads of tourism. There are some exciting prospects for people when there’s a change like that.”
Biz doing checks at the shed. Credit: John Kelly.
Anna: “When you start a project, do you have projections of how the seabird populations will respond?”
Biz: “Definitely for some species. There’s a lot of evidence internationally and particularly with the several eradications now done in the UK. There are complicating factors, but particularly with burrowing seabirds the changes can be astronomical, they can be straight away, sometimes even within a year.
“The Shiant Isles hadn’t ever had breeding Storm Petrels recorded there, but within one year of the black rat eradication they had Storm Petrels nesting and breeding.”
Anna: “Are the birds constantly surveying for new breeding spots? How do birds find the island?”
Biz: “There are always birds looking for new places to breed, whether they’re from nearby colonies or they’ve historically been on the island. Some of these Petrels and Puffins are recorded as living up to 50 years old, so they will still remember Rathlin. And the birds still here will attract other birds – by their calls, their smells, they’ll help prospecting birds find it.”
Anna: “So it’s a critical time to be doing this project, while there are still birds here. Can we anticipate entirely new species finding the island?”
Biz: “Hopefully, that is the great thing. There is no reason why Storm Petrels and Manx Shearwater couldn’t be breeding here, there’s some really nice habitat. Seabirds are now restricted to lower down the cliffs, but once the predators are gone we could see them nesting even along the cliffs to the Rue, closer for people to see them.”
Anna: “With these other projects you’ve been on, what are the common denominators for success?”
Biz: “A really good team, and really good support. Particularly on islands with communities, the project simply isn’t possible without their support – their ideas – their expertise – how they see it working in the long-term. A lot of the people in an eradication team will leave the island, but the community will be here and will be the ones making sure the project works in the long term. One pregnant mouse can repopulate an island in six months.”
Anna: “Ferrets were introduced intentionally to keep rabbit numbers down. But rats, what are the main steps in keeping them off the island?”
Biz: “Rats are great stow-aways. So hay, animal feed, any food products or large bulky items, they need to be checked, and it helps to make sure they’re not being stored for long periods of time (that gives rats opportunities to jump in). It means talking to suppliers, the ferry managers. And this doesn’t have to be a big change to people’s lifestyle – it’s just being clear to people coming on the island that this is a rat-free island, and to please check your car, make sure it’s safe.
“It is amazing to see that legacy grow, along with people’s pride that their island is rat-free. It’s not just about the seabirds. The whole landscape starts to bloom. Rats are nut and seed eaters, so people suddenly see many more flowers, lots more fruit. It’s so beautiful. Certain vulnerable flower species, a lot of lichens, suddenly come back. Sometimes we don’t even know what the changes will be, so a lot of the follow-up work is monitoring – of plants, of lichens, or small mammals, of the seabirds, because we need to document these changes. We need to know just how big a change the eradication has made – one island can then inspire another.”