Uist hedgehog removal plan

A fresh £ 5 million drive to rid Uist of all hedgehogs has been proposed.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) are looking at a 10-year plan to remove the mammals which are being blamed for eating the eggs of dunlin, ringed plover, redshank, snipe, lapwing and oystercatcher.

Internationally important numbers of breeding wader birds attract tourists and help support the rural economy of the Outer Hebrides, said SNH.

But they have been in decline since the mid-1980s partly due to the non-native hedgehogs.

The latest scheme to remove the prickly intruders would commence in 2017 if a bid for European funding is successful.

Hedgehogs 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 them off was launched in 2003 but SNH later conceded to allow trapped hedgehogs to be kept alive and relocated on the mainland.

SNH fear if work on removal of hedgehogs stopped there is a high risk that hedgehog populations will expand particularly into North Uist.

The latest scheme is backed by RSPB, Storas Uibhist (the community landowner) and the council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

Ian Ross, SNH chairman, said: “We will now develop a detailed project proposal aimed at removal of the introduced hedgehogs.

“We and our partners are committed to removal of the hedgehogs which are trapped safely and humanely, and removed from the Uists to the mainland.”

He added: “This would represent not only an investment in the natural heritage, but also the character, culture and economic future of the islands.

“The hedgehogs are a non-native invasive species introduced by man in the 1970s and are now having an extremely damaging impact on nest sites, predating on eggs and chicks.”

An option is to have two five-year phases at a cost of around £2.9m over five years reducing to around £2.1m over five years for phase two.

The 10-year project would aim to see the ultimate removal of all the hedgehogs, giving the wader bird populations a chance to stabilise and recover.

New £5 million plan to get rid of hedgehogs

18 February 2015