Number of hedgehogs in rural areas ‘plunging’

Hedgehog numbers in the countryside have halved since the turn of the century, a new report warns.

It is a more positive picture for the prickly garden visitor in towns and cities, where numbers have fallen by a third since 2000 but rates of decline have slowed, the State Of Britain’s Hedgehogs 2018 report found.

They are not disappearing from urban green spaces as rapidly as they were 15 years ago and may even be returning, while numbers appear to be growing in some places where they are still found.

But with numbers “plunging” in the countryside, the groups behind the report, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) and the People’s Trust For Endangered Species, plan to engage with farming communities to halt declines.

Householders are also being urged to sign up as “hedgehog champions” and help through simple measures such as putting out wet cat and dog food, leaving wild areas for them to nest and making holes in the fence for them to move from garden to garden.

Data from three surveys, including one measuring hedgehog casualties on roads, suggest numbers of the species have declined in rural areas by half since 2000.

They face problems from intensive farming, including a loss of hedgerows and bigger fields which reduce available habitat, and use of pesticides and tillage which reduces prey such as grubs and earthworms.

While badgers are known to be predators of hedgehogs, Emily Wilson, hedgehog officer for Hedgehog Street, said that there was no evidence they were a major cause of the decline.

Picture: PA. The prickly garden visitors are disappearing from the countryside.