Worcestershire Wildlife Trust urging people to take extra care with garden work in bid to keep hedgehogs safe
It's as a hedgehog awareness week has been taking place to highlight the problems the spiny mammal faces across the UK and how people can help them
People across Herefordshire and Worcestershire are being told to double check areas before doing any work in their gardens this spring to make sure they aren't disturbing any hedgehogs.
Hedgehog awareness week has just taken place from the 3–9 May which aims to shine a spotlight on some of the problems they face across the UK.
It also shows how things like creating a wild space and always checking for hedgehogs before strimming, mowing or hedge cutting can help and look after them.
A report titled The State of Britain’s Hedgehogs 2022 revealed in rural populations, numbers of the spiny mammal in the last two decades had "continued to decline by between a third and three-quarters nationally", while in urban areas it showed a "stable population that might be recovering".
Nick Packham, Worcestershire Wildlife Trust's engagement lead, said people can play an important role in supporting hedgehogs this time of year when they're active after coming out of hibernation.
"The awareness week is really just kind of highlighting the fact hedgehogs aren't in a great state at the moment and there are things we can do though to help address that," he said.
"So if you're going to be doing some garden work, do just check, have a good look around before you start any of that work to see what's there.
"With hedgehogs, you won't know they're there unless you're right on top of one usually, because during the day they do tend to sleep."
The trust is also encouraging people to report any sightings of hedgehogs so they can understand more about them and their numbers.