Thoughts on hedgehogs
Monday 2nd November 2020
I got on with my essay today - I am targeting submitting it over the weekend so need to get on with it. The photo shows the accumulation of paperwork and rubbish as I knuckle down! I have learnt a lot as I research this - our wildlife is impacted in so many ways - some of it obvious - habitat decline -whether that is quantity or quality is an obvious issue. The issue that has suprised me about hedgehogs is the impact of badgers - they are protected and over the last 25 years their numbers have doubled. That has had inverse effect on the number of hedgehogs - the research is very clear - but I have also noticed that noone wants to talk about it - badger culling is so emotive (bit like deer culling) that there doesnt seem to be any constructive discussion about it. Its an interesting thought as we look at reintroducing other higher level predators - wolves, big cats etc - there has to be a balance in nature - and we have not found it.
On a different note - volunteering is suspended again as you can imagine - that is so disappointing and frustrating. Wildlife conservation depends on volunteers and every time we have a lock down we stop the progress that is being made - and take another step backwards.
In 1995 hedgehog population was about 1.5M, now it is just over 500,000. The Protection of Badgers Act was enacted in 1992.
http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/badgers-and-hedgehogs/
here is another blog - he has researched all the same papers as me - however I dont think we can attribute the decline purely to badgers. 50% of hedgerows have gone in the 20th century, 90% of lowland grassland has also gone - both key habitats of the hedgehog. I think it is a perfect storm of a combination of factors leading to the decline.
Is the relationship between hedgehog decline and badger protection causation or correlation?
Prior to badger protection what was the size of the hedgehog population?