A NEW report published by wildlife charities People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) has revealed that Britain’s hedgehog populations have continued to decline in rural areas by between 30 per cent and 75 per cent nationally since 2000.

In stark contrast, the charities’ State of Britain’s Hedgehogs 2022 report also shows that urban hedgehog populations appear to have stabilised and might even be starting to recover, after previously falling.

Data collected for this report between 1981 and 2020 from five ongoing surveys showed that hedgehogs have undergone a long historic decline, but now the vast differences between urban and rural populations are becoming increasingly apparent.

Fay Vass, CEO of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) said: “Hedgehogs as we know them today have lived here for at least half a million years, but they’re now facing myriad pressures which are causing populations to plummet, particularly in the rural landscape.

"The reasons for their decline are complex and aren’t yet fully understood, but two of the main pressures hedgehogs face in both rural and urban areas is lack of suitable habitat and habitat fragmentation.”

However, urgent action is needed to understand why rural areas are no longer suitable for hedgehogs, and how conservationists, farmers and land managers can work together to prevent hedgehogs from becoming extinct in the countryside.

Hedgehogs in the rural landscape

The data showed that between 30 per cent and 75 per cent of rural hedgehogs have been lost nationally since 2000.

Numbers have plummeted across the countryside, but the declines vary in different regions, with the most apparent in the East Midlands and the East of England regions.

However, more research is desperately needed to confirm this and to get a more precise measure of how hedgehogs are faring across the country.

David Wembridge, mammal surveys coordinator at PTES, says: “Loss of landscape features such as hedgerows is partly responsible for the decline, but not fully, as recent efforts have been made to restore and improve them.

"We know from research, funded by PTES, BHPS and others over the last decade, that hedgehogs prefer villages to open farmland, and follow field margins and hedgerows. Understanding how hedgehogs use and move through the landscape is a big step forward, but more work is needed.”

Hedgehog-friendly gardens

Grace Johnson, Hedgehog Officer, Hedgehog Street (a joint campaign by BHPS and PTES) said: “Hedgehogs can travel around one mile every night through gardens and parks in search of food and mates.

"It’s clear from our report that gardens can be havens for hedgehogs, but only if they are connected via gaps in or under garden boundaries to let hedgehogs in and out.

"A ‘Hedgehog Highway’ (a 13cm or CD case sized square gap) will enable hedgehogs to roam between neighbouring gardens and green spaces, which is vital to their survival."

To help hedgehogs where you live, become a Hedgehog Champion, make a Hedgehog Highway in your garden fence or wall, make your garden as hedgehog friendly as possible and record sightings via Hedgehog Street’s BIG Hedgehog Map.