![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762860728_325_grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Ronald](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4eab3880-c086-11f0-8669-5560f5c90fbe.jpg.webp.webp\")
Ronald Surgenor\/PA Wire<\/p>\nLouise CullenAgriculture and environment correspondent, BBC News NI<\/p>\n
Ronald Surgenor\/PA Wire<\/p>\n
A puffin in water at the Isle of Muck off the Antrim coast at Islandmagee<\/p>\n
Puffins have been seen on the Isle of Muck<\/a> in County Antrim for the first time in years, after a major scheme to remove invasive brown rats.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n A programme of rat eradication began in 2017 and winter grazing has now been implemented to keep vegetation low, so predator cover is reduced.<\/p>\n The charity’s nature reserves manager Andy Crory said the discovery of the puffins “proves seabird restoration works”.<\/p>\n Folklore becoming a reality<\/p>\n It is not known for certain that the puffins seen this year managed to successfully rear a chick<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Their behaviour, bringing food back to the nest, was a positive sign that they were breeding.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “Seabirds face immense challenges globally, with 24 of the 25 breeding species at risk of local or global extinction,” he said.<\/p>\n “So, while a handful of puffins on a tiny island may seem small, this moment is huge \u2013 it proves that seabird restoration works.”<\/p>\n Hope for pufflings next year<\/p>\n The puffin sightings are the latest in a long line of positive signs of the impact conservation management has been having on the island.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n It is not known for certain that the puffins seen this year managed to successfully rear a chick.<\/p>\n But Mr Crory is staying positive.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “For now, we’re waiting with great excitement to see if the first ‘pufflings’ \u2013 baby puffins \u2013 appear on the cliffs next summer.<\/p>\n “That truly would be the icing on the cake.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Each pair raises a single chick during the breeding season.<\/p>\n Ulster Wildlife said rats are a major issue for many seabird islands across the UK, posing a threat to eggs and chicks.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Other conservation successes<\/p>\n Similar rat removal projects have been carried out elsewhere to help seabirds bounce back.<\/p>\n The LIFE Raft project on Rathlin Island is expected to have rid the island of the predators<\/a> when it publishes its latest report soon.<\/p>\n![\"RONALD](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/f5c0e470-c127-11f0-97f9-45b4466cd57d.jpg.webp.webp\")
RONALD SURGENOR<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/b6ebe300-c0a3-11f0-b2d5-133186eb0524.jpg.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n