Led by Atlantic58, the research will investigate European storm petrels around the Summer Isles while testing monitoring techniques that could eventually help seabird conservation across other island groups.

The tiny birds return to remote islands to breed in hidden burrows and generally come ashore under the cover of darkness.

That secretive behaviour makes establishing where they are breeding and monitoring their populations particularly challenging.

Researchers hope the Summer Isles project will provide better information about the birds while improving the methods used to gather it.

The work will also examine how the islands can be better protected against invasive predators which pose a threat to vulnerable seabird populations.

It builds on conservation work already undertaken by the volunteer led Summer Isles Mink Control Initiative.

Dr Elizabeth Masden, Research Fellow at UHI North, West and Hebrides’ Environmental Research Institute, said:

“This project provides us with the opportunity to really think about how we monitor seabirds in these habitats, and how we can improve methods to provide more informative data to aid seabird conservation.”

The project is being led by Dr Ruth Jeavons, Senior Ecological Consultant at Atlantic58, with funding from the Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund.

Dr Jeavons said:

“Conservation starts with having the right information, which the Taking Flight fund from SMEEF allows us to gather.

“The Summer Isles are a special place, with internationally important wildlife and a community committed to its conservation.

“Bringing those strengths together gives us a unique opportunity to develop approaches that could improve not only how we monitor European storm petrels, but also how biosecurity is delivered across island archipelagos, helping reduce the impact of invasive mammalian predators on vulnerable seabird populations.”

The work means the Summer Isles will become a testing ground for conservation methods which could ultimately prove useful far beyond the waters off the north west Highlands.