Hedgehog threat to nesting birds

A DARKER side to Mrs Tiggywinkle was revealed by scientists yesterday in a Beatrix Potter tale for the Nineties.

Electric fences put up to protect the nests of wading birds have proved no barrier to hedgehogs over-running islands in the Outer Hebrides. They simply swim around the fences or go underground. Dr Digger Jackson, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said ground nesting birds which previously had no natural predators were being decimated.