Hedgehogs at home in urban gardens

Hedgehogs are regularly visiting almost a quarter of UK gardens, according to an RSPB survey published today.

And they are even making their way into towns and cities with hedgehogs sighted in almost a third of urban gardens, the wildlife survey found.

More than 90,000 nature-lovers took part in the RSPB’s Make Your Nature Count survey, counting the birds and mammals in nearly 70,000 gardens.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Organiser Richard Bashford said: “The range of creatures we have in UK gardens highlights how important wildlife friendly gardening is, wherever you live, to ensure our fabulous wildlife continues to survive.”

Hedgehog expert Hugh Warwick said: “Gardens are clearly very important for hedgehogs, a great example of a truly wild animal not only at home with us but also of great benefit to gardeners.

“We should treasure the fact that they live comfortably in our gardens and so many people can get nose-to-nose with them.”

In urban areas, 30 per cent of people taking part had seen hedgehogs in their gardens before and more than one in seven sees them regularly.

In rural areas, hedgehogs were reported in 48 per cent of gardens where more than a quarter of people see them at least monthly.

Related topics: