Volunteer with LIFE Raft

Biosecurity Island Monitoring Team Member (Volunteer)

Rathlin Island is one of Northern Ireland’s most treasured wildlife havens, home to internationally important seabird colonies and unique native species. To help keep the island free from invasive predators like rats – which can devastate nesting birds – we are building a network of trained biosecurity volunteers. This is your chance to play a vital role in safeguarding Rathlin’s natural heritage while spending time in one of the most beautiful and diverse places in the country.

Biosecurity Island Incursion Team Member (Volunteer)

Rathlin Island is home to Northern Ireland’s largest seabird colony, with over 200,000 birds, including the largest Guillemot colony in the UK and Ireland and over 1,000 Puffins. However, these populations are under serious threat from invasive non-native predators—rats and ferrets—which prey on seabird eggs, chicks, and adults.

Introduced unintentionally in the 1800s (rats) and deliberately in the 1980s (ferrets), these predators have significantly impacted Rathlin’s wildlife. For example, Puffin numbers have halved since 1985, with chick survival rates dropping from 75% in healthy environments to just 33%. The Corncrake, another vulnerable ground nesting bird, is also at risk. Rathlin remains the only breeding site for Corncrake in Northern Ireland.

An incursion is when a non-native invasive mammal has recently spread to the island but has not yet established a population. As part of the shared protection plans, we are building a network of trained volunteers to respond to an incursion and react rapidly to any reported invasive predator and remove this threat as quickly as possible.