SNIFFER dogs have been used for the first time in the UK to track down a a colony of one of Scotland's threatened seabirds.

The vast majority of the storm petrel population – about 26,000 pairs breed in the UK can be found in the north and west of Scotland.

Scotland’s internationally important population storm petrel currently nests at only a few offshore islands because of the presence of ground predators in other areas.

It had been thought that storm petrels were breeding on NatureScot’s Isle of May National Nature Reserve (NNR) for the first time.

But with the sniffer dogs’ assistance, the location and extent of the colony has now been detected.

Five professional sniffer dogs were trained over a two-month period to locate the scent of storm petrels underground last month.

Dogs were used as they have a much greater sense of smell than humans, and can cover larger areas in a shorter space of time to locate potential nest burrows.

The Herald:

The time of year was crucial as storm petrels were still present in underground burrows, but all other seabirds had left the island. This ensured no other seabirds or wildlife were disturbed by the presence of dogs.

Dogs were used for 20 minutes at a time to walk transects and search for nesting storm petrels underground, allowing rotation and rest periods for each dog and handler.

There were a total of 63 confirmed 'positive responses' – revealing burrows which indicate where pairs are nesting.

David Steel, reserve manager at the Isle of May, said: “We were really excited to work with the dogs and the dog handlers to find out more about storm petrels on the island. These special seabirds come ashore under the cover of darkness and nest underground in crevices, burrows, cairns or stone-walls, raising a single chick. During that time, their activities – singing away in total darkness, as well as their unique musky smell, make these birds so fascinating and mysterious. We’re delighted to confirm the storm petrel colony after such a great team effort over the last three years by so many people.”

The European storm petrel is Britain’s smallest breeding seabird. Not much bigger than a sparrow, they have dark brownish black feathers covering their entire body, apart from a white patch just above their tail and a white band on the underside of each wing.

Flying low over the water, the tiny storm petrels’ feet skim the waves as it searches for food, sometimes giving the impression that it is running across the surface.

Three years ago it emerged that the threatened seabird was breeding on the Shiant Isles following a four year programmed to rid the area of rats, which had reached the islands in the holds of ships and which ate their eggs and chicks.

It had never previously nested but after the eradication of rodents conservationists found the first signs of chicks.

Dr Mark Bolton, the leading authority on storm petrels in the UK and a Principal Conservation Scientist for the RSPB, said: “It’s very exciting to discover a new breeding colony of storm petrels in the UK, which considerably extends their known breeding range on the east coast of Britain, and increases their resilience to the many challenges our seabirds face. The fact that specially-trained scent dogs were used to locate many of the nesting sites is ground-breaking in the UK, and I hope it heralds a new era of greater use of scent dogs for seabird monitoring here.”