Big Hedgehog Map records

People's Trust for Endangered Species

Description

Hedgehog records from the UK-wide Big Hedgehog Map, first launched in 2015. The survey is jointly funded by People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS), as part of the Hedgehog Street project.

Further details can be obtained from www.bighedgehogmap.org

Sightings could have occurred at any time during the year provided in the date field. Data have been collected since June 2015.

Geographic Description

UK-wide. As the dataset was generated by volunteers and hedgehogs are most commonly observed in people's gardens or on roads the occurrence of records is likely to be biased towards populated areas. Data were submitted using a marker on a Google map.

Purpose

The Big Hedgehog Map was set up to act as a national hub for hedgehog records, dead and alive.

Data quality

As the hedgehog is an easily identified species, records were only excluded if the location details were not clear or obviously incorrect. Records are submitted voluntarily by members of the public with a wide range of expertise. Sightings were not verified although the risk of misidentification is low for this species. The dataset should not be regarded as having a comprehensive geographical coverage, record distribution is likely to be biased towards populated areas. The dataset has been checked using the NBN record cleaner and as a result erroneous grid references were corrected or removed

Methods

Data were captured via a public-participation online map. Volunteers submitted records of any hedgehogs observed (dead or alive) using an online form.

Citation

People's Trust for Endangered Species ([Insert download year]). Big Hedgehog Map records. Occurrence dataset on the NBN Atlas

Rights

CC-BY-NC

Digitised records