About UWP - Background

The Uists in the Western Isles of Scotland support some of the most important populations of nesting waders (dunlin, ringed plover, redshank, snipe, lapwing and oystercatcher) in Europe; dunlin and ringed plover nest at the highest densities recorded anywhere in the world. In recognition of this, many of the nesting areas have been notified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (under the Wildlife & Countryside Act) and classified as Special Protection Areas (under the EC Birds Directive) covering an area of about 7000 ha.

Since the mid 1980s, however, numbers of nesting waders have declined severely. The declines were, and continue to be, most dramatic in South Uist and Benbecula, where the population of some species has decreased by over 50%. For example, dunlin populations declined from ca.1,860 pairs in the mid 1980s to around 670 pairs by 1995.

Investigation of these declines has shown that high levels of egg predation by hedgehogs is resulting in very poor breeding success and is the most important factor in the decline in breeding wader numbers. Habitat management (crofting practices) and native predators are also important.

Hedgehogs are not native to the Uists but a small number were introduced to South Uist in 1974. By the early 1990s they had spread throughout South Uist and Benbecula and had reached the southern tip of North Uist. Hedgehogs in the Uists achieve unusually high densities perhaps because they have no natural predators. The population is currently estimated to be between 4,000 and 10,000.

Research and conservation action to try and safeguard the Uist waders has been ongoing for a number of years. Initially it has concentrated on trialling a number of practical measures as well as in-depth studies into the ecology and demography of waders and hedgehogs. Trials in 1998 found that specially designed fences can prevent access by hedgehogs to wader nesting areas. Although not a complete solution, fences could play an important role in the medium term by protecting some of the best sites and preventing the spread of hedgehogs across North Uist.

The UWP Partners

The Uist Wader Recovery Project is being funded by a Partnership of RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage [SNH] supported by the Scottish Executive.

• SNH
• RSPB Scotland
• Scottish Executive

The Project

The Uist Wader Project was established in 2000 to investigate methods that could be implemented to restore and safeguard these internationally important populations of wading birds. The Project initially had four main aims:

1. To slow down the spread of hedgehogs to new areas on the Uists, and where possible, safeguard existing populations of breeding waders.
2. To evaluate appropriate methods of locating and catching hedgehogs.
3. To investigate methods of reducing the hedgehog population on the islands.
4. To raise awareness of the issues and maintain close links with relevant external organisations.

In 2002 the conclusions of all this research was presented to the Scottish Executive, conservation, welfare and caring organisations, who all agreed that hedgehogs were the main problem and efforts should be made to remove them.

As at 2006 - 07 the objectives have evolved to the following:

1. To limit the current spread of hedgehogs and remove all hedgehogs from North Uist and Benbecula.
2. To reduce significantly the population of hedgehogs in South Uist with a view to complete removal.
3. To monitor and record the response of the breeding wader populations to hedgehog removal.
4. To increase knowledge of Uist hedgehog populations and their response to control measures to refine hedgehog removal strategies and capture methods.
5. To initiate and maintain a programme of awareness raising using the current problem to underline the risks of non-native species introductions and to disseminate the results among other European countries facing the same problem.

Board Meetings

Click here for a list of board meetings where the UWP is on the agenda.