Hedgehog Friendly Project

Hedgehog Friendly Project

Hedgehogs are in real trouble. Numbers have plummeted in recent years mostly due to loss of habitat and less food for them to eat, with rural areas seeing greater declines. 

We know you care about wildlife and you probably know that our hedgehogs are in dramatic decline and we want to put a stop to that in our town which is why we are launching the ‘Malmesbury – A Hedgehog Friendly Town’ project as well as a similar project in Great Somerford.

There are a number of things we can do to reverse declines and most of the changes can be small and don’t cost a lot.

We want to promote activities across the town that will help hedgehog numbers.

 These include:

  • Stop using pesticides in the garden, as these kill the invertebrates that they are dependent on for food.
  • Create a small hole in your fence – these ‘Hedgehog Highways’ allow hedgehogs to disperse, find more resources to survive and expand their range.
  • Leave a corner of your garden wild and/or build a log pile to attract insects and other invertebrates and provide shelter.
  • Leave out shallow dishes of water for hedgehogs to drink.
  • Ensure garden ponds have shallow sloped areas or ledges to allow hedgehogs to climb out if they fall in.
  • Provide a ‘hedgehog house’ for animals to shelter, hibernate and breed.

Hedgehog Survey

We also have some exciting news about a survey of our hedgehog population we are carrying out in June this year in conjunction with the Hedgehog Conservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES). We will be using 30 camera traps across Malmesbury and Great Somerford to try to find out where our hedgehogs are and estimate how healthy the population is.

In conjunction with PTES we have identified 30 survey points within a 1km square in both areas and obtained agreements with relevant homeowners/landowners for cameras to be placed as near to these locations as possible.

We deployed the full set of cameras in Great Somerford on 11th May 2024 where they will busily be recording wildlife across the village. We will then take down the cameras on 15th June and re-deploy them at set locations around Malmesbury for another 30 days. 

We held a town meeting on Thursday 1st February 2024 at 7pm in the Town Hall to promote the project and where people could sign up to help with the survey.

We have also arranged to meet at the Abbey on Saturday 8th June 2024 at 10am so that anyone with any questions about the project can come along, meet those involved and find out what will be happening.

Please get in touch via our contact page if you’d like to take part in our surveys or get involved in the wider project.

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