THE giant hedgehog used to highlight the launch of David Attenborough’s new show, Natural Curiosities, is just amazing (February 17). There was also a report produced for the launch which revealed that a quarter of Brits have never seen a hedgehog.

This is a sad but not surprising fact, given that the population of UK hedgehogs is declining at the same rate as tigers are globally.

We have joined forces with the People’s Trust for Endangered Species in a project called Hedgehog Street to try to find out what can be done to halt and reverse the decline. Part of that project involves citizen science. We are asking people to sign up to a simple survey before the end of February, we just ask that each time they see a hedgehog, alive or dead, between now and August 31, 2014, they complete a very quick online form to let us know. Readers can sign up at hedgehogstreet.org.uk As well as providing really useful distribution data, monitoring hedgehog activity will help us guide conservation strategies for them. So each citizen scientist that signs up will help us to help hedgehogs from the comfort of their own home.

FAY VASS Chief Executive British Hedgehog Preservation Society Dhustone Ludlow Shropshire