City of London Corporation - North London hedgehog project

In 2025 we received funding from the City of London Corporation grant ‘Enjoying Green Spaces and the Natural Environment’ to improve our understanding of hedgehog and other wildlife populations in the Hampstead Heath and Highgate Woods areas. A 40 camera-trap survey of Highgate Woods and a 30-camera trap survey in local gardens and allotments have been carried out in 2025. The forthcoming analyses will help assess local hedgehog conservation status and inform Local Nature Recovery strategies. This includes conducting a Random Encounter Model analysis of the three previous Hampstead Heath surveys to generate robust density estimates and trends.

In our 2017 survey in Highgate Woods, we found one hedgehog. Since then, significant efforts by City of London Corporation and Heath Hands have been made to improve the habitat of the park and surrounding areas for hedgehogs. Outstandingly, preliminary 2025 findings suggest hedgehogs were detected by 21 of the cameras, showing signs of a conservation win for hedgehogs in this area.

 The potential corridor between the Heath and Highgate Woods was assessed by a Garden and Allotments survey. With only one hedgehog detected, these results suggest that the sites surveyed aren’t acting as a substantial corridor and the two respective greenspaces could be inhabited by separate populations.

 Part of this grant also focuses on meaningful community engagement. Connecting residents with their green spaces, providing learning opportunities for children and young people, and offering citizen-science training.  So far, this has included two hedgehog workshops and the creation of a Zooniverse project for volunteers. More workshops and engagement opportunities in the works! We will work with Heath Hands and City of London Corporation throughout this project, feeding into our broader collaboration in North London to increase hedgehog connectivity.

If you’re interested in finding out what species were detected during our Highgate Wood survey, you can take part in the Zooniverse project here.