Wedge-tailed Shearwaters return to a Seychelles island

Sainte Anne is a 219-hectare island lying four kilometres off the coast of Mahé, Seychelles.  In the past few years Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus pacificus have re-colonised the island, thought from nearby Île Sèche.  Annual rat control around the breeding colony has seen it grow from only a few pairs to an estimated 20-25 pairs.

“It is the largest island of the Ste Anne Marine National Park and was originally discovered on Saint Anne’s Day in 1742.  It was subsequently the first of the Seychelles islands to be settled by the French before they took up residency on Mahé.  After stints as a whaling and war station, today the island is home to a popular 5-star resort”.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater in the Seychelles, photograph by Alan Burger

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 October 2015