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THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



clubs no members had seen hedgehogs within the 

 last two years but at least one of these must be 

 counted a false negative (Woodford, SU1236) since 

 3RTAs were noted nearby and in the case of Calne 

 (SU 0071) a RTA to the east and sightings south of 

 the town must qualify the classification. Furthermore 

 at Lavington the negative experience of the Garden 

 Club must be set against the well-documented 

 account of a hedgehog being killed on the outskirts 

 of Lavington in 2000 (see Conflict Zones, 1), a final 

 elimination from this village perhaps. 



The highest aggregate for a club was at 

 Alderbury where frequency was reported as being 

 regular (6), occasional (12) and absent (5), (this in 

 a village visited by badgers). Many clubs and 

 gardeners reported decreasing numbers of 

 hedgehogs, and some were able to put an 

 approximate time in years since they were last seen 

 as follows: 25,20,>19,19,15,>14,>10,10,9,8,7, 

 >5,5,?5,4-5,4-5,4-5,4,4,3-4,2-3,>2,2,2,and 'few'. 

 In three places — West Malmesbury (see Conflict 

 Zones, 2) Crudwell and Ludwell — an absence of 

 ten years or more was greeted with surprise in 2000 

 by the reappearance of a single hedgehog, but 

 reappearances or increases in numbers have not 

 otherwise been noted. 



THE DONHEADS 



The two parishes of Donhead St Andrew and 

 Donhead St. Mary lie at the upper end of the Nadder 

 valley where the topography is one of steep-sided 

 valleys with abundant spring-fed streams carving a 

 mosaic of woods, pastures and gardens with very 

 little arable land. The greensand in this area contains 

 seams of greensand rock underneath which badgers 

 have dug many stable setts from which to forage in 

 an ideal habitat. Both gardeners and farmers are loud 

 in their complaints about the superabundance of 

 badgers, and evidence of their presence is 

 widespread. They must have a very high population 

 density; the close concentration of setts is well shown 

 in Beatrice Gillam's survey of 1966 (Gillam, 1967). 

 I have questioned several farmers and over thirty 

 residents about hedgehogs with a universally 

 negative response. Many have lived there for several 

 decades and the 'oldest' inhabitant stated with 

 conviction that although she was familiar with 

 hedgehogs elsewhere she had never seen one in the 

 Donheads in fifty-three years. It should be noted 

 that this is one of the areas without hedgehog 



records in Marion Browne's survey. One cannot, 

 of course, argue from post hoc to propter hoc, but 

 there is no reason, other than badger competition/ 

 predation, e.g. use of toxic chemicals, etc., why 

 hedgehogs should be absent from a habitat so well 

 suited to their needs. 



SAVERNAKE FOREST 



Although hedgehogs do not favour close-canopied 

 woodland as a habitat, they are found along 

 woodland edges and in mixed areas of pasture and 

 woodland. They have been shown to be absent from 

 Wytham Wood near Oxford on account of 

 competition and predation by badgers. In Wiltshire 

 Savernake Forest, previously an example of wood 

 pasture with hunting for deer as a primary purpose, 

 is now a mosaic of mixed forestry - roughly equal 

 areas of conifer and broadleaf - - with tracts of 

 pasture and some arable interspersed. Its soil varies 

 but much of it is a clay cap over chalk and, while 

 there are a few badger setts in the central block of 

 the forest, badgers have mostly preferred the chalk 

 escarpments along its borders. 



Enquiry was directed to the scattered 

 inhabitants of the forest and there have been RTAs 

 at Durley. In summary it appears that there is a 

 good population of hedgehogs throughout the 

 southern half of the forest, roughly from Durley 

 and Bloxham to Great Bedwyn and Chisbury with 

 plenty around St. Katherine's, but north of this 

 there has been a decline . They used to be seen 

 regularly atTimbridge, Braydon Hook, Forest Hill 

 and Cadley but have become scarce or absent there 

 in the last two years. It is curious that there have 

 been no RTAs on the Savernake stretch of the A4, 

 either in this survey or that of 1976-85. 



Most of the forest is accessible to badgers from 

 setts in the chalk north and south and from some 

 around SU2467 and SU2265 but it has not been 

 possible, from lack of access, to plot badger setts 

 north of the A4. No conclusions on the decrease of 

 hedgehogs south of the A4 can be drawn but future 

 studies may reveal any possible trend. 



CONFLICT ZONES 



In seven areas, designated Conflict Zones, there has 

 been direct evidence of interaction between badgers 

 and hedgehogs. These are listed. 



