The mission is almost bordering on the impossible: how to save the pirate of the seas from the brink of being lost forever? Two thirds of the world’s population of great skuas nest in Scotland but their numbers have been decimated by avian flu, driving the large seabirds, also known as bonxies, to the brink. Now, with three quarters of the Scottish population lost to the virus, an epic effort to save them has been played out in remote St Kilda involving exhausting legwork, trickery, fake eggs, a plastic tub and some tin foil. Great skua chicks on St Kilda have been given tags to help monitor them throughout their lives (Image: National Trust for Scotland) Despite their aggressive reputation, a tendency to divebomb humans who approach their nests and to attack other birds and steal their food, great skuas have been highly vulnerable to avian flu, which has caused mass fatalities among Scotland’s seabirds since it emerged in 2021.
As it took hold, nature rangers across its traditional northern islands nesting sites faced the distressing task of gathering carcasses of great skua and other birds which littered nest sites and coastlines. Now some of the same National Trust for Scotland nature teams have been at the forefront of the desperate effort to save the great skua that remain, and give their offspring a fighting chance to reach maturity. Over recent months they have trekked miles over wild St Kilda landscape to carry out a massive mapping exercise aimed at identifying t.