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Thursday, July 29, 2010
Puffin lovers smell a rat
THE SALTEE Islands’ puffin population is under threat by greedy rats which are eating the eggs.
Birdwatchers and conservationists say fewer birds are returning to breed on the Saltee Islands, among other east coast islands, because of the phenomenon.
Stephen Newtown, of Birdwatch Ireland, said that sightings suggested that puffin numbers are in trouble.
He said funding is needed to eradicate rats from the islands and to count the puffin population.
“We need to get the rats off these islands.”
Puffins, which are found mainly on islands, spend most of the winter at sea and return to land to breed in summer and spring. Michael Kelly, a Wicklow photographer who has studied the puffin for the last 20 years, agreed that the number of puffins is in serious decline since 2000. Kelly visited the Great Saltee Island last week and was shocked by how few puffins he saw.
“Saltee used to be packed with puffins in the early 1990s. This has changed now and it’s rare that you would see more than a couple of birds on any one visit.”
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