How tiny backpacks and sniffer dogs are helping to save hedgehogs

Hedgehogs in Northern Ireland are being fitted with tiny "backpacks" as part of a new project to help conservationists to protect them.

The project - led by Ulster Wildlife - involves sticking a small GPS tracking device to a hedgehog's back - a bit like a tiny backpack.

This stays in place for a few days before being safely removed by the researchers, who say it does not hurt or harm the hedgehogs.

They also say they will only attach the backpacks to male hedgehogs so that they do not disturb any females who might be nesting or having babies.

As part of the project, the first-ever hedgehog detection dog for Ireland has also been specially trained to help track them down.

The aim of the project is to help build up a map of exactly where the hedgehogs travel each night, including how many gardens they pass through, the roads they navigate, where they locate food and where they rest - to help researchers protect them better.

The common Western European hedgehog is listed as 'Near Threatened' by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Katy Bell, a senior conservation officer with Ulster Wildlife, said the hedgehog population had "declined by millions" since the 1950s.

She said the project was "really exciting" and hoped that the data collected about the hedgehog's movements "will inform conservation action for hedgehogs going forward."

Maureen Carvill, who is a gardening officer for Ulster Wildlife, also said that the data from the project can help inform people how they can change their gardens to make them more hedgehog-friendly - such as making "hedgehog highways" and building log piles which will attract insects and mini-beasts to feed hedgehogs.

Russell is Northern Ireland's first specially trained hedgehog detection dog.

The two-year-old cocker spaniel is being trained by Conservation Detection Dogs NI to help find the backpack-wearing hedgehogs and track down any tags that have fallen off or stopped working.

Russell's owner Patrice Kerrigan said Russell will also help "track hedgehogs that aren't coming to feeders."

"We want to see what they are doing and what their movements are because, at the moment, Ulster Wildlife are catching the hedgehogs that are coming to feeders that are artificially set up - that's the only data they are getting", she said.