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South Uist hedgehog hunt on hold 25/2/11
Expanding the hunt for hedgehogs, blamed for decimating fragile wader bird populations, into South Uist will be put on ice for four years while evidence is sought if the prickly creatures are innocent, Scotish Natural Heritage (SNH) has agreed.
But £1.5 million is sought to hold the mammals at bay in North Uist and Benbecula on top of the £1.3m already spent with no proof that the hedgehogs are at fault.
It had been planned to move into South Uist, where hedgehogs are plentiful, after the northern part of the Uists were virtually cleared.
But it is now suspected that gulls may be guilty for the massive decline in bird numbers on Uist. Or it could be that more chemical fertilisers on the machair have upset the ecological balance, say scientists from the nature agency.
Eight years on, the bird populations have failed to recover despite costing £800 a time to get rid of 1,622 hedgehogs so far.
A SNH report admits: “In retrospect, it would have been useful to have monitored gull numbers in more detail.”
It adds: “Increased numbers of common gulls, or changes in their foraging behaviour, could exacerbate declines.”
Baffled scientists plan to monitor a patch by Loch Bee which is full of hogs and compare results with a plot in Benbecula where they are scarce but flocks of gulls are present.
Further funding of £1.51m is needed to continue a limited hunt -
Sniffer dogs will be muzzled after two creatures died last year.
ASNH spokesman said: “The Uist Wader Project (UWP) has given benefits to the islands’ economy by helping create employment and tackling the serious effects of hedgehogs’ predation on the eggs of native wader birds, which are reckoned to be worth around £130,000 to the local economy in the form of wildlife tourism per year.
“The SNH Board approved the principle of a new four year project which will focus on an experimental research programme to explore the factors influencing wader population trends.
“This will include trapping of hedgehogs and the continued use of sniffer dogs in North Uist and Benbecula.
“Future funding has yet to be approved although for 2011/2012 £100,000 is expected to be set aside for research and monitoring.”
He added: “UWP comprises the Scottish Government, the Scottish SPCA, Western Isles Council and Uist Hedgehog Rescue, along with SNH, as advisors and partners. SNH is committed to demonstrating value for money in terms of funding, and these criteria will be rigorously applied.”
The prickly intruders are alien to the Hebrides but in 1974 four were introduced by a gardener in Daliburgh to keep down slugs.
An extermination programme to kill the prickly creatures was launched in 2003 after they were deemed responsible for the decline of wader birds. Later, nature agency SNH conceded to allow trapped hedgehogs to be kept alive and relocated on the mainland.
The Uists host important populations of redshank, snipe, lapwing and oystercatcher in Europe while higher densities of dunlin and ringed plover nest on the islands than elsewhere in the world.
Hedgehogs do eat their newly laid eggs but the growing numbers of common gulls may be worse offenders