Helping the Hedgehogs in Bridlington
Did you know you have hedgehogs on your street?
Hedgehogs need all of the help we can give them! Current estimates put the hedgehog population in England, Wales and Scotland at less the one million compared to a staggering thirty million in the 1950’s.
Some of the reasons for the the decline in the UK are:
- Loss of hedgerow and field margins.
- Loss of habitat in urban areas due to housing developments.
- New roads, fences and walls carve up suitable habitat and sometimes isolate populations which in turn prevents breeding.
- Lack of wild areas means a lack of bugs and beetles resulting in lack of suitable food sources for the hedgehogs. this often results from “over tidy” gardens.
- With more cars on the roads than ever before, road kill is a big problem.
- Use of pesticides and slug pellets can poison hedgehogs and also kill the bugs that they eat.
Hedgehog Highways allow our prickly friends to travel around their environment with ease.
they can roam up to two miles each night! It is therefore critical that we aid them to do this by putting 13cm x 13cm gaps in all fences and walls to allow them to forage for food and meet mates.
Here at Bridlington Town council you can purchase Hedgehogs R Us Highway Surrounds for £3 each to raise awareness. Call into the office at 2A Marshall Avenue, Bridlington Monday to Friday between 9am and 1pm.
