News

We undertook a hedgehog footprint tunnel survey at the Gibbet Hill area of campus between 28^th May and 2^nd June.

11 wonderful volunteers checked the tunnels every single day and on the very last day their hard work was rewarded with the much-awaited footprints of a hedgehog!

Hedgehogs are nocturnal and can be quite elusive, and thus monitoring their populations can be time-consuming and resource-heavy.

So why do we bother?

Although once widespread, the population numbers of Britain’s only spiny mammal have declined by up to 75% since 2000. Hedgehogs are indicators of habitat health, and are also called the “gardeners’ friend” as their diet includes beetles, worms, slugs, earwigs and caterpillars, which makes them an effective pest control agent.

The University of Warwick is part of the Hedgehog Friendly Campus Initiative and we currently hold the prestigious Gold Award that acknowledges our efforts to enhance spaces on campus for hedgehogs and other wildlife. Using footprint tunnels is a relatively easy. We have been conducting hedgehog footprint tunnel surveys since 2022 and this is only the second time that we found hedgehog footprints – in 2023 we were also successful at proving their presence in the areas around Scarman and the Sherbourne residences.

Having said that, citizen scientists have been recording them on campus sporadically on the iNaturalist platform, which we encourage everyone to use as it is an excellent way of monitoring wildlife.