People living on Barra are being invited to join in a search for marauding hedgehogs after one was found dead last week, the first ever spotted locally.
The species is not native to the island and how the prickly intruder discovered killed by a vehicle near Cuithir on Tuesday ended up there is a mystery.
Hedgehogs gorge on eggs of ground nesting fowl such as redshank, snipe, lapwing and oystercatcher and even kill young chicks.
Scotland’s nature agency wants to avoid a repeat of the situation in South Uist which was swarming with hedgehogs all believed to have breed from a group of just seven introduced in 1974. They have spread across the islands and reached a density where they damage wader bird populations.
Fearing more of the hogs are present, NatureScot-
Two sniffer dogs owned by the trappers are being used to detect hedgehogs.
The agency asked anyone living on Barra and would like to help out with the search to get in touch.
A NatureScot spokesperson said: “Any hedgehogs caught will be relocated and released in a safe location.
“Releasing mammals on islands can cause great harm to native wildlife and is treated as a serious wildlife crime.”
The agency confirm last week’s report of a dead hedgehog is the first record of the mammal being present on the island.
Any sightings of hedgehogs on Barra or North Uist should be reported to the Uist Wader Project manager on 01463 7001636 or iain.macleod@nature.scot.
The Uist Wader Research has successfully removed hedgehogs from North Uist.
NatureScot and RSPB are now exploring sources of funding, to enable a full scale removal of hedgehogs from Uist.
Barra residents invited to join hedgehog hunt
June 2022
