HM ould probably laugh
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oddity that one
like the decline of frogs
met a dedicated 20 something frog expert lady,all the way from Europe,on island
she said she just wanted to help solve WHY they were dissappearing/amazing person
we seemed to lose our hedgehogs years ago also
very sad,always loved those ancient creatures
Hedgehog numbers plummet by half in UK countryside since 2000
Longterm decline is blamed on loss of hedgerows and insect prey but urban hedgehogs may offer a glimmer of hope, says a new report
Damian Carrington Environment editor
There may be as few as one million hedgehogs left in Britain – down from 30m in the 50s. Photograph: Rebecca Cole/Alamy
The number of hedgehogs living in the British countryside has plummeted by more than half since 2000, according to a new report.
The popular but prickly character
topped a vote in 2013 to nominate a national species for Britain,
but it has suffered as
hedgerows are lost and the invertebrates it feasts on diminish. However, the survey offers a glimmer of hope as losses in towns and cities appear to have slowed and the numbers patrolling nighttime gardens may be increasing.
Counting the nocturnal animals is difficult but the data that exists shows the hedgehog is in
long-term decline. There are perhaps just a million left, representing a 97% fall from the
30m estimated to have roamed in the 1950s.
More recent years have seen better surveys and
confirmed the ongoing loss of the species. The
new report, produced by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS), analysed a series of surveys undertaken by their members.
Records of hedgehogs killed on the roads have been kept by PTES since 2001 and show numbers have plunged in rural areas by more than half. Such losses are backed up by an independent countryside survey by the British Trust for Ornithology.
Hedgehog numbers plummet by half in UK countryside since 2000
