nature

Hedgehogs are disappearing from many parts of the countryside.

Lancashire Wildlife Trust has reported a significant decline in hedgehog sightings, with numbers down seven per cent compared to the previous year and a 33 per cent drop since 2022.

The decline is believed to be linked to habitat loss caused by building developments.

Lydia German, senior communications officer at Lancashire Wildlife Trust, said: "By recording where you have (or even where you haven’t) seen a hedgehog, you can help us to build up a fuller picture of how the population is faring across our region.

Huge tracts of precious riverside habitats for water voles and other wildlife in England are being lost as they are not covered by post-Brexit farming rules, campaigners warn.

New analysis by the Wildlife Trusts found more than 400 square km of riverside habitat in England may have been lost since the UK left the EU in 2020.

Under the common agricultural policy (CAP), which subsidised farming when the UK was in the bloc, farmers had to keep a 2-metre buffer between their fields and the rivers. But with the UK’s exit from the CAP, farmers may try to increase their income by ploughing to the edge of their field – an area that, at present, is unprofitable for them.