Rescue only works if there is somewhere to go back to. Up in the ravines we protect the burrows from rats and cats, and count what comes back each year.

A coastal slope of protected nesting habitat looking out over the ocean

The colonies are inland and uphill

These birds spend their whole life at sea and come ashore only to breed, in burrows dug into steep ground high above the coast. It is hard country to reach and that is exactly what kept the colonies alive. It no longer protects them: rats and feral cats got there long before we did, and a cat at a burrow entrance takes adults, not just chicks.

Nine sites are under active protection. Each one gets a ring of traps checked on a fixed rotation, entrance markers so nobody stands on a burrow, and a count at the start and end of the season.

Counting is half the work

Without numbers we are guessing. Each burrow is checked for occupancy at laying, then again before the chicks leave. The difference between those two numbers is the only honest measure of whether any of this is working. It is slow, unglamorous, and the reason we can tell a funder something true.

Getting involved

Site work runs outside the rescue season and asks more of you: full days, steep ground, early starts. Teams go up once or twice a month. It suits people who would rather be walking than answering a phone.

nesting sites under protection

Support this

← Lights out