England’s treasured island seabird populations to be protected with new government funding

England’s treasured island seabird populations to be protected with new government funding - Defra

Defra announces new funding to implement biosecurity measures that will protect important seabirds

The UK government has today announced £156,000 to protect England’s much-loved island seabird populations against the threat of invasive predators.

This is one of the first instances globally of a central government providing funding to protect seabird islands against these specific threats, setting the UK as a global leader for seabird island biosecurity.

The UK’s islands such as Coquet Island and the Isles of Scilly are internationally important for millions of seabirds, with Coquet Island being the only breeding place in the UK for Roseate terns which are a red listed species. However, some key breeding populations are in decline due to multiple threats including invasive mammals such as stoats and mice.

The eggs and chicks of ground-nesting seabirds including puffins, razorbills, gannets, terns and European storm-petrels are particularly vulnerable, and their populations can quickly be decimated by invasive mammals.

The funding will be delivered through the AfterLIFE plan from July 2023. It will ensure existing biosecurity measures across England’s seabird islands are maintained and enhanced so we can continue to protect the recovery and secure the future of important seabirds.

It will also fund new measures including:

The employment of a full time Biosecurity Officer
A conservation detection dog team that will train dogs to search for and indicate the presence of brown rats
Information campaigns targeting island visitors
Training of volunteers to support biosecurity implementation across England’s seabird island Special Protection Areas
Frequent surveillance checks

These measures will build on the Biosecurity for LIFE project, which Defra has supported since 2018 and has implemented key biosecurity measures such as surveillance checks and volunteering programmes on seabird island Special Protected Areas.