Worrying research published by Featured Charity: the Mammal Society.
Hedgehog mortality on roads: Mammal charities identify worst
areas for hedgehog road deaths
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| Hedgehogs (image: Mammal Society/Zoe Shreeve) |
If you are driving in the suburbs of Leeds, Manchester,
Stoke on Trent or Birmingham this year, look out for one of Britain’s iconic
and most threatened mammals.
In research just published, the Mammal Society details when,
where and why hedgehog roadkill is most likely to occur, with the outskirts of
cities in central Britain emerging as particular blackspots. The charity
intends to use the results of the project as the first step towards determining
whether measures such as reducing speed in hotspot areas would help to reduce
the number of hedgehog road deaths.
The research, funded by the Mammal Society, People’s Trust
for Endangered Species (PTES) and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society
(BHPS), analysed more than 12,500 hedgehog roadkill records. The data were
collected over 18 years by members of the public taking part in a range of
citizen science projects, including PTES’ Mammals on Roads survey, Cardiff
University’s Project Splatter, Hedgehog Street’s the BIG Hedgehog Map and the
Mammal Society’s Mammal
Mapper.
Britain’s hedgehog numbers are in severe decline. According
to the Mammal Society’s latest population
review, estimates have reduced from 1.5 million individuals in 1995 to a
mere 500,000 in 2018. The most recent State of Britain’s Hedgehogs report,
published by PTES & BHPS in 2018, estimated hedgehogs in rural areas
have declined by a half, and in urban areas by a third since 2000. Possible
reasons for this include: loss of habitat and food sources; increased predation
and competition with other mammals; and deaths caused by road collisions.
The latest study found that around 9% of the 400,000km of
road in Britain is particularly perilous for hedgehogs. Grassland areas, and
the outskirts of urban areas, have the highest risk, and major roads are
particularly hazardous, despite forming a relatively small proportion of the
total road network. Many of the high-risk locations were in central Britain,
southern Wales, the outskirts of London, north-east England, and the
Central-Belt of Scotland.
- Read the full press release from the Mammal Society here.
- And see more about the Mammal Society and our Featured charities here.
Are hedgehogs at risk in your area?
Zoom in on the Society's hedgehog
roadkill map, here, to find out if there are any high risk roads near you.
You can then tick the Hedgehog Roadkill Probability box, in the top right
corner of the map, to find out more detail about the likelihood of hedgehog
road deaths occurring in your area.
How you can help:
All three charities are calling on the general public for
help to pinpoint casualties in future. The Mammal Mapper, Project Splatter and
Mammals on Roads free apps enable people to record sightings on the go and
Hedgehog Street’s BIG Hedgehog Map and PTES’ Mammals on Roads websites collect
records online. For more information visit www.bighedgehogmap.org and www.ptes.org/mor.
You can find out if your area is a hedgehog roadkill hotspot
by visiting the map on the Mammal Society website at www.mammal.org.uk/science-research/hedgehog-hotspots/.
If you would like to help fund work to reduce hedgehog road deaths you can
donate to the Mammal Society’s #HogsOnRoads appeal at
www.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/hogsonroads2020.
To view a copy of Predicting hedgehog mortality risks on
British roads using habitat suitability modelling Patrick G R Wright, Frazer G
Coomber, Chloe C Bellamy , Sarah E Perkins, Fiona Mathews here
(pdf).