Sniffer dogs will be used to track down rogue island hedgehogs on Barra.

Sniffer dogs will be used to search for hedgehogs on Barra after one of the non-native animals was discovered for the first time on the island.

Their presence has been linked to a decline in wading birds on the neighbouring islands of South Uist and Benbecula.

NatureScot has launched an investigation following the discovery of a dead hedgehog on a road in Barra.

Sniffer dogs will be used to determine whether there are any other people on the island.

According to NatureScot, if any mammals are captured, they will be relocated and released in a safe location.

Staff from NatureScot will search the areas with trained sniffer dogs and establish a network.

Hedgehogs were first introduced to the islands in 1974, when seven were released in South Uist without permission to eat slugs in gardens.

Conservationists discovered the creatures were eating the eggs of ground-nesting birds as the population grew.

Wading bird populations began to decline in the mid-1980s.

Hedgehogs were common throughout South Uist and Benbecula by 1995, thanks in part to a lack of predators and not being run down on the isles’ quiet roads.

To address the issue, the Uist Wader Project was established, which initially involved the culling of hedgehogs.

Following public outrage over the animals’ deaths, the project shifted to trapping and relocating them.

Hundreds of hedgehogs have been relocated since 2002.