Louise CullenAgriculture and environment correspondent, BBC News NI
Ronald Surgenor/PA Wire
A puffin in water at the Isle of Muck off the Antrim coast at Islandmagee
Puffins have been seen on the Isle of Muck in County Antrim for the first time in years, after a major scheme to remove invasive brown rats.
It is the first time the vulnerable seabird has been recorded on the tiny island off Islandmagee since Ulster Wildlife took over the management of the seabird sanctuary 25 years ago.
A programme of rat eradication began in 2017 and winter grazing has now been implemented to keep vegetation low, so predator cover is reduced.
The charity’s nature reserves manager Andy Crory said the discovery of the puffins “proves seabird restoration works”.
Folklore becoming a reality
RONALD SURGENOR
It is not known for certain that the puffins seen this year managed to successfully rear a chick
Five puffins were spotted in 2024. Then in spring this year, cameras set up as part of the rat eradication programme caught two puffins coming and going from a nesting burrow on the cliff ledges.
Their behaviour, bringing food back to the nest, was a positive sign that they were breeding.
For Mr Crory, tales of puffins once breeding on the Isle of Muck “felt more like folklore”, but the myth is now becoming a reality.
“Seabirds face immense challenges globally, with 24 of the 25 breeding species at risk of local or global extinction,” he said.
“So, while a handful of puffins on a tiny island may seem small, this moment is huge – it proves that seabird restoration works.”
Hope for pufflings next year
The puffin sightings are the latest in a long line of positive signs of the impact conservation management has been having on the island.
Annual surveys have begun to record steady increases in eider ducks, guillemots, herring gulls and lesser-backed gulls on and around the island, year on year.
It is not known for certain that the puffins seen this year managed to successfully rear a chick.
But Mr Crory is staying positive.
“Our hope is that the Isle of Muck will become a thriving stronghold for puffins and, in time, tempt back other lost species like the Manx shearwater.
“For now, we’re waiting with great excitement to see if the first ‘pufflings’ – baby puffins – appear on the cliffs next summer.
“That truly would be the icing on the cake.”
Puffins are a priority species in Northern Ireland and red-listed in the UK, putting them in the highest conservation concern bracket due to food shortages, climate change, and predation by invasive species.
They spend most of their lives at sea, only returning to land to breed in spring and summer at the same nesting site with the same partner, year after year.
Each pair raises a single chick during the breeding season.
Ulster Wildlife said rats are a major issue for many seabird islands across the UK, posing a threat to eggs and chicks.
The Isle of Muck is not accessible to the public and it is hoped that isolation will help the birds to return safely next summer.
Other conservation successes
Similar rat removal projects have been carried out elsewhere to help seabirds bounce back.
The LIFE Raft project on Rathlin Island is expected to have rid the island of the predators when it publishes its latest report soon.
Ferrets have already been cleared from Rathlin in a world-first project.