What is the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme?

Sadly, our much-loved hedgehogs are threatened, having undergone considerable population declines in recent decades. To reverse this trend, we need to remove the threats they face and put in place practical conservation measures. But before we can do this effectively we need to understand where and why hedgehogs are struggling.

The National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme (NHMP) is an exciting new pilot project, that will, for the first time, produce robust hedgehog population estimates. Where previous large-scale surveys give us information on where hedgehogs are, this new survey will tell us how many there are. 

How will it work?

We’re working with volunteer partner organisations to coordinate surveys in their local area, in parks, gardens and more rural areas. They’re forming regional hubs to recruit volunteers who put out cameras, and then collect them after 30 days. The cameras capture images of hedgehogs and other animals. Using innovative methods, we’re analysing the images to understand how we can better help hedgehogs.

We need your help!

We need volunteers to spot hedgehogs and other animals in the camera images. The images from year 1 have been uploaded to mammalweb.org, and we need you to help us classify them. You just need to sign up for a MammalWeb account and select the NHMP project to classify.

The National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme is run by People’s Trust for Endangered Species and The British Hedgehog Preservation Society, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, Zoological Society of London, London Hogwatch, MammalWeb and Durham University, and co-funded by Natural England.