• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
The Mammal Society

The Mammal Society

For Evidence Based Conservation

    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

 

  • About Us
    • What We Do
    • News
      • Media Information & Press Releases
        • FAQs
    • Meet The Team
  • Science
    • Current Research
      • National Otter Survey
      • National Harvest Mouse Survey
      • How Do Dogs Affect UK Wildlife?
      • The Red Squirrel Acoustic Monitoring Project
      • The Volunteer Mountain Hare Survey
      • Plastics in Mammals
      • WATER VOLE RESEARCH PROJECT
      • Red List for Britain’s Mammals
      • All Surveys and Projects
    • Publications
      • Mammal Review
      • Mammal Communications
      • Mammal News Magazine
      • Books and equipment
    • Ecostat
      • Ecobat
      • Ecobat Troubleshooting
      • Count Bat
    • Position Statements
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Training
  • Mammals
    • UK Mammal List
    • Discover Mammals
    • Whose poo?
    • How To Record Mammals
    • Mammal Mapper
    • County Mammal Recorders
  • Blogs
    • Blog collection
    • BBC Blog Series
  • Get Involved
    • Students
    • University Mammal Challenge (UMAC): 2021-2022
    • Surveys and Projects
    • Local Groups
    • School Resources
    • National Mammal Week
    • Mammal Photographer of the Year (MPOY)
  • Support Us
  • Donate
  • Join

2017 Hedgehog Watch Project now open

24th October 2017

During last year’s Mammal Week we launched the Hedgehog Watch Project asking our supporters to let us know when they had last seen a hedgehog. We had almost 4,000 responses altogether, helping us to map sightings across the UK! The responses continue to contribute to ongoing research but key findings are as follows: 
Photo by Ben Reece
  • 87% of people that reported sightings saw them in their garden
  • Almost 70% of the people that saw hedgehogs in their gardens fed them
  • Almost 70% of the people that fed them saw the hedgehogs more than 5 times 
We are pleased to announce that this year’s survey is now open. Take part in this year’s Hedgehog Watch Project. Open until 1st December 2017.

A long time gardener’s friend and once numerous mammal the hedgehog has seen a dramatic decline in the past few decades. Aptly named for its habituating of garden hedgerows and snorting like feeding behaviour the hedgehog is usually a welcome sight in much of the UK, rootling for small insects, worms, slugs and snails throughout the night. 

Fragmentation, road traffic accidents, poor management of hedgerows and fencing or paving of gardens are thought to be the main causes of this decline but there is still a knowledge gap on what exactly is the largest contributing factor. It is important that more research is undertaken to decide what measures could be taken to halt this long term decline.   

The Mammal Society is involved in several projects to help understand the loss of this much loved mammal including key citizen science research. One of these projects, the Hedgehog and Lighting Project, saw members experimenting whether artificial lighting affects hedgehog’s uptake of supplementary food provided by them in their gardens. 

This project was sponsored by Kent Mammal Group, Cornwall Mammal Group and Devon Mammal Group and Dan Brown at Natural World Consultants. Almost 40 citizen scientists carried out the experiment by putting camera traps in their garden and then watching the hedgehogs behaviour in light and dark conditions. Footage from this project has now been submitted to us where we are currently going through the data and analysing results. 

Primary Sidebar

Our New Clothing Range

Support our research and campaigns

Shop Today

Our Latest Appeal

Help Our Appeal

New study reveals impact of plastic on small mammals, as four out of seven species identified as ‘plastic positive’

More News

Latest Tweets

Tweets by Mammal_Society

Get Our e-Bulletin

Includes the latest news and updates from Mammal Society!

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

cj-wildlife-logo

Footer

  • Contact Us
  • Vacancies
  • Position Statements
  • AGM, Reports and Accounts
  • Data Protection
  • Privacy Policy
  • GDPR Information
  • GDPR Opt In

Sponsors

cj-wildlife-logo



Copyright © 2022 The Mammal Society, Black Horse Cottage, 33 Milton Abbas, Blandford Forum, Dorset DT11 0BL .... Registered Company No. 1455136 Charity No. 278918
Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions
Design by Fingerprint Digital Media