Is there a shortage of hedgehogs?

woof woof

woof woof

I like a nice Chianti
Messages
43,566
Name
Alan
Edit My Images
No
I haven't seen a single one in the garden this year. Last year we had regular visits and the year before was a very good year and we reguarly had 4 in the garden at once and we had mating behaviour.

If they are rarer this year I can't really see why as winters seem to have been quite mild or at least not bad.

Has anyone else noticed numbers being down or is it just me?
 
woof woof said:
I haven't seen a single one in the garden this year. Last year we had regular visits and the year before was a very good year and we reguarly had 4 in the garden at once and we had mating behaviour.

If they are rarer this year I can't really see why as winters seem to have been quite mild or at least not bad.

Has anyone else noticed numbers being down or is it just me?
Click to expand...


Screenshot-2026-06-23-at-16.26.22.jpg
 
Hedgehog population
A mammal survey* conducted in 2018 suggests that the hedgehog population was then around 879,000, with a quarter of that number in urban areas like gardens and parks.

However, over half of our hedgehogs have disappeared from the countryside since 2000, and they’re now absent in a third of towns and cities.

This decline is partly due to a loss of natural habitat, which provides both shelter and food for hedgehogs. Fencing, pesticides, garden hazards (like ponds, strimmers and netting) and development and construction also have an impact. And of course, cars are a major threat to hedgehogs, killing thousands each year.

*

https://ptes.org/campaigns/hedgehogs/nhmp/
 
Last edited:
Googling tells me that hedgehog numbers in urban areas have shown signs of stabilising. AFAIK hedgehogs only forage a mile or two and there haven't been any changes locally, no building projects, no infrastructure work or changes etc and peoples garden don't seem to have changed so I'm at a loss but of course there could be a disease that's reduced the numbers locally.

Whatever the reason I hope I can see more about in coming years. Not one so far this year.
 
We've not had a Hoggy visit for a year, numbers are low, there was a huge loss on the roads around here last year, so breeding may have suffered as well as young being knocked.
 
Last edited:
@woof woof
Do you put food out to try and bring them in? If not put some wet cat food out (meat, not fish), if you have any local that may be enough to draw them in.

(Use a box with a small hole to keep cats and foxes out.)
 
Gav. said:
@woof woof
Do you put food out to try and bring them in? If not put some wet cat food out (meat, not fish), if you have any local that may be enough to draw them in.

(Use a box with a small hole to keep cats and foxes out.)
Click to expand...

I don't put food out unless there's something I want to feed in the garden, other than during the day for the birds because if I leave food out it just encourages the local cats and they come back night after night and eat it all. In previous years when I've spotted a visitor I've gone out with cat food and biscuits. We have a hedgehog house at the back of the garage in a nice secluded spot but I've never seen any evidence that a hedgehog has ever taken an interest in it.

I have a tablet showing cctv feed in my line of sight so if I'm in and in the room I'll see anything in garden and I skim through the night time footage and so far this year... not one.

I just wondered if this is local to me or if anyone else has noticed a drop off. I hope this year is an amomoly and they come back.
 
They'll bounce back, if the hedgehog house is the type that has a 'U' shape internal, you could try putting in there, cats etc can't get in or around them.

I hope their numbers recover (y)
 
We have not seen one in ages, though we occasionally see the od spraint around garden.

Also, we recently learned a nearby neighbour has one that visits regularly,...... possibly because she regularly puts out food & water. So the evidence we see might be from 'her' veggie.
 
We used to have them regularly but have not seen any for several years now.

A helpful man on our local radio said that there should be a hole under garden fences so that the hedgehogs could move from garden to garden - but make sure that the hole is on both sides!
 
We haven’t had hedgehogs for a very long time unfortunately, there is a busy road at the bottom of the garden
Next door neighbour have astroturf and concrete garden so wildlife has no chance
 
Quite easy to make a cat proof hedgehog feeder or buy one. We used to feed them dry cat/kitten food , smaller biscuits, but the two regular visitors we had stopped coming on the same night last year so suspect something happened to them :(. Not had any this year
 
The baffling thing is that from my human POV nothing has changed so why the decline? I hope that whatever the issue is we can have more hedgehog visitors soon.
 
Part of the problem was slug bait being so toxic, which had a knock on effect on hedgehogs. Now the nastier bait has been banned that might help a bit.

Must admit I have never once seen a hedgehog where we live, despite us being in a country village, with our house backing onto open farmland. We get lots of other wildlife…obviously lots of wild birds, but also bats, foxes, rabbits, grass snakes, adders, frogs, toads, slow worms, even great crested newts, but not one single hog to be seen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top