BOAT owners are being encouraged to check their boats, cargo and luggage for animal stowaways as part of efforts to protect seabirds nesting on UK islands.
The National Trust, RSPB and National Trust for Scotland have launched a new campaign to save seabirds such as puffins, Manx shearwater and European storm-petrel from predators such as rats, stoats and mink.
They warn that if predators get onto islands where many native seabirds breed in nests on the ground, they can eat the eggs and chicks, causing declines in populations or even wiping breeding colonies out.
The new campaign, “save our seabirds from invasive predators”, has been launched to raise awareness of the risk they face, and the measures people can take to avoid accidentally transferring them to seabird colonies.
Measures include encouraging boat owners to check their boats, cargo and baggage and for day trippers to check their bags and keep any foodstuffs in animal-proof containers to avoid attracting animals.
Around the world, cases where invasive, non-native predators such as rats prey on eggs and young are one of the leading causes of declines in seabirds, the conservation organisations said.
The UK is home to an estimated eight million breeding seabirds, with up to half of the EU population of seabirds breeding on islands around our coasts – which are naturally free of predators.
Seabirds make their home on islands including Foula, one of the Shetland islands, the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland, Grassholm off the Welsh coast, and Copeland in Northern Ireland.
The campaign forms part of the Biosecurity for Life project which has been awarded £700,000 funding from the EU Life scheme.
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