Intensive farms force hedgehogs to set up home in the suburbs

HEDGEHOGS are fleeing the countryside and moving to urban areas because of intensive farming, a study has found.

A report by two charities found that there was a “stark contrast between rural and urban populations” as urban hedgehogs have increased while rural numbers have fallen by as much as 50 per cent.

Based on one index which records road casualties, the population outside urban areas has fallen by half since the count began in 2002.

But studies which measure suburban and urban sightings found that the population may have recovered in recent years. One survey, the Garden Bird Watch, suggested that numbers could have increased by as much as 20 per cent since 2009.

The report, by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, said that the use of larger fields, fewer hedges and copses and the decline of food such as earthworms and slugs may be contributing to the rural fall.

Increasing awareness among householders could be helping, the charities said. A joint campaign has encouraged measures such as the introduction of “hedgehog highways”, which allow the creatures to travel between gardens, increasing the size of their habitats, as well as log piles, feeding stations and hedgehog houses. Hugh Warwick, of the Hedgehog Preservation Society, said that heightened interest in the conservation of creatures such as butterflies and birds was also helping. “By planting plants for the benefit of all sorts of creatures we’re creating habitats which benefit hedgehogs too,” he said.