Farmers to blame for hedgehog decline

[PSQ]

We had hedgehogs, then in 2011 we got badgers.

Only see hedgehogs in the walled garden now, haven't seen them on the farm (or dead on the road) for about 5 years, but we find badger 'skat' pits dug on the field margins all around the farm, up to about 1000m away from the closest known set. They're hunting the hedgehogs and ground nesting birds.

 

[onthehoof]

Lets make the quote complete:
"The familiar, prickly mammals need hedgerows and field margins; loss of those could be driving the decline."
My emphasis on could added. As far as I can see there is no finger pointing to farmers as the article seems to focus on what the general public can do to help the hedgehogs.

No the statement is false because there hasn't been a loss of hedgerows and field margins, there has been a gain so it really 'couldn't be driving the decline'
What she should have written is 'massive increase in Badger predation COULD be driving the decline'

 

[wr.]

Lets make the quote complete:
"The familiar, prickly mammals need hedgerows and field margins; loss of those could be driving the decline."
My emphasis on could added. As far as I can see there is no finger pointing to farmers as the article seems to focus on what the general public can do to help the hedgehogs.

Well, this woman stated on Radio Wales this morning, during a piece supposed to be about astro turf being bad for hedgehogs, that the decline in rural areas is due to hedges being removed on farms and less field margins.

Emma's Hedgehog Hospital - Emma's Hedgehog Hospital

emmashedgehoghotel.co.uk

Emma’s Hedgehog Hospital

Emma’s Hedgehog Hospital. 4.4K likes. Registered Charity no 1197437 in Terrington St.Clement

www.facebook.com

 

[___\0/___]

"Evidence that numbers are changing

Records of hedgehogs accidentally killed by gamekeepers,
analysed thirty years ago, show a long-term decline, going
back to the early 1960s. Between 1995 and 2009, gamebag
records fell by 28 per cent and, over a similar period, the five
surveys reviewed in the first State of Britain’s Hedgehogs
report showed annual declines of between 2.2 and 7.9 per
cent. Since 1990, counts of hedgehog road casualties have
fallen by perhaps as much as three-quarters."

Miby hedgehog numbers are the same but through a course of natural selection the smart ones have survived and the whole population has got smarter.

Honestly worth reading the BBC report then the hedgehog report it came from, shows exactly where the BBC is at the moment.

 

[onthehoof]

We were always putting bread and milk out for hedgehogs as kids, my wife has lived here for 30 years and has never seen a hedgehog, I've only ever seen one,
I've planted miles of hedges and all our arable fields have had 6m grass margins since 2002, we've got badgers though!

 

[Turnip]

Well, this woman stated on Radio Wales this morning, during a piece supposed to be about astro turf being bad for hedgehogs, that the decline in rural areas is due to hedges being removed on farms and less field margins.

Emma's Hedgehog Hospital - Emma's Hedgehog Hospital

emmashedgehoghotel.co.uk

Emma’s Hedgehog Hospital

Emma’s Hedgehog Hospital. 4.4K likes. Registered Charity no 1197437 in Terrington St.Clement

www.facebook.com

Great, she pointed the finger, but has she provided evidence for that? My comment was referring the OP, not this lady.

 

[___\0/___]

Also from the initial report

" hedgehogs occupy only about a fifth
of the rural landscape. Their presence
is inversely related to the density of
badger setts, but hedgehogs are also
absent from 71% of sites that had no
badger setts"

 

[___\0/___]

Would be interesting what the number of sites they had without badgers, guessing it wouldn't be that high?

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Very poor research by the BBC reporter (yet again).

I would suggest she draws a graph for the last 20 yrs, showing three things.....
1. Miles of hedge removed on farms.

2. Hedgehog numbers.

3. Badger numbers.

.....and then has another stab at what the cause is.
More miles of hedgerows will have been planted in the last 20 yrs than have been removed.

Plus grass margins and field corners.

 

[wr.]

Great, she pointed the finger, but has she provided evidence for that? My comment was referring the OP, not this lady.

I understood that. That's why I started my post with, "Well, this woman."
She was on the programme to speak about astroturf but chose to have a go at farmers instead.

 

[A H N]

There used to be a lot of Hedgehogs here and no Badgers, now a lot of Badgers and haven't seen a Hedgehog for many many years.

 

[Bramble]

Full report in here

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1496001813304131584

Just read the report, it accepts badgers maybe a problem, and that loss of hedgerows occurred mostly in the post war period. It seems hedgehogs also prefer to live in villages rather than pure arable areas.

BUT there are 4 maps showing the changing hedgehog distribution across the country over the last 40 years. The highest number appear to be in East Anglia, the lowest in the south west. The change in their distribution looks like it mirrors the spread of TB (and it’s hosts) across the country over the same time period.

Nottingham Trent are doing some work looking at badger/hedgehog interaction, it would be interesting to know who is funding it

 

[Far North Gollach]

We have hedgehogs here and no badgers... yet

I've been told by two different people that they have seen Badgers at Bettyhill and Dunbeath in the last year or so, they are working their way north I'm afraid....

On the other hand we did use to see a few Hedgehogs here in the Canisbay parish in the past but I think I've only seen one in the last 10 years, there are a lot more otters and foxes on the go now in our area- I do wonder if one of them could be having an impact??

 

[Lili]

Published 16 years ago​

​

Abundance of hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in relation to the density and distribution of badgers (Meles meles)​

R. P. Young,J. Davison,I. D. Trewby,G. J. Wilson,R. J. Delahay,C. P. Doncaster
First published: 13 April 2006

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00078.x
Citations: 46
Correspondence
Richard P. Young. Current address: Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Les Augres Manor, Trinity, Jersey JE3 5BP, UK.
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract​

Badgers Meles meles are intraguild predators of hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus and have been shown to have a major effect on their abundance and behaviour at a localized scale. Previous studies have predicted the exclusion of hedgehogs from rural habitats in areas where badgers are abundant. The two species coexist at the landscape scale, however, as hedgehogs use suburban habitats, which are thought to provide a refuge from the effects of badger predation. We carried out surveys of hedgehog abundance and studied the use of spatial refugia by hedgehogs in relation to badger density and distribution in 10 study sites in the Midlands and south-west regions of England. Surveys confirmed that hedgehogs were almost absent from pasture fields in rural habitats, with their distribution concentrated in amenity grassland fields in suburban areas. However, although suburban habitats are less frequently used by badgers than rural areas, and therefore represented spatial refugia for hedgehogs, the probability of occurrence and abundance of hedgehogs varied in relation to the density of badger setts in the surrounding area. As sett density increased, both the probability of occurrence of hedgehogs and their abundance decreased. A generalized linear model predicted that the probability of hedgehog occurrence in suburban habitats declined towards zero in areas of high badger density. The most probable explanation is the negative effect of high badger abundance on the ability of hedgehogs to move between patches of suburban habitat. The present study concords with results from previous surveys and experimental studies, which found a strong negative spatial relationship between hedgehogs and badgers. It also provides correlative evidence that intraguild predation can exclude intraguild prey from productive habitats.

 

[BrianV]

‘Loss of hedgerows and field margins’ - no mention of f...ing badgers

Hedgehog population plummets in UK countryside, research suggests

The population of hedgehogs in rural Britain has continued a "steep decline", say conservationists.

www.bbc.co.uk

Now let's see what is it the countryside have lots of but towns don't, well blow me down it's those darn badgers might there be a connection?

 

[farmerm]

bloody journalists! Tis badgers, badgers and badgers. I suspect the increased number of domestic pets encounters which whilst may not often be fatal, will also apply a significant stress on hedgehog populations. Our badger sets here have not been active in recent years, nothing to do we me I hasten to add, and I have seen far more hedgehogs in the last few years than all my childhood. We found one hibernating behind a straw bale in one of the buildings only a few weeks ago.

 

[DrWazzock]

I have seen a badger eating a hedgehog.
Badgers up, hedgehogs down.
"Environmentalists" live in denial of course.
Just blame the farmers like everything else.

 

[penntor]

It's a shame that when badger culling came in a few years ago that there was not ( as far as I am aware) a parallel study commissioned on hedgehog and ground nesting bird populations.
Having said that I have never seen a hedgehog here and have been in this area for 60+ years. Maybe a bit wet and cold for them on the western edge of Dartmoor.

 

[vantage]

They have lived here for at least half a million years," she said. "So we need to understand how conservationists, farmers and land managers can work together to prevent hedgehogs from becoming extinct in the countryside.

That’s easy. Bring the badger off the protected list, applies especially to Wales!

 

[7610 super q]

One minute there's loads of badgers here, then none, then all of a sudden loads of hedgehogs...then none.
I reckon we're in a " Release zone " for well meaning charities or some such.
Too many meddlers about.