Verify for stowaway rodents to assist save our seabirds

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Boat owners on Mull are urged to search for stowaways daily in order to save the area’s seabirds.

And day-trippers visiting the Treshnish Islands and Staffa are encouraged to keep an eye on their bags and seal food to stop invasive predators like rats and mink.

Special chew cards have also been issued to boat owners by a biosecurity project that Mull recently visited to try to keep valuable seabird colonies free of rodents.

The chew cards are designed to help boat owners spot signs that predators may have crept on board.

The Biosecurity for LIFE project, a partnership between the RSPB, the National Trust and the National Trust for Scotland, promotes ways people can avoid accidentally endangering puffins, shearwarts and European petrels.

Over the past few centuries, many seabird colonies in the UK have suffered population declines or have been completely lost to non-native invasive predators.

Sarah Lawrence, West and Central Scotland Biosafety Officer, said it was great to meet boaters on Mull.

“It is clear that everyone is interested in preventing minks and rats from reaching seabird colonies in the Treshnish Islands and Staffa,” she said.

But RSPB Mull Officer Dave Sexton said that while it is very encouraging that the boat trips are so keen to be part of this effort, private boat owners who land on Lunga also need to be involved.

“Seabird colonies are so vulnerable and we know that minks like to stow away on boats. Fortunately, Mull’s sea eagles also do their part, as we find minks in nests as prey and we know from studies in Finland that they can pluck mink out of the water while swimming and help prevent them from scattering into the sea “, he added.

All boat owners in the area can help – even if they never land on the islands.

Minks and rats can swim at least two kilometers, so boat owners should not push rodents or sleeping mink overboard that they spot.

In order to be able to react quickly against possible invasions, a number of rodent monitoring stations are set up and regularly checked.

Visit www.biosecurityforlife.org.uk to learn more about the project and downloadable resources.