Hedgehog distribution

AS THE hedgehog is officially listed as a British mammal in danger of extinction, the results of the biggest ever survey of a British mammal population has been released - and its makes depressing reading for lovers of Mr Prickles.

Nearly 20,000 volunteers recorded any sightings of hedgehogs over a two year period in 2005 and 2006 and the collated results - issued yesterday by the British Hedgehog Protection Society (BHPS) - showed that in some areas, hedgehog numbers are down by as much as 50%.

This is "potentially catastrophic" says the society, backing up warnings from a Defra survey which has put the hedgehog, along with other once common species as the eel, on a list of endangered wildlife.

And one of the reasons, says the BHPS, is "too tidy gardens." Many of the reported sightings were in gardens. But even those are getting fewer because gardeners, possibly spurred on by a glut of TV programmes, are leaving fewer "wild" corners of their gardens where the animals can thrive.

Other causes of decline are land development, road kill and - a question puzzling scientists - the growth in the badger population.

"It would be easy to blame badgers," said Hugh Warwick of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, "but hedgehogs and badgers have co-existed for millennia, still live side by side in some parts of the country and where the decline in hedgehogs is highest, there are fewer badgers."

• For further information about HogWatch, a full copy of the survey results and tips on encouraging hedgehogs visit www.hogwatch.org.uk