Concern over Rat invasion on St Kilda
From the BBC Website
Smelling a rat on remote Scottish isle
St Kilda is a magical place, grand and imposing, home to more than half a million seabirds who have no land-based predators when they come to nest here.
St Kilda is also an offshore outpost - 50 miles by boat from the Western Isles - so it usually takes quite an effort to get here.
That's partly because the small island group is often lashed by Atlantic storms, which is what happened last Friday.
And it was during the height of the storm that the Spanish fishing boat Spinningdale was washed across Village Bay off Hirta, the main island of St Kilda, and battered against the cliffs.
The rescue of the 14 crew members wasn't the end of the drama because fears were soon expressed about what else might have been on board the Spinningdale - rats.
The reason for this concern is the possibility any rats landing on the St Kilda island group could cause serious damage not only to the seabird colony but also to St Kilda's unique variety of mice.
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