Almost a quarter of Caerphilly’s gardens regularly have visiting hedgehogs, according to the results of the RSPB’s summer wildlife survey.
The ‘Make Your Nature Count’ survey also showed that the prickly visitors are sighted in almost a third of urban gardens.
Experts believe that the high numbers of hedgehogs in gardens prove what a refuge they can be, as a loss of quality hedgehog habitat in the countryside makes it increasingly difficult for them to survive further afield.
This year in Caerphilly, 133 people took part in the RSPB’s summer wildlife survey counting the birds and mammals in almost 73 gardens, the figures for the whole of Wales almost doubled this year with more than 4,000 people taking part, compared to 2,000 last year.
Analysis has shown that hedgehogs are seen in good numbers in both rural and urban areas, whereas most mammals are much more common in rural gardens.
Dana Thomas from RSPB Cymru says: “Many thanks to everyone in Caerphilly who helped us collect this fascinating information about our garden wildlife.
“For many species the only way of counting them is to ask people to take part in a garden survey like this and some of the results have been quite surprising. Lots of people see hedgehogs, moles and deer in their gardens which you may only expect to see in the wider countryside.
“The range of creatures we have in our gardens highlights how important wildlife friendly gardening is, wherever you live, to ensure our fabulous wildlife continues to survive.”
Over three quarters of participants recorded cat sightings and 8% recorded mole sightings on a monthly basis.
Make Your Nature Count was one of the first garden wildlife surveys since the extraordinarily cold winter and participants also recorded common birds. The RSPB also asked questions about how well robins, blackbirds and song thrushes are breeding.
The survey, which took place in June, also showed that the blackbird is the most frequent visitor recorded in 95% of all gardens in Caerphilly, followed by the house sparrow 88%. The blue tit takes third place in 74% of all gardens