UK Nature and Environment

With stumpy, speedy legs, questing snouts and a fierce quiver of needles, hedgehogs are enchantingly strange, like fantasy creatures from a medieval bestiary. “It’s the nation’s favourite wild animal – every time there’s a vote or a poll, the hedgehog wins,” says ecologist Hugh Warwick, AKA “Hedgehog Hugh”, author of the Cull of the Wild and hedgehog champion. Why do they need to be saved?

Hedgehogs are in trouble. Since 2000, the UK has lost between 30% and 75% of its rural hedgehogs. Intensive agriculture practices mean habitat has been lost, while the use of agrochemicals – such as pesticides – has affected populations of insects that hedgehogs eat. They’re vulnerable to cars (which kill an estimated 167,000-335,000 annually), strimmers and climate change. “We think long, warm, wet winters may pull hedgehogs out of hibernation more frequently, which might impact their ability to thrive,” says Warwick. It’s not all bad news: “We’ve seen stabilising and early signs of recovery in urban and suburban areas,” says Grace Johnson, hedgehog officer for the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, but they still need our help.