New study finds worrying decline in hedgehog population is continuing, with less than one million of the creatures left in the UK
By Emily Gosden
12:01AM GMT 21 Nov 2015
Hedgehog numbers have more than halved in rural Britain in the past 15 years, as intensive farming and poor hedgerow management destroys their habitats, a major new study has found.
Urban hedgehogs have fared only slightly better, with the fencing-in and concreting-over of city gardens contributing to a one-third decline in numbers since the year 2000.
"Obviously it’s bad seeing dead hedgehogs, but it’s generally a bad sign if you don’t see dead hedgehogs on the road in an area, because it means there aren’t that many in the surrounding countryside."
Reliable estimates of hedgehog numbers are hard to come by but there are now believed to be less than a million of the creatures left in the UK, based on evidence of population decline since the last comprehensive scientific study, which put the figure at 1.55 million in 1995.
The State of Britain’s Hedgehogs 2015 report, by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), concludes that the rate of decline has continued in both urban and rural areas since its last report in 2011.
Although hedgehogs being run over may also be contributing to the fall in numbers, Henry Johnson, Hedgehog Officer at PTES, said the organisations were worried by research data showing a drop in sightings of roadkill hedgehogs.
"Obviously it’s bad seeing dead hedgehogs, but it’s generally a bad sign if you don’t see dead hedgehogs on the road in an area, because it means there aren’t that many in the surrounding countryside," he said.
The report suggests manmade activities to destroy hedgehog habitats are largely to blame for the losses and exonerates badgers – despite the fact numbers of badgers, which kill and eat hedgehogs as well as competing for other food sources, have increased.
"The downward hedgehog trend is the same whether badgers are present or not," it concludes.
Previous studies have suggested hedgehogs thrived in areas where badgers were culled.
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