Warning data on the decline in the number of hedgehog populations in Wales, England and Scotland comes from volunteers from the non-profit Society for Endangered Species, part of the Ornithological Trust. Their numbers speak clearly. Over the last two decades, Amateur zoologists report 50% less hedgehogs in the country and about a third less in cities . He admits, however, that getting into the realm of accurate data and making some really solid additions is complicated. The hens are characterized by a submerged lifestyle and usually spend the day buried in the leaves. Clearly, the hedgehog is now noticeably less in Britain. Including those on the road.
The country does not scald the hedgehogs
"An essential part of this problem is that farmers and gardeners may be too much to care for their soil today, and they are not too much overgrown land," says Emily Wilson, head of the Hedgehod Streets project. "Shrugged land is exactly the environment in which hedgehogs benefit. However, the practice is to remove bushes, cut hedges, clean the vegetation and remove the old leaves or grass by digging. In an effort to maximize the space that is usable for agricultural production, the landscape has disappeared from the landscape that could offer something to the hedgehogs. " The hedgehog space is so rapidly diminishing. It is not their only problem, but by far the most pathetic.
Intensification of agriculture goes hand in hand with the loss of food sources, especially insects and slugs. Husbands still have a chance to hit their food, but they have to travel for longer. Moving the countryside, which is already free of the appropriate vegetation cover, puts them at greater risk of catching something. Foxes are rarely able to catch, but they are often seriously injured. The predators will then arrive. The predation pressure on the hedgehogs has a rather declining tendency in the long run (in Great Britain, foxes and predators have not been successful in recent years). "Neutral" is the impact of car traffic. Around 100,000 hedgehogs per year die on British roads, but this figure is also declining.
From the wilderness to the city
However, zoologists and amateurs noticed an interesting trend in 2015: more and more hedgehogs move from the "ineligible" agricultural landscape to the cities. In their suburbs, in gardens and parks, they find what they lack in the countryside. "It may sound strange, but the hedgehogs are doing better in cities today than in the wild," Wilson says. "Well, a little better. Their numbers do not go as fast as they do in the country. " And on the idea that this could be just a green suburban area that would ensure the rescue and survival of British hedgehogs, the Hedgehog Streets project was built. The principle is to make them accessible and open the cities so that they can really work here.
"Even the concrete jungle of London contains a few interesting green spots, but how do they get when the hedgehogs can not fly?" Asks Michael Birkenwald who is involved in the Hedgehog Streets. Vital populations of hedgehogs need mutual contact and safe corridors. How to do it? With the permission of neighbors and homeowners in South West London, he began drilling tunneling tunnels four years ago into the perimeter walls and stone fences in the gardens. No front garden will become a trap or barrier to prevent the hedgehog. Only 47,000 homeowners were involved in the campaign. The return of the hedgehogs here seems to hold their fingers.
Hedgehog? Very British creature
"It's actually an easy job," explains Birkenwald. "People like the hedgehogs," says Ann Widdecombe, a former member of Parliament, one of the patrons of the organization. The hedgehogs claim: "They are very British creatures." Around the tunnels and hedgehog corridors are also beginning to appear the various delicacies that Londoners undertake. Hedgehog Streets had to extend their campaign to public information about what the hedgehogs actually eat. The only really "hard" task is drilling CD-size holes in stone walls, which is not easy with a diamond drill. London, however, is now in a good way, according to the words of zoologists. From the entire metropolis it can become an "arch" to save British hedgehogs.
Author: Radomír Dohnal, Associate of Ekolistu.cz.
Source: Ekolist.cz