Hedgehogs in Dorset
Colin Varndell reveals all about one of our most reclusive animals
Published in November ’17
The hedgehog is our best loved wild animal, but it is in serious trouble.
The hedgehog is native to Britain and is the only spiny mammal found in Dorset and the UK as a whole. The hedgehog is a nocturnal, insectivorous animal, feeding mainly on soil invertebrates including beetles, caterpillars, earthworms and slugs.
The back and flanks of adult hedgehogs are covered with between 6000 and 7000 sharp spines. These spines are actually modified hairs and are the animals’ only protection against potential danger. When threatened, a hedgehog will curl up into a ball with only its sharp prickles showing. Hedgehogs are good climbers and are not afraid of heights, and if they fall, their spines bend upon impact to act like shock-absorbers.
Hedgehogs need to drink plenty of water each night.
Hedgehogs have relatively long legs, but these are partially hidden by a skirt of long fur at the base of the spines. Although a hedgehog can see, its sight is thought to be very limited. Its most acute sense is that of smell. As hedgehogs go about their business, they are constantly sniffing the air and the ground to detect food. They also have good hearing.
Hedgehogs become active at dusk, and during the night an animal may wander up to a mile or more in search of food or a mate. A hedgehog needs to fill its stomach twice during the night, which explains why they are eager to come to food put out for them by humans.
Hedgehogs do not form pair bonds but are solitary animals. Mating takes place usually during May and June and is a noisy affair with lots of snorting, huffing and puffing. A female may be mated by more than one male, and a male may mate with more than one female on the same night. The gestation period is about four and a half weeks, although this can be longer if temperatures drop. Baby hedgehogs are weaned after about three and a half to four weeks of age.
The belly of a hedgehog is covered in soft fur. Its sharp claws are used for digging out invertebrate prey.
Usually, hedgehogs have one litter of hoglets per year. Occasionally there may be a second litter, but hoglets born in late summer have little prospect of surviving the winter. During the winter months hedgehogs hibernate. At this time, they reduce their heart rate from two hundred beats per minute to just twenty beats per minute as they enter a deep torpor.
The decline of the hedgehog in Britain has been known about for some time, and in 2015 the People’s Trust for Endangered Species published the report, The State of Britain’s Hedgehogs. The findings of this report were based on results from four major surveys covering both rural and urban habitats. It concluded that between the years 2000 and 2015, the hedgehog population in Britain had declined by 50% in rural areas and by 30% in urban habitats.
Unless something changes soon, the outlook for hedgehogs’ long-term survival is bleak
One of the reasons for this drastic decline in hedgehog numbers is thought to be fragmentation of habitats, on two distinct levels. On a large scale, the landscape has been carved up by roads, railways, industrial development and intensive arable farming. On a smaller scale, fragmentation has occurred in urban habitats, with walls or solid fences around gardens denying the hedgehog access. The use of slug pellets in gardens can indirectly kill hedgehogs. Even the so-called environmentally friendly slug pellets cause problems for hedgehogs as they denude an area of the mammals’ natural prey.
On the large scale, there has been a disastrous loss of hedgerows, copses and woodlands, all habitats which previously supported hedgehogs. Now hedgehogs avoid arable farmland where there is little or no cover, which, combined with the effects of industrial molluscicides and pesticides, denies the animals their natural prey.
Hedgehogs love to snuffle around in leaf litter in early autumn.
Badgers are the hedgehog’s only natural predator, but there is no scientific evidence to support the argument that badgers are responsible, or even partly responsible, for the demise of the hedgehog. Indeed, in areas of the country where badgers are not present, the decline has occurred at exactly the same rate.
The number of hedgehogs in Britain is now thought to be less than one million, with most living in isolated populations in towns and villages. Such remote populations may shrink to become unviable or at best, without a turnover of fresh genes, inbreeding could lead to increased risk of disease. Unless we help these isolated populations, they are doomed to fail.
Hedgehogs love to root around in log piles, where they can find plenty of invertebrates
The Dorset Mammal Group is working towards making Dorset the first hedgehog-friendly county in Britain by raising awareness in towns and villages, by educating the public and by appointing hedgehog town coordinators. So far, ten towns or villages have signed up to the scheme, ranging from villages like Piddletrentide and Halstock to larger towns like Blandford and Dorchester. The coordinators are encouraging local residents to tell their friends and neighbours about the sad situation for hedgehogs. They are explaining the importance of allowing hedgehogs access between neighbouring gardens and asking residents to make holes in fences or walls. They also encourage the teaching of children to respect wildlife, and especially hedgehogs.
Autumn juveniles like this one have little chance of surviving the winter without our help
Local residents are being asked to offer hedgehogs dog or cat meat and water on summer nights, to allow areas of their gardens to go wild, and to make log piles for hedgehogs to root about in. The public are being advised on the importance of burning bonfires on the same day they are built, to avoid hedgehogs making day nests inside.
Coordinators are suggesting that residents buy or make hedgehog houses to leave in secluded corners of gardens, preferably covered with brushwood and leaf litter. Members of the public are also encouraged to join organisations actively involved in hedgehog conservation like PTES, BHPS or the Dorset Mammal Group.
To find out more about the DMG hedgehog project, email hedgehogs@dorsetmammalgroup.org.uk
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HEDGEHOGS?
Colin Varndell is launching a new slide show to spread the word about the plight of the hedgehog, our best-loved mammal. The presentation will cover the natural history of hedgehogs, their decline and how we can do more as individuals to help them. The show is called ‘The Hedgehog Predicament’; for more details and bookings, visit www.colinvarndell.co.uk
