Where have all the hedgehogs gone?

[carlj]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/26042006/80...hedgehogs.html

Been years since I last saw one. Let's help hog watch to find out where the Hedgehogs are hiding!

[Mark43]

Originally Posted by carlj

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/26042006/80...hedgehogs.html

Been years since I last saw one. Let's help hog watch to find out where the Hedgehogs are hiding!

Indeed Carl.

I had one in my garden about 2 and a bit years ago which stayed for a week or so and i haven't seen one anywhere since and i'm out and about a lot.

[arvensis]

I saw one last week where I live(In the middle of a town) but it was half 3 in the morning.

Mark

[wildone]

They are being run over. I saw 2 early monday morning, dead on the side of the road and another this morning.

[Imaginos]

There must be quite a few Hedgehogs in your area then wildone. It's a density dependant effect-the more Hedgehogs per mile of road, the more get run over. Time to start worrying if you don't see any squished Hedgehogs (outside the winter months)

[Scarlettvegetable]

I saw a Hedgehog on Monday/Tuesday waddling down a pathway, was about half 2 though, and a couple of squished ones too

[Wild-Woman]

As I said on another post, I reckon my next door neighbour poisoned our poor old Hedgehog with his poxy slug pellets. It's a wonder he doesn't take nail clippers to his lawn. Know the type I mean? Makes me laugh when the foxes c##p on his flower bed though. He gets a great big spade out, a double black sack, gloves and wrinkles his nose in disgust.
If a Hedgehog comes back to my garden, there is a Hedgehog house waiting for him or her.

[paulst]

I miss the Hedgehog that used to live in our garden, it ate most of the slugs for two years , now the slugs have started appearing again paul

[Kev Lewis]

Luckily we always have Hedgehogs in the garden They must all be under my shed lol. They are active any time of the day or night and will quite happily take food from us. For an animal with so many spines they are very very cute viewed close up.

[nightshade]

It is being shut out of gardens by the garden makeover crews they find nothing in decking, or graveled gardens, no food, no shelter,no mates.
There was a survey on Hedgehog road kills the number of dead are dropping which means so is the population.
There are other threads on the subject on wab

[Wild-Woman]

Good news. I've just found Hedgehog poo in my garden. Yippee! ww

[nightshade]

Now all you need is the Hedgehog to make a set

[Tragus]

Apologies carlj, I didn't see this thread before I posted my Hogwatch one.

Here is some more information that was handed to us at the recent BHPS conference that I attended yesterday.


Reversing the Hedgehog Decline (Dr Paul Bright)

A joint project by the People's Trust for Endangered Species and The British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

There has for many years been anecdotal evidence of Hedgehog decline in Britain and elsewhere in Europe. The Mammals on Roads Survey (by PTES, The Joint Conservation Committee and Royal Holloway, University of London) has now provided direct evidence that Hedgehogs in rural England and perhaps Wales have declined rapidly (by more than 20%) over the last three years. Other pilot surveys suggest major declines in distribution in urban areas.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the PTES are now joining forces with Royal Holloway, University of London to find out what is happening to Hedgehogs. Reversing the Decline is a three year project to find practical ways to stem the likely Hedgehog decline.

The project kicks off in National Hedgehog Awareness Week, with HogWatch, the first ever national survey of Hedgehog distribution. And with this we really need the help of BHPS and PTES supporters to tell us where they have seen Hedgehogs alive in 2005 and (later on this year) in 2006. To take part in HogWatch go online at Hogwatch.org.uk or request a survey card from PTES (0207 498 4533)

We also plan a very detailed survey of Hedgehogs in Greater London repeating and enlarging on work that Dr Pat Morris - BHPS President and 'grandfather of Hedgehog researchers' - did in the early 1960's. This will give us a unique long-term view of the sorts of conditions near built land that Hedgehog populations need to survive. We'll be asking for your help with this survey too.

There are a number of reasons why Hedgehogs may not be fairing well. Foremost amongst these, for Hedgehogs in the country at large, is the intensification of agriculture since the 1960's. We know that farmland birds have been hugely affected and it is likely that Hedgehogs, unable to fly around between favourable farms, have been impacted even more seriously. So we will be looking closely at how Hedgehog abundance is related to farming practice: what size of fields are best and will the Government's new Environmental Stewardship payments to farmers benefit Hedgehogs? And if not, how should we advise farming practise to be changed?

Of course it's not all doom and gloom and Hedgehogs seem to be doing well in many gardens in town and country. We need to ensure this continues because there are threats right on the horizon, not least (probably) the loss of large gardens and 'brown field sites' to more intensive housing. Fortunately PTES/RHUL have for several years been monitoring the abundance of mammals - especially Hedgehogs - in gardens and, importantly, other green sites near built land (like parks, riversides and wasteland). We will now use these data to devise Hedgehog friendly managament advice for gardeners, park keepers, local councils and the like.

Reversing the Hedgehog Decline should be a milestone for Hedgehog conservation. Please do help us make it so by participating in surveys and supporting BHPS and PTES in their work.

Thanks for your help.

Dr Paul Bright. (Royal Holloway, University of London) on behalf of PTES and BHPS

Hope this was helpful and informative
Jo

Edited: spelling error

[carlj]

No worries Jo. Not even spotted dead ones, which as noted above, is a sure sign of a declining population.

[life through a lens]

Unfortunately have only seen a couple of squished ones this year

Last live ones I saw were in the front garden of my old house, annoyingly a couple of days before moving

[Tinkerbell]

Snap Wild-Woman - plenty of Hedgehog poo in our garden too!

[emf]

My Hedgehog has arrived again - though a month or so later than normal. I'm not sure how long they live but either it or its family have been present in my garden for at least six years.

How do I know? Because that's how old the dog is and she can't quite work out what a Hedgehog is. Woe betide me if I unthinkingly open the back door after dark and let the dog out, she finds it and goes mad! She generally not very vocal but does have a particular 'Hedgehog' bark so I have to dash out and drag the dog back in before the neighbours complain.

[Willow]

I'm over the moon to have recently discovered that - we have a Hedgehog living in our garden!!!! We first spotted him/her when, a couple of weeks ago, we were out looking for bats. Not a flicker of a bat could be heard on our detector that night ...but I suddenly noticed that the long grass of our mini "meadow" was rustling and moving about - and so crept closer to find a beautiful hedeghog burrowed down deep amongst the clover and Ox-eye daisies hoovering up some food the birds had dropped from the bird table. He has kept me company out in the garden twice now at night, with his friendly rustling and sniffing and snorting and slurping up slugs in the undergrowth - and on the lawn close to my feet! He seems totally unfazed by my presence. We've always had a huge habitat pile of brush cuttings in the garden - and have long hoped that Hedgehogs would use it (we've also had Grass Snakes in there).

I've duly noted his presence on my RSPB Homes Fit for Birds survey sheet...and will let Hogwatch know too.

[nightshade]

There are a couple of places where there are bird sanctuaries where they are culling tiggy-winkle why dont they post them down this way?
I would happily adopt a couple!
The way it is going the only ones I will see will be on e-bay

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by nightshade

There are a couple of places where there are bird sanctuaries where they are culling tiggy-winkle why dont they post them down this way?
I would happily adopt a couple!
The way it is going the only ones I will see will be on e-bay

Relocating them doesnt work too well unfortunately - where there are no hogs there is probably a reason for it, relocated ones tend to get squished, poisoned , or eaten

[catalaze]

Hmmmm. I've always had lots of Hedgehogs where I've lived. Do you all feed them? It's a fallacy that milk is bad for them. I think the rumour arose because some twits decided to feed Hedgehogs on all milk or mainly milk and they got upset tummies. The Pat Morris, a man of science and Hedgehogology, actually did a lot of research into what Hedgehogs eat in gardens. He found that although they'll happily stop for a slurp of milk, they only do so by way of a coffee break and eat all sorts of things during the night. The Hedgehogs which were said to always drink the milk, turned out to be lots of different Hedgehogs, treating the milk source as a cafe. In fact, he found that milk can make the difference between death and survival for late Hedgehog broods.

Of course, you all have a nice Hedgehog house available in your garden, yes? A sort of large nestboxish thing with a supply of fresh hay or similar? Start sawing now. Dog bowls are best for the milk as they don't tip easily. Lovers of goat things will be pleased to know that Goat's Milk is actually Best for Hedgehogs!

They'll also eat almost anything else you leave, the microwaved standard Bird Pudding being highly favoured.

A Bird Pudding, incidentally, is based on cheap self-raising flour and incorporates everything leftover: old pate, rice with weevils, food trimmings, over-ripe fruit, smelly cream, sour milk, cardboard cereals etc, all mixed to a scone consistency and microwaved to perfection (10 min for a mixing bowl of it).

[nightshade]

The pudding sounds worth trying,do you think they would fight me for it!!
The sound of a dish or bowl of food being skated around by the HHogs is something I miss

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by catalaze

[color="Sienna"]Hmmmm. I've always had lots of Hedgehogs where I've lived. Do you all feed them? It's a fallacy that milk is bad for them. I think the rumour arose because some twits decided to feed Hedgehogs on all milk or mainly milk and they got upset tummies. The Pat Morris, a man of science and Hedgehogology, actually did a lot of research into what Hedgehogs eat in gardens. He found that although they'll happily stop for a slurp of milk,

It is decidedly not a fallacy that milk is bad for Hedgehogs, just because they often drink it does not been it is good for them (after all loads of people smoke...). Les Stocker who runs the famous St Tiggywinkles wildlife hospital researched the issue and found that the link between feeding cows milk and gastro enteritis in Hedgehogs (which is often fatal)was "proven beyond doubt"

If you must feed milk, goats milk is better than cows but it is better still to feed complan formula or best of all just water. Feeding bread is another big no no as it will swell up in their stomachs, cat food, cooked mince, or meal worms are a far better bet.

[catalaze]

The research performed by Dr. Pat Morris was thorough, scientifically undertaken and followed wild Hedgehogs throughout their foraging activities for a long period - in entirely natural conditions. The findings were simply that milk formed a part of the wild Hedgehog garden foraging diet and was also an invaluable resource for late young Hedgehogs .

There is a superb little book by him about Hedgehogs, part of the excellent Whittet series and called, simply, "Hedgehogs" which I'd recommend to anyone interested in gardens and wildlife.

My own experience entirely supports this. Hedgehogs are a delight to watch whilst drinking milk in the garden and they show no signs of disease as a consequence. Their droppings do not indicate any abnormality. As a drop of milk is beneficial I'll continue to feed them.

Milk isn't natural in the adult human life but it is certainly good for us - unless we already have a digestive problem. It is probably the same for Hedgehogs.