Hedgehog mural at Essex shopping centre raises awareness of their decline

A giant mural of a hedgehog has been unveiled at a shopping centre in Chelmsford to raise awareness of a campaign to stop their numbers declining.

The mural, which took nine hours to create, was commissioned by Essex Wildlife Trust for a wall at the High Chelmer shopping centre.

Essex Wildlife Trust worked with local mural artist, David 'Gnasher' Nash, of Gnasher Murals, to create the artwork.

The idea behind it is to remind people that wildlife lives within urban areas, as much as it lives within nature reserves and rural places.

It comes as the trust launches a new 'Nature Neighbours' campaign to help protect vulnerable species over the colder seasons, which is concentrating this year on the humble hedgehog.

"Hedgehogs have declined at least 30% in the last 10 years so we're seeing quite a big decrease" said Bailey Tait from Essex Wildlife Trust.

"So it is really important that we protect wildlife and make space for them in our gardens and link up our gardens, stop that fragmentation of habitat, provide them with food to help them with their diet, provide them with homes in our gardens, hedgehog houses."

To combat this, the Trust is urging the public to create essential 'hedgehog holes' in garden fences, to allow hedgehogs to travel between gardens safely. Hedgehog holes should be around 13cm x 13cm (5" x 5").

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