Hedgehogs now a rare garden sight as British populations continue to decline

More than half of people surveyed had never seen a hedgehog, once common in UK gardens

The plight of the hedgehog in Britain appears to be worsening, with a new survey revealing a further decline in garden sightings.

The spiky creature was once a common sight, with the population estimated at 30 million in the 1950s. But that has plummeted to fewer than one million today, with a third of this loss thought to have taken place in the past decade.