Parishioners were asked to populate details of hedgehog sightings around the village. Those details have been collated, analysed and findings produced in this excellent report composed by David Holmes.

Why the need for this survey? Hedgehogs are suffering massive decline throughout the UK. The following is an extract from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) from 2011: “Although there has never been a full national census of hedgehogs, indications are that British populations have been in decline for some time. Estimated roughly to number about 30 million in the 1950s, a recalculation in the 1990s suggested only 1.5 million. For the current study, researchers at BTO analysed five different long-term data sets (including three bird surveys run by the BTO where volunteers record hedgehogs) and concluded that the proportion of sites with hedgehogs may have declined as much as 40% over the past ten years, based on current annual rates of change. The BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) has included selected mammals since 1996 and the overall decline in hedgehogs over the last 13 years is estimated at 66%.”

The hedgehog is now considered to be vulnerable to extinction in the UK and was added to the ‘Red List for British Mammals’ in July 2020. The Hedgehog is one of 11 of the 47 mammals native to Britain that are classified as being at imminent risk of extinction.