About the Shiants 10/6/14
- The Shiants are a small group of islands in the Hebrides, located around five miles
east of Harris. The name comes from the Gaelic Na h-
Eileanan Seunta, meaning holy or enchanted isles. They have been owned by the Nicolson family since 1937.
- At the peak of the breeding season the islands are home to an estimated 65,200 pairs of puffins (10% of the UK population), 18,380 guillemots, 10,950 razorbills (7% of the UK population), 1,780 pairs of shags and thousands of pairs of fulmars and kittiwakes.
- In April 2012 a survey of the Shiants estimated there to be around 3,600 rats on the islands. This number increases significantly in the summer months when more food is available. A study in 1998 found that 68% of the rats captured there had consumed feathers and quills.
- The presence of Manx shearwaters on the islands historically is supported both by
the abundance of suitable nesting habitat, and the discovery by archaeologists of
Manx shearwater bones in a 17th-
and 18th- century midden heap on one of the islands. Evidence gathered from around the world demonstrates that the absence of shearwaters and storm petrels on the Shiants can be attributed to the presence of rats.
- The eradication approach in the Shiants has proven successful on a number of UK islands, including Canna, Ramsey and Lundy. Since the eradication of rats on Lundy, in the Bristol Channel, Manx shearwater numbers on the island have increased tenfold and there are now four times as many puffins; guillemots and razorbills have increased by around 25% and shags by nearly 80%.