We were delighted to learn recently that Taylor Wimpey has pledged to install Hedgehog Highways alongside all of their new houses. The company will also ensure that planted areas include food for bees and butterflies, as well as installing features like bird boxes and bug hotels to support native UK species, thus providing mitigation for the potential effects of the development on local nature and improving both biodiversity as well as the prospects for our wild hedgehogs.
Alarmingly, hedgehog populations have collapsed catastrophically in recent years, reducing by about 50% in rural areas and 33% in urban areas since 2000. It is thought that the use of pesticides on farmland and in gardens have reduced food supplies, contributing to this decline, but in urban areas the increased level of development and the widespread use of impermeable fencing is also having an adverse impact. Tragically too, thousands of our spiky friends are lost each year through encounters with vehicles whilst on our roads.
However, Hedgehog Highways allow wild hedgehogs to roam freely over a wide area, thus making more food and living places available, and helping to keep them off our roads – both important aspects of preserving and increasing their populations. The highways can be easily and cheaply installed in new developments, and many universities and other bodies are retrospectively installing them in their sites, so why not plan some into your development, alongside the more conventional paths and roads for human use, in your urban project?
We would be pleased to help you protect and enhance safe hedgehog territories and thus prevent the disappearance of one of our childhood friends. If you would like to discuss further, or to get a quote for ecological surveys and supportive advice, why not contact us?
Finally, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species both provide useful information on other ways to help our hedgehogs survive and prosper in this modern world.
JP Ecological Services 
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