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Rare manx shearwaters returned to Isle of Canna in bird conservation bid

News imageNTS A conservationist wearing blue waterproof and a black cap is kneeling down on a hilltop while holding a young manx shearwater. The bird is grey and fluffy. Behind the woman is an area of coastline and the sea.NTS
Young birds are being moved to Canna from Rum

Conservationists are trying to re-establish a population of rare manx shearwaters on the Isle of Canna.

The island in the Small Isles, off the west of Scotland, had as many as 3,000 breeding adult birds, but the colony was devastated by a rat infestation.

Rats were eradicated on Canna in 2005, and National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has now moved 40 young manx shearwaters to the island from the nearby Isle of Rum.

The birds are closely related to albatrosses and spend most of their lives at sea. They are believed to navigate using the Sun, Moon and stars.

News imageNTS The chick has fluffy grey feathers and is in a light grey plastic container. The bird and container are on a set of scales. A person wearing green and blue protective clothing is weighing the bird.NTS
A manx shearwater chick is given a health check before being moved to Canna

Rats first arrived on Canna about 100 years ago after they were accidentally brought over on ships from the mainland.

By the 1990s the rodents were having a devastating effect on seabirds by eating their eggs.

Trappers from New Zealand helped in the effort to rid Canna of the rodents.

News imageNTS A conservationist releases a young manx shearwater among tufts of grass on Canna. The bird has dark grey feathers with white feathers on its underside. It has a long beak. The conservationist, who is kneeling down, has dark clothing and a red cap. Behind them is a coastal landscape.NTS
Conservationists hope manx shearwaters can thrive again on Canna

Over the past two years, 40 manx shearwaters have been moved from Rum, which holds around a quarter of the world's breeding population with at least 120,000 breeding pairs.

Ellie Owen, senior seabird officer at NTS, said: "The Return of the Manx project is the seabird conservation equivalent of scaling Everest for the National Trust for Scotland.

"This summer we were scaling mountains, working through the night and thumbing through pages and pages of literature to work out how to do it."

Owen told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast it was a "really complicated process" but the people on Canna missed the "eerie call" of the manx shearwaters in the village.

"To them it is a very evocative sound of the raw power of nature and the birds you can hear on the neighbouring island - hopefully we can bring it back to Canna with this project," she added.

A film about the project is due to be released next year.