Why it’s harder than ever to track down a hedgehog
THEY’RE notoriously shy and not exactly cuddly – yet still one of Britain’s most beloved wild animals.
But hedgehogs are now hard to find even in the countryside, with only one in five rural areas showing traces of them, according to a study.
An increase in badgers, hedgehog predators whose numbers have doubled in the past 25 years, may be to blame for the decline.
Experts also fear farmland is replacing the hedgerows the creatures live in and that pesticides are damaging populations of earthworms they feed on.
Researchers at the universities of Nottingham and Reading surveyed 261 rural sites across England and Wales using tunnels with ink pads and paper floors inside to track hedgehog footprints. They found the animals at only 55 sites – 21 per cent – and said numbers were ‘worryingly low’.
Lead author Ben Williams, from the University of Reading, wrote in the study that badgers may reduce hedgehog numbers by eating them and competing with them for food.
The results showed 16.6 per cent hedgehog occupancy in areas with badger setts – compared with 28.6 per cent in badger-free areas. But Mr Williams added: ‘ Our results indicate that a large proportion of rural England and Wales is potentially unsuitable for both hedgehogs and badgers to live in.
‘Given the similarity in diets of the two species, one explanation for this could be the reduced availability of macro-invertebrate prey (such as earthworms) which both species need to feed on to survive.
‘This could be as a result of agricultural intensification and climate change.’ Both badger setts and hedgehogs were absent from 27 per cent of all sites, suggesting there is a wider issue affecting both species.
A spokesman from the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, which co-funded the research, said it showed the dire extent to which changes in the landscape were harming both badger and hedgehog populations.
The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.