Almost exactly a year ago, the hedgehog was included in the Mammal Society’s Red List For British Mammals, listed as Vulnerable to Extinction.
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust are looking for citizen scientists to become Hedgehog Heroes and join their third year of Hedgehog Citizen Science. Citizen scientists help to collect and share the enormous amounts of data that organisations like The Wildlife Trusts need if they are to understand not only why hedgehog populations are falling so rapidly but how to stop and reverse that decline. Join up and join in; our hedgehogs need all the help they can get.
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 
We have a large garden and last year had at least a couple of hedgehogs but this year we have seen none!
The numbers seem to be falling all the time and nobody seems really sure why. Habitat loss is one the main causes and I am beginning to think that the way people use their gardens as an extension of the house might have something to do with it.
Because farmland is so dangerous for hedgehogs now, there seems to be more of them in our gardens. But modern gardens are so small there is no room for the untidy places where hedgehogs feed and hide.
I have a large & messy garden with plenty of places for hedgehogs to hide but since putting up wildlife cameras 4 years ago we have only seen 1! Plenty of foxes, badgers & deer along with lots of other interesting things, probably as we border the Country Park!
I think that one of the main reasons for fewer hedgies is that we have too efficient fences. I would imagine that a hedgehog needs quite a few gardens to wander around. I have 7 neighbours. Not one of them allowed for hedgehog openings when they renewed fences.
That’s such a shame. We really do have to start thinking and planning for our wildlife.