SWALLOWS have raised chicks on the remote outpost of the St Kilda archipelago for the first time - with the youngsters being born in the UK's most westerly garage.

The three chicks were born on the main island of Hirta in a nest established in a garage operated by defence contractor, Qinetiq, who agreed to leave the doors open for the breeding season.

Swallows are regular summer visitors to St Kilda, but this is the first time they have successfully raised young. The National Trust for Scotland (NTS), which owns the islands, said two Leach's Storm Petrels were also successfully reared in artificial nest boxes.

The population of this species has been in serious decline on St Kilda since the late 1990s but last summer petrels also nested on the island and NTS hopes prospects are improving.

St Kilda, which lies 41 miles west of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, boasts the UK's largest puffin colony, with about 136,000 at the last full count. But they have had only moderate breeding success this year.

NTS's seabird ranger Gina Prior, who is based on St Kilda, said: "Our monitoring has found that the breeding success for puffins was at a similar level to last year with about 45% of breeding pairs raising chicks. We'd be looking for around 70% of nests to produce a chick ideally. If the current levels continue for the long term, then the population of the colony could start to decline as the number of chicks just won't replace the adults who are dying off."

Although the breeding season is almost over, Ms Prior's work helps ensure the young birds make a safe departure. "Over the next few weeks, pufflings will leave their breeding burrows and return to sea," she said. "Some become disorientated by the lights from buildings and ground themselves on shore where they are unable to take flight again. I patrol the buildings at midnight and again at dusk to collect any stray young birds."