On the evening of 26 May, the tanker Midnight Glory lost one of its lifeboats off Skokholm during a routine safety exercise. Clearly things did not go according to plan.  Although there was no-one aboard and despite the fact that the lifeboat was washing ever closer to the Island, the captain attempted three rescues, all of which failed. During which time the tanker itself also came alarmingly close to Skokholm.

With the island wardens watching on, keeping the coastguard informed, the lifeboat eventually hit the Skokholm rocks, smashing into Steep Bay on the island’s north-west coastline. Immediate concerns were for the biosecurity risk a shipwreck of any kind poses to our precise seabird islands. Alarmingly the hatches were open, raising concerns further that there was the opportunity for rodents to be aboard.

The following morning the lifeboat remained wedged on the rocks, the hull badly holed, a smelly slick 190 liters of diesel in the water below and around hundreds of seabirds. Given the close proximity of the auks and gulls incubating eggs and chicks, thoughts turned to the salvage operation and the disturbance that might cause at this point of the breeding season.

A visit from Greg and Jinx, a four year old Cocker Spaniel trained to detect Brown Rats, helped to calm fears that there could be an invasive rodent on board. The dog failed to detect any signs that there had been stowaways on the wrecked lifeboat, during his searches of the clifftop above. However, it is known that rodents may stick to a wreck for a few days before they start to explore further afield (so a follow up visit was required). This coupled with additional surveillance stations and trail cameras, which will be used over the coming weeks, will help to confirm nothing has climbed the cliffs from the beach below.

Finally on 1 June the conditions calmed enough for the team from Dale Sailing to remove the wreckage using their barge (the KitCat). The battered lifeboat was carefully dismantled and transported onto the waiting boat for transport back to Neyland. A quick stop in Dale on the way back to the marina allowed one of our mainland volunteers to climb inside and check for rat dropping or anything suspicious. Nothing was found.

We are now dealing with the vessels shipping agent to claim back our costs, incurred through no fault of our own. A sadly unnecessary week of worry and disturbance that we could have done without at the start of the seabird count season, the busiest period for the island team.

Looking for some positives, we have definitely raised awareness about biosecurity and the importance of the seabirds that breed within the Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation. And one of the largest shipping companies in the world is now more informed about the largest Manx Shearwater population in the world!

We would be grateful if you could please complete this 5 minute bio-security questionnaire here... to help us understand everyone's knowledge on this important issue.