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Results
Current Projects
Highgate Wood
In 2017, London HogWatch carried out our first survey of Highgate Woods. In the results of this survey, we had one hedgehog detection during the 2-week deployment, indicating that there wasn't a resident population here. After significant effort has been invested into conservation areas by City of London Corporation and Heath Hands, hedgehogs have recently been spotted in Highgate Wood. Our 2025 survey, funded by City of London Corporation, will explore the presence of hedgehogs and other mammal and bird species across the Wood.
Richmond
The Richmond Park 2024 survey carries on from previous surveys conducted in the borough of Richmond, including a survey of Bushy Park and other key green spaces as part of a project funded by Internet of Things through the South London Partnership. In 2022, London HogWatch worked with Richmond Council using cellular cameras to gather fauna data to inform its nature recovery strategy. This data was combined with other information to advise an approach that considers site connectivity, climate change resilience and the priority actions for habitats and species. Data gathered will also be used in the future to monitor the success of planned conservation actions. HogWatch has surveyed Crane Park Island for water voles prior to the planned reinforcement of the population.
Deer in Crane Park
National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme
A pioneering new three-year pilot project - the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme (NHMP) – was launched in Spring 2024. Led by wildlife charities The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) and People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, ZSL’s London HogWatch, Durham University and MammalWeb, and largely funded by Natural England, this unique combination of AI, trail cameras and home-based volunteers will produce crucial insights into the factors causing hedgehog populations to plummet, and enable conservationists to implement practical conservation measures to try to reverse the decline.
For the first time, this will enable robust estimates of hedgehog populations in different habitats across the country, show how these are changing year on year, and, in time, give a national estimate of Britain’s hedgehog population. The new project utilises sophisticated, cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI), which is a world-first in hedgehog conservation. ZSLs cutting-edge camera-trapping techniques which have advanced population estimation, have contributed to the NHMP methodology.
To sign up and become a ‘spotter’, visit ptes.org/nhmp
Hedgehog from the NHMP
Hampstead Heath
Through our camera trap surveys we’ve established Hampstead Heath is a stronghold area for London’s hedgehog population, with some of the highest hedgehog sightings found across London. In 2018, HogWatch partnered with City of London Corporation and Heath Hands to undertake a large-scale 150 camera trap survey of Hampstead Heath. Hedgehogs were well distributed across the park with an overall 376 hedgehog sightings across 51% of cameras. To ensure long-term monitoring of this key hedgehog stronghold, a second 150 camera-trap survey was completed in 2021, and a third in 2024. Findings indicate that this is the largest hedgehog population in London which needs long-term, continuous monitoring to ensure conservation of this key population.
Hedgehog from Hampstead Heath Survey
Regents Park
Annual torchlight surveys of hedgehog populations in Regents Park have been conducted by The Regent’s Park Hedgehog Research Project since 2014. London HogWatch has been completing large-scale camera trap surveys in Regents Park since 2016, to help contribute knowledge on this population. Torchlight surveys indicate that the population has decreased significantly in size since 2014, and camera trap results have seen fluctuations in activity between 2016 and 2021. This is now thought to be the last breeding population in central London, which has become small and isolated. This makes Regents Park a vital area for hedgehog conservation within London. Hogwatch is now actively involved in the Regents Park Hedgehog Research Project examining ways in which to help conserve this fragile isolated population in central London.
Regents Park Hedgehog
Rewild London project
As part of the Mayor of London’s Rewild Fund (Rewild London Fund | London Wildlife Trust), in 2022 London Hogwatch conducted surveys in various Sites of Interest for Nature Conservation (SINCs) and other green spaces within the North Camden area. Working with a range of community partners to assess the current distributions of hedgehogs and other important wildlife species to help target areas that act as critical corridors of movement between these areas.
Regents Park is marked as an important hedgehog habitat as it contains the last breeding population in central London. A 2018 report by HogWatch identified Hampstead Heath as one of the most important hedgehog populations in Greater London. Additionally, smaller hedgehog populations in sites between these two larger populations, such as Kentish Town City Farm, have been found but knowledge of other smaller sites is very limited. The project aimed to fill the knowledge gap on the extent of hedgehog distributions between Hampstead Heath and Regent’s Park. Combining camera-trap surveys, and historical knowledge surveys Hedgehog and wildlife survey (https://tinyurl.com/ysxezjw4) to provide up-to-date information. The historical knowledge survey has now been extended to London wide and is still being utilised to collate important citizen science data.
Foxes from our ReWild Survey
Barnes
HogWatch has been working in collaboration with Friends of Barnes Common, Barnes Hedgehogs, and Richmond Council to survey in the Barnes area since 2018. We identified this area as a potential hedgehog hotspot after our initial survey of Barnes Common revealed high hedgehog activity. Since then, many other areas in Barnes have been surveyed and revealed a large hedgehog distribution in the area. Unfortunately, our analysis has shown a decline in abundance and distribution over the five-year monitoring period, especially on Barnes Common. Reasons for this decline are unknown but we continue to monitor the area and support local conservation strategies. Our results suggest that gardens are acting as important refuges for hedgehogs here and Barnes Hedgehogs continues the important work of putting holes in fences to create hedgehog highways to help conserve this population. In 2023 Barnes Common became one of our NHMP sites and will continue to be monitored through this programme in the coming years.
Fox in Barnes
Chiswick
HogWatch started surveying Chiswick in 2021 in collaboration with WildChiswick. This revealed a strong hedgehog population in Chiswick House and Gardens which extended across the Grove Park and Strand on the Green area of Chiswick. Promoting the results from the surveys in the local area meant people became more aware of hedgehogs and their needs. WildChiswick was able to start a hedgehog highway campaign by putting holes in garden fences and directing these efforts to where it was most beneficial to the hedgehog population. Once residents knew hedgehogs were in the area, WildChiswick has been able to do successful outreach activities, talking to people about how to make their gardens more hedgehog friendly, including speaking in school assemblies. This work is vital as when people know there are hedgehogs in their area, there is an incentive to take action. We will be surveying Chiswick again in Summer 2024 as part of one our NHMP monitoring sites and the area will continue to be monitored through this programme in the coming years.
Hedgehog in Chiswick
Kingston
HogWatch has been working with Kingston Council to investigate their hedgehog population within the borough. In 2021 a survey in the Surbiton area was conducted which found only a few sightings, suggesting the population here is small and in need of conservation action. The results also helped identify an adjacent area which included residential sites for further study in 2022. This survey revealed how important garden habitat is for hedgehogs here, as high amounts of activity were detected here. In 2023 Hogwatch and Kingston Council were funded by Internet of Things to monitor hedgehog and other biodiversity species in real-time using cellular cameras. Surveys showed an improvement in hedgehog populations in the borough, and revealed a strong diversity of mammal and bird species. In 2024 HogWatch will continue to work with Kingston council to monitor their hedgehog population and to promote conservation action in the area.
Amazingly the 2022 Kingston survey detected a pine marten, the first record in London for over a century. Highlighting the importance of biodiversity monitoring and how useful camera traps can be for picking up rare or elusive species.
Mother and Cub
Pine Marten
Ealing
In 2022, we partnered with Ealing Wildlife Group to support their Hedgehog Highways project. 60 cameras were deployed in a range of park, garden and allotment habitats. Positively, hedgehogs were detected in four of the seven surveyed sites. In 2024, we continued our collaboration, deploying 42 cameras across five new park habitats. Preliminary findings are encouraging, with hedgehogs detected at three of these sites. Ealing Wildlife Group are utilising HogWatch survey results to locate areas for hedgehog highways, create hibernacula and engage with the community through educational events.
Other Urban Biodiversity Monitoring
Camera traps provide a wealth of information not only for hedgehogs but for many other mammal and birds species. This makes them ideal for general biodiversity monitoring and HogWatch has been involved in projects which are aiming to learn more about the dynamics of urban biodiversity.
Network Rail
In 2022, Network Rail and ZSL’s London HogWatch and Monitoring and Technology Team began collaborating around a comprehensive programme of research and monitoring activities designed to enhance our understanding of British lineside wildlife. The habitats around railway lines in cities may provide important sites for a wide range of plants, and insects and potentially are important corridors for a range of mammal species including hedgehogs.
In Phase 1 of the collaboration, which was completed in March 2023, ZSL developed and trialled innovative technologies for monitoring lineside biodiversity efficiently and at a safe distance. Phase 2 commenced in April 2023 to investigate the effect of lineside habitat on British wildlife in rural and urban environments, trialling methods for small monitoring on lineside environments, novel technologies for remote monitoring of dormouse nest boxes and scoping methods and technologies for landscape-scale monitoring of biodiversity across British Rail network. We deployed a total of 111 camera traps and 80 passive acoustic sensors, collecting over 200,000 images during 1,667 camera-trap days, and 3,700 hours of acoustic data. Thus far we have seen evidence of the use of these sites by a range of species including hedgehogs, badgers, and foxes. This project has been nominated for Best Practice Innovation Award by CIEEM (Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management).
Network Rail Survey