One of the proposals in Kate Bradbury’s Urban Spaces section in the Manifesto for Wildlife is for ‘Hedgehog holes to be made compulsory in all new fencing‘.
This is one of the simplest, most practical and dead easy recommendations in the whole manifesto.
And another of the ‘ministers’ involved in the Manifesto for Wildlife, Hugh Warwick, has launched an e-petition to gain public support for this measure.
Hugh writes ‘I’m an ecologist and author and I’ve been studying hedgehogs for over 30 years. I know that a key cause of them dying out is that our landscapes are being fenced off into ever smaller fragments. We need to make sure new housing developments include ‘hedgehog highways’ – a 13 cm hole in the bottom of a fence that allows hedgehogs to move freely between gardens to find food and find a mate.‘.
Here’s the e-petition – have a look and please add your name. It’s doing very well.
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How many times have I tried for them to sort out the Swift problem especially with my own MP Rory Stewart so I see little chance of them doing any thing about Hedgehogs. Even the manifesto missed out industrial buildings for Swift Bricks or boxes which could increase nest sites more quickly and have numbers of Swifts in one area and save building expensive towers.
185k signs in two weeks.
I think sometimes us oldies underestimate the power of social media. We also underestimate the power of something cute (though probably not cuddly in this case).
Yes, it may be argued that people don’t have to think a lot to sign these petitions as they would with a government one, but just look how it works. And I don’t buy the argument that politicians won’t take any notice because it’s not ‘theirs’. They do.
I have developed a website, which is intended as a demonstration of what can be achieved in implementing the aims of the manifesto for wildlife. It is rough round the edges, but could easily be useful. I have signed this petition, but what have I and the petition achieved. Very little. There could be developed a petition to the UK and if necessary the devolved governments which force them to take note and if they do not wish to act, to say why. Why could a similar petition to the UK government not achieve 10,000 or 100,000 signatures? If it is backed up by concrete proposals for legislation, it could well achieve the desired outcome. I have included a link to the petition as well as the Urban Wildlife section of the manifesto.
My website (remember it’s a demonstration) is at
https://amilne.co.uk/ManifestoForWildlife/
I suspect it’s the same for most other people commenting here (hope it’s not) but the vast bulk of Sustainable urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) that have been created in my area as a result of the regulations to reduce flooding with new build have instead of being made with creating wildlife habitat in mind have been the usual dreary expanse of close mown grass leading down to a featureless ‘pond’. One near me is not bad – the others are awful. There’s an absolutely fantastic example one the other side of Falkirk District, but that’s it. Hedgehogs in particular could have benefitted from these being mini nature reserves. Worryingly it seems the good ones are the older ones. Developers need kick up the arse.
Not only Hedgehogs could benefit from this. I’ve a small garden pond, but there’s not much chance of any other species accessing it these days unless they find the Hog holes or can fly; very few frogs left, no newts or toads.
Go into any garden centre and study the products on offer in the pest control section; watch any mainstream gardening programme encouraging people to grow delicate, non-native plants and the reason why hedgehogs do not survive well, even in suburban areas, will become apparent. Toxic chemicals, in this instance molluscicides, not only destroy the animals’ food source but also cause sickness and death through secondary poisoning. Hedgehogs would be better served by banning such chemicals from all public parks and open spaces and creating wild areas where none exist. (I see little chance of them being banned from sale to the public.) I fear that hedgehog highways in certain areas will merely become highways of death!
Sandra, ‘like’ button not working for me so, hear hear.
Wouldn’t it be great if all these poisons could have a picture of dead hedgehogs and toads on them, as per cigarettes. Wonder how many gardeners would still buy them.
Once again, chemical companies literally getting away with murder.
Someone has clicked to ‘dislike’ the idea of helping hedgehogs !?
I hope it was a case of fat fingers, rather than a fathead.
Where’s the good one near Falkirk please? It would be nice to have one to show for student education purposes if it’s public accessible. Thanks