Rat-free Lundy sees puffin numbers soar as more than 40,000 seabirds return

Lundy was once a warning about how quickly invasive rats can devastate an island’s seabird colonies. By the late 1990s, only 13 puffin breeding pairs remained, while many other birds had stopped nesting there.

The small island, about 12 miles off the Devon coast in southwest England, had traditionally supported tens of thousands of seabirds. Its cliffs, grassy slopes and isolation provided nesting grounds for puffins, guillemots, razorbills, Manx shearwaters and storm petrels.

Brown rats introduced by ships centuries ago found an environment without natural predators. They multiplied and preyed on eggs, chicks and, in some cases, adult birds. By 2000, the decline had put Lundy’s reputation as a seabird stronghold at risk.

In 2002, the Lundy Field Society, The Landmark Trust and partner organisations began an ambitious effort to remove every rat from the island and keep it rat-free. The work required careful planning because Lundy is also a place where people live, visit and keep livestock. Teams used baiting strategies, monitoring and strict biosecurity measures to limit risks to people, pets and other species.

Once Lundy was declared rat-free, birds began returning. Empty burrows were reoccupied, and chick survival improved as eggs and nestlings were no longer eaten overnight. Recent surveys count about 1,335 puffins on the island, while more than 40,000 seabirds now return each year to nest on its cliffs and in its burrows.