St Agnes rat population wiped out
The rat population on St Agnes has been wiped out, nearly 300 years since they were first brought ashore by shipwrecks. And there's been an extraordinary change of fortune for the birds.
Decline in rats proves good for St Agnes birds
300 years ago boats that were shipwrecked off the Isles of Scilly brought some unwelcome visitors - RATS. And the rodents have proved a curse to birdlife on the islands ever since.
The rats that swam to safety, quickly multiplied - and for centuries have fed on eggs and chicks of rare nesting seabirds. But now the rat population on St Agnes has been wiped out, there's been an extraordinary change of fortune for the birds.
For the first time in living memory a Manx Shearwater has been reared on the Isles of Scilly.
Jaclyn Pearson is from the Seabird Recovery Project:
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