Islands restored to former paradise after rats removed

Seabird populations were soaring: a breeding colony of 2,000 sooty terns had established themselves on Bikar, whereas the year before there had been none. Jacques saw greater crested terns and brown noddies nesting on the ground, a Christmas shearwater — a dark-brown seabird which he says has never been recorded on Bikar before — and species of geckos and land crabs that were absent in 2024. “(Species) that were undetectable before, because they were so suppressed by the rats, were re-appearing,” he says.

One of the most striking signs of success was the thousands of seedlings of the native Pisonia grandis trees that had sprung up across the forest floor. In 2024, they had counted zero. “To come back onto the island and immediately see a carpet of seedlings was a real early indication for me that something radical has changed here,” says Jacques.