Protecting St Kilda’s Seabirds from Danger
/The National Trust for Scotland
Since 1957, the National Trust for Scotland has owned and cared for the isolated St Kilda group of islands, 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides. St Kilda is a dual World Heritage Site for its cultural and natural value, a National Nature Reserve, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, a National Scenic Area, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a European Community Special Protection Area.
Platform PR was asked to provide a press office service during January and February to the Trust. On 1 February 2008 a Spanish-registered fishing trawler, The Spinningdale, ran aground in bad weather on the cliffs of Hirta, St Kilda’s main island. Hirta is home to the largest seabird colony in the UK, the largest gannet colony in the world, and has the highest numbers of puffins and Leach’s storm petrels in Europe.
The Brief
Once it was established that the ship’s crew was safe and there was no immediate damage to the island, the Trust identified the possibility that any rats in the hold of the trawler could scramble on to the island. Although Hirta has native mice, it has no rats. Any rats landing on the island could eat eggs and chicks, causing serious damage to the island’s seabirds.
The objective of the campaign was to provide a flow of information to keep the issue in the media and to highlight the important work of the Trust in caring responsibly for Scotland’s natural and built heritage, including sites of global importance such as St Kilda.
What We Did
- We kept the flow of information going by issuing daily media updates and responding to high media interest.
- We established a spokesperson - The Trust’s Property Manager for St Kilda - who was interviewed by dozens of media outlets throughout the crisis.
- We arranged for media to visit the island, which is usually only serviced by a tourist boat in the summer months. The Trust has an annual allocation of seats on a Ministry of Defence helicopter which visits St Kilda on certain days, weather permitting, but these were required for the species conservation team and other MOD staff. The tourist boat owner offered his services to take up to 10 members of the press to Hirta, at their own risk and cost. An advisory note was issued to the media asking them to book places direct if they were interested.
What We Achieved
- More than 50 media enquiries were dealt with over the period of a week and a total of 76 pieces of media coverage appeared between the 1st and 17th of February.
- Broadcast coverage included all national BBC outlets including World Service, STV, Sky News and Newsround.
- Representatives from the BBC Scotland, Network News in London, Scottish Television and The Scotsman set sail to the island to film and interview the Trust’s National Species Recovery Officer. Some excellent first-hand live accounts were broadcast on Radio 4 and Radio Scotland.
- The Scotsman made the story its front page spread on 2 February and following their visit to Hirta with journalist and photographer, the paper again ran the St Kilda story on its front page and included a double page spread inside.
- The total circulation reached was more than 28 million and the advertising value equivalent was £103,597.
