RSPB campaign urges gardeners to
do one thing to help wildlife this summer after survey reveals rise and fall of
familiar species
Tuesday 14 June
201605.01 BST Last modified on Tuesday 14 June 201610.00 BST
Gardeners are being urged to do
more to help hedgehogs this summer after new figures showed that fewer people
than ever are seeing the once-familiar species.
Results from the from the RSPB’s
citizen science survey showed that only 25% of people see hedgehogs in their
garden at least once a month, around three percentage points less than last
year and than in 2014.
The number of people who have
never seen a hedgehog in their garden rose again to 24%, up around three
percentage points since 2014. A similar
survey by BBC Gardeners’ World magazine in February found the number of
people who saw hedgehogs in their gardens last year had fallen by 10%.
The rapidly declining UK hedgehog
population is estimated to number less than 1 million, down from more than 30 million
in the 1950s. One-third
of this loss is thought to have taken in the past 10
years. A 2015
report found rural populations had declined by at least a half
and urban populations by up to a third since 2000.
Their long-term but poorly
understood decline is attributed to the loss and fragmentation of their habitat
in Britain’s towns and countryside, death on roads, and intensive farmland that
provides few good foraging or nesting sites. Rising numbers of badgers, their
natural predator, have also
been cited as a possible cause.
Jill Nelson, CEO of the People’s
Trust for Endangered Species, said: “One reason for the hedgehog decline is
lack of roaming space to find food and mates, as typically hedgehogs need to
travel up to a mile a night, so interconnected continuous habitat is crucial
... Unless we are prepared to make an effort as individuals, data suggests that
hedgehogs face an uncertain future.”
A petition to raise
the level of legal protection by
Conservative MP Oliver Colvile and backed by Britain’s hedgehog charities has
now gathered nearly 38,000 signatures.
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