Ross-on-Wye Town Council are raising awareness of Hedgehogs through labelling up their cutting machinery and further educating their operatives on the importance of looking out for Hedgehogs when operating equipment.
Our teams often carry out works in and around public parks and boundary hedges. This means that they tackle areas that would be the perfect habitat for Hedgehogs and make every effort possible to not disturb them. Ross-on-Wye Town Council has now joined the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) ‘Roll of Honour’ with over 100 other businesses that have pledged to become Hedgehog aware.
The bright yellow ‘hedgehog awareness’ stickers, which were supplied by BHPS, were distributed and placed on essential machinery. It is hoped that the stickers will not only increase awareness of Hedgehogs but lead to awareness of other wildlife during the cutting season and throughout general maintenance schedules. This is not only a sticker but a direct connection between species declines in urban areas and the small steps the public and small to large businesses can take to halt further declines in wildlife.
As well as raising awareness of hedgehogs, which is the ancient emblem of the town, the Council is also going that one step further by making the Town Cemetery at Tudorville ‘Hedgehog Friendly’. Several hedgehogs have been spotted in the area and to help them to continue to thrive, a hedgehog house, along with some food, has kindly been donated by Ross Garden Store, which will be installed before the hibernation season starts.
In the past decade, we have lost over a half of rural Hedgehogs and a third from towns and cities. There are estimated to be around a million hedgehogs left, which is a drastic fall from the 30 million that was estimated in the 1950’s. Additionally, there was a 30% decrease in Hedgehog sightings between 2003-2017.
In 2020, they joined the country’s ‘Red List of Critically Endangered Species’ and were officially declared vulnerable. It is thought that the decline is mainly due to habitat and food loss. Large scale farming, in particular, has deprived Hedgehogs of their habitats.
It doesn’t just stop at agriculture, residential gardens are also becoming more sparse over the years, lacking the hedges that Hedgehogs would use to hide.
For more information on how you can help hedgehogs visit: guide-to-helping-hedgehogs.pdf (britishhedgehogs.org.uk)
Carla Boyles, Deputy Clerk, said: “I am pleased that the Town Council is able to support the hedgehog population in Ross, and wish to express my thanks to Ross Garden Store for helping us in our mission.”
Pictured top: L-R Carla Boyles, Ross-on-Wye Town Council Deputy Clerk and Alison Stephenson of Ross Garden Store
