It’s badgers which are to blame for horrific decline in our hedgehog population
Environment correspondent Ilona Amos fails to mention in her article (7 February ) on the drop in hedgehog numbers one of the the main reasons for their decline, that of badger predation. She states that since 2000 hedgehog numbers have halved. In that time badger numbers have more than doubled, with numbers having risen from 50,000 in the early 1980s to well over a million now. Hedgehogs are part of a badger’s staple diet and where there are badgers there are unlikely to be hedgehogs. It is therefore totally unsurprising that in rural areas the decline in hedgehog numbers is greater than in urban areas as badgers tend to be rural rather than urban dwellers. Not only do they eat hedgehogs but they also eat eggs of ground-nesting birds like curlews and lapwings as well as their young.
Once again and completely unjustifiably, farmers are seen as the soft target to blame for the hedgehogs’ demise. This is irresponsible as well as misleading, since farmers do more than anybody to protect the environment, with 73 per cent of farms now in agri-environment schemes which include wildflower margins, beetle banks, as well as hedgerows, which are up 11 per cent since 1990. All of this has helped to create a paradise for wildlife including hedgehogs but it has also created a paradise for their predators, especially those which enjoy protected status under the law – and this includes badgers. With predators such as badgers being allowed to multiply unchecked, the balance of nature is now out of kilter. Until governments agree that the protected status of these animals and other meso-predators should be lifted and some measure of control allowed to take place, the toll on hedgehog numbers will continue unabated, with hedgehogs becoming an even rarer sight than they are now. The same thing is happening with many species of birds where habitat and food are in place, but unchecked predation is wreaking havoc on their numbers.
COLIN STRANG STEEL
Trustee, Songbird Survival
Threepwood, Galashiels