Your report (7 February) highlights the shocking decline in hedgehog populations – as high as 97% since the 1950s, particularly in rural areas. It can’t just be coincidence that our countryside hedgerows, the favourite bolthole of the discerning hedgehog, have seen a similar decline over that period.
Aerial photographs from 1940 show an almost complete network of hedges across much of the country. But between 1950 and 1975, the loss of hedges became the most familiar and visible damage to the countryside. The most recent Countryside Survey revealed a loss of 91,000 miles of managed hedgerow between 1984 and 2007 in Britain.
Of course, there are many farmers who are doing a great job in managing their hedgerows – but there needs to be better legal protection. Government must also ensure that future agricultural policy supports hedges being managed and restored, helping to improve both the habitat for hedgehogs and the landscape we all know and love.
Emma Marrington
Senior rural policy campaigner, Campaign to Protect Rural England
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