The geology of Annet is of
Hercynian granite overlain with
raised beach deposits. On the southern end there is a "thick bed of soil, part sand and part soil". Annet is the ″British stronghold″ for the lichen
Roccella fuciformis. A description of the island by Hilda Quick, a former resident of St Agnes published in 1964 is still relevant today:
Fauna Annet is considered to be of outstanding importance as a seabird colony. Twelve species nest here, of which two, European storm–petrel (
Hydrobates pelagicus) and lesser black-backed gull (
Larus fuscus) have nationally important breeding populations. The storm–petrel breeds amongst the boulders of the more stable storm beaches. The largest population of Manx shearwater (
Puffinus puffinus) in the islands breed here and the other annual breeding species are puffin (
Fratercula arctica), greater black-backed gull (
Larus marinus), razorbill (
Alca torda), kittiwake (
Rissa tridactyla), fulmar (
Fulmarus glacialis), herring gull (
L. argentatus) and shag (
G. aristotelis). Common tern (
Sterna hirundo) breed on the island most years as do cormorant (
Phalacrocorax carbo) and very rarely Arctic tern (
S. paradisaea).
Breeding birds Annet has long had a reputation for being the best island for breeding birds and
Jessie Mothersole visiting in 1910 described the island thus: Annet is known by the name of "Bird Island" from the immense numbers that breed there. In the early summer the sea all round is black with puffins and razor-bills, their white breasts being hardly noticeable as they sit on the surface of the water; and the air above is dark with clouds of gulls, and full of their ceaseless cry. Puffins (also called sea-parrots) have bred on the islands from time immemorial. Numbers of breeding birds have fallen over the years and in the last 150 years some of the threats have been recorded. The Reverend Smart recorded his visit in 1885, To land on Annet, when thousands of young birds are fledged and making their first essays at flight, is one of the best bits of fun imaginable, especially within a couple of hundred yards of the usual place of debarcation. The sandy, peat-coated soil is honeycombed by the birds. The young one has come out of the nest and with two or three steps you will get him. Do you though? In an instant one or both legs have suddenly sunk in the burrowed ground and birdie has escaped you. So the sport goes on, and it is a genuine romp for bird and follower. If you capture young ones you release them again. No gun has killed or lacerated; no stick has harmed; there is but a moment's scare for the palpitating, pecking fledgling, and he is off again, to join his parents, who hover near, and by their plaintive cries cheer up his beating heart and tell him they are at hand. J. H. Gurney visited the island in May 1887 and estimated the population of Manx shearwater to be 200 pairs. He reported: There had been a terrible robbery on Annet, a few days before our visit, of Shearwaters or their eggs, or both, and the south end of the island was dug over in all directions. Notwithstanding this, we had no difficulty in finding the objects of our search; indeed the ground was so honeycombed, that it was impossible in some places to avoid stepping on, and breaking into, their domiciles. The raid on the colony had been carried out by men from
Tresco and they were brought before the Lord Proprietor
Thomas Smith-Dorrien-Smith; Gurney did not report on their punishment if any. He also reported that Annet was the only island without rats. A few weeks later cattle from the SS
Castleford were landed on Annet after she hit the nearby
Crebawethans and was said to have "trampled everything to pieces, broke in all the Shearwaters' holes, probably destroying many birds, and made a ruin of everything". Another wreck, the
Thomas W Lawson on 14 December 1907, spilled her cargo of oil and many of the rabbits and birds on Annet "were seen to lie upon the shore". The smell of oil could still be smelt on nearby St Agnes 18 months later. At the time of Jessie Mothersole's visit in 1910, visitors were only allowed one hour on the island and shooting and egg collecting was forbidden. Despite this, Annet figured highly on the list of places to visit for egg collecting. An examination of the egg collection at the
Natural History Museum (NHM) shows forty-five eggs taken between 1880 and 1936 by fourteen individuals from
Holloway College; doubtless there are many more eggs in private collections. Names on the data cards include well known wildlife experts such as
Charles Rothschild and
Frederick William Frohawk. An indication of how common and acceptable egg collecting was at the time, is the issue of day permits to visit uninhabited islands by the warden
Arthur Dorrien-Smith of Tresco. A NHM data card for three eggs in the collection, has a permit for landing on Annet on 24 May 1931 attached, and allowed the Souter brothers to land on any island, except tern islands, for up to one hour.
Other species The most recent count of seabirds on the Isles of Scilly was the Seabird 2000 count and on Annet 209 nests were found to be occupied by shag out of a total of 1,109 for the islands. On Scilly, they breed almost exclusively beneath boulder beaches or holes in low cliffs. Manx shearwater was estimated to occupy 123 burrows out of a total of 201 for the islands’ – a 74% decrease from a previous survey in 1974.
Mammals In 1996 the Isles of Scilly was designated a European Marine Site and the
Marine Management Organisation is required to monitor the site at least every six years. The grey seal (
Halichoerus grypus) is a named species and surveys were carried out in 2005 and 2010. Annet is one of the top four sites within the islands for numbers of seals and, during August to December 2010, over half of the observed pups seen were on Annet (46 out of 85). Records of some of the rarer
cetaceans are from strandings and the
British Museum was the first organisation to publish such reports for Britain. Strandings are often the only indication that rare species live, or pass through, an area and in 1917 an
endangered species, a male
fin whale (
Balaenoptera physalus) was washed up.
Natural England (previously English Nature) began a rat extermination programme in the 1990s with systematic baiting now being carried out by the Wildlife Trust. Brown rats (
Rattus norvegicus) were eradicated from Annet and a feasibility study found that the eradication of rats from St Agnes and
Gugh would benefit the breeding birds on Annet by removing the most likely source of invasion. The study also found that small mammals also benefit from the eradication programme which should help the Annet population of Scilly shrew (
Crocidura suaveolens). A rat eradication programme started on St Agnes and Gugh on 8 November 2013. This programme was successful, with St Agnes and Gugh being declared rat-free in early 2017. Rabbit (
Oryctolagus cuniculus) has also been recorded. A gull pellet found in 2002 contained the skull of a small mammal and when examined was found to be a water vole (
Arvicola terrestris) which has never been found on the Isles of Scilly. Water vole is extinct at the nearest possible mainland source, Cornwall, and the original location of the skull is unknown.
Invertebrates The
lepidopterist Austin Richardson made annual visits to the Isles of Scilly from 1956 to 1962 recording the moths and butterflies. On 14 September 1958, during a visit to Annet, he saw a crimson speckled (
Utetheisa pulchella); a migrant moth whose larvae have never been found in Britain. He did not see any larva of the grass eggar (
Lasiocampa trifolii) but the
imago was found there the following August. K Smith visited Annet in June 1961 to record the
diptera and also found a moth, the garden tiger (
Arctia caja).
Odonata • Red-veined darter (
Sympetrum fonscolombii) photographed on 23 September 2002
Dictyoptera • Lesser cockroach (
Ectobius panzeri) found at Smith's Carn on 20 June 2002 by Rosemary Parslow
Lepidoptera •
Aristotelia brizella larva (recorded in 1903) •
Lobesia littoralis (1934, 1994, 1995 and 1996) • Grass eggar (
Lasiocampa trifolii) (1959) • Garden tiger (
Arctia caja) (1961)
Flora At the time of publication of
Lousley's flora in 1971, 53 species of ferns, flowering plants and grasses had been recorded on Annet. They are as follows:- •
Bracken (
Pteridium aquilinum) •
Sea spleenwort (
Asplenium marinum) •
Lesser celandine (
Ranunculus ficaria) •
Common scurvy-grass (
Cochlearia officinalis) •
Danish scurvy-grass (
C. danica) •
Common dog-violet (
Viola riviniana) •
Pale wood-violet (
V. reichenbachiana) •
Sea mouse-ear (
Cerastium diffusum) •
Common chickweed (
Stellaria media) •
Sea pearlwort (
Sagina maritima) •
Cliff sea-spurry (
Spergularia rupicola) •
Sea beet (
Beta vulgaris subsp.
maritima) •
Hastate orache (
Atriplex prostrata) •
Babington's orache (
A. glabriuscula) •
Frosted orache (
A. laciniata) •
Prickly saltwort (
Salsola kali) •
Tree mallow (
Lavatera arborea) •
Dove's–foot crane's–bill (
Geranium molle) •
Sea stork's–bill (
Erodium maritimum) •
Common bird's–foot trefoil (
Lotus corniculatus) •
Bird's–foot (
Ornithopus perpusillus) •
Bramble (
Rubus fruticosa) •
English stonecrop (
Sedum anglicum) •
Navelwort (
Umbilicus rupestris) •
Rock samphire (
Crithmum maritimum) •
Sheep's sorrel (
Rumex acetosella) •
Curled dock (
R. crispus) •
Shore dock (
R. rupestris) RDB, six plants found in 1994 and 51 in 1996. •
Nettle (
Urtica dioica) •
Thrift (
Armeria maritima) •
Early forgot-me-not (
Myosotis ramosissima) •
Bittersweet (
Solanum dulcamara) •
Black nightshade (
Solanum nigrum) •
Buckshorn plantain (
Plantago coronopus) •
Cleavers (
Galium aparine) •
Ragwort (
Senecio jacobaea) •
Heath groundsel (
Senecio sylvaticus) •
Common groundsel (
Senecio vulgaris) •
Sea mayweed (
Tripleurospermum maritimum) including some plants with double flowers (fl.
pleno) •
Slender thistle (
Carduus tenuiflorus) •
Spear thistle (
Cirsium vulgare) •
Prickly sow-thistle (
Sonchus asper) •
Bluebell (
Hyacinthoides non-scripta) •
Sand sedge (
Carex arenaria) •
Heath-grass (
Sieglingia decumbens) •
Red fescue (
Festuca rubra) •
Darnel fescue (
Catapodium marinum) •
Annual meadow-grass (
Poa annua) •
Cocksfoot (
Dactylis glomerata) •
Sand couch (
Elytrigia juncea subsp.
boreoatlantica) •
Yorkshire fog (
Holcus lanatus) •
Creeping bent (
Agrostis stolonifera) ==References==