Ghosts in the Hedgerow: who or what is responsible for our favourite mammal’s decline

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Sevenant M, Menschaert J, Couvreur M, Ronse A, Antrop M, Geypens M, Hermy M, De Blust G (2002) Ecodistricten: Ruimtelijke eenheden voor gebiedsgericht milieubeleid in Vlaanderen. Deelrapport II: Afbakening van ecodistricten en ecoregio’s: Verklarende teksten. Studieopdracht in het kader van actie 134 van het Vlaams Milieubeleidsplan 1997–2001. In opdracht van het Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Administratie Milieu, Natuur, Land- en Waterbeheer Holden J, Grayson RP, Berdeni D, Bird S, Chapman PJ, Edmondson JL, Firbank LG, Helgason T, Hodson ME, Hunt SFP et al (2019) The role of hedgerows in soil functioning within agricultural landscapes. Agric Ecosyst Environ 273:1–12 Dal Ferro N, Piccoli I, Berti A, Polese R, Morari F (2020) Organic carbon storage potential in deep agricultural soil layers: Evidence from long-term experiments in northeast Italy. Agr Ecosyst Environ 300:106967 In poll after poll hedgehogs come out top as Britain's favourite mammal. And yet their numbers are estimated to have halved in less than twenty years. Why? Who or what is responsible for the disappearance of so many thousands of hedgehogs in recent decades? Is it the car driver, the badger, the farmer, the gardener ..? Tom Moorhouse sets out to investigate the evidence, and in seeking to discover the cause of this loss and how we save the species he uncovers a story full of twists, turns and uncomfortable truths about the trade-offs that exist between humans and wildlife.

Pardon P, Reubens B, Reheul D, Mertens J, De Frenne P, Coussement T, Janssens P, Verheyen K (2017) Trees increase soil organic carbon and nutrient availability in temperate agroforestry systems. Agr Ecosyst Environ 247:98–111

Baltensperger BH (1987) Hedgerow distribution and removal in nonforested regions of the Midwest. J Soil Water Conserv 42:60–64 Vanneste T, Govaert S, Spicher F, Brunet J, Cousins SAO, Decocq G, Diekmann M et al (2020a) Contrasting microclimates among hedgerows and woodlands across temperate Europe. Agric For Meteorol 281:107818 Prior LD, Paul KI, Davidson NJ, Hovenden MJ, Nichols SC, Bowman DJMA (2015) Evaluating carbon storage in restoration plantings in the Tasmanian Midlands, a highly modified agricultural landscape. Rangel J 37:477–488

Lenka NK, Dass A, Sudhishri S, Patnaik US (2012) Soil carbon sequestration and erosion control potential of hedgerow and grass filter strips in sloping agricultural lands of eastern India. Agric Ecosyst Environ 158:31–40 Sollins P, Swanston C, Kramer M (2007) Stabilization and destabilization of soil organic matter—a new focus. Biogeochemistry 85:1–7 The cover? The cover is better than the title, I think. Is this a ghost story or a whodunnit? And, not that it matters hugely, the Hedgehog on the cover is not in a hedgerow. But I like the cover and I’d give it 9/10.Dr Tom Moorhouse is a conservation research scientist who has worked for twenty years at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, part of Oxford University’s Biology Department. His work has focussed on the conservation ecology of water voles, the management of signal crayfish, hedgehog conservation and the impacts of wildlife. Poeplau C, Don A, Vesterdal L, Leifeld J, VanWesemael B, Schumacher J, Gensoir A (2011) Temporal dynamics of soil organic carbon after land-use change in the temperate zone–carbon response functions as a model approach. Glob Chang Biol 17:2415–2427

For those with an interest in endangered species, Tom Moorhouse's Ghosts in the Hedgerow: A Hedgehog Whoddunit is a caring, amiable guide to who (and what) is responsible for the worrying decline of this cute mammal." A wonderfully entertaining and intriguing book. The hedgehog has found its champion.'Tristan Gooley, author of The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and SignsWiesmeier M, Lungu M, Cerbari V, Boincean B, Hübner R, Kögel-Knabner I (2018) Rebuilding soil carbon in degraded steppe soils of Eastern Europe: the importance of windbreaks and improved cropland management. Land Degrad Dev 29:875–883. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2902 A wonderfully entertaining and intriguing book. The hedgehog has found its champion. Tristan Gooley, author of The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs and How to Read Water By turns hilarious and heart-breaking, Ghosts in the Hedgerow is a triumph of accessible science writing." Hexham Book Festival is a Not For Profit CIC and delivers an annual festival that takes place in and around Hexham each year.

Hermy M and De Blust G (1997) Punten en lijnen in het landschap. Stichting Leefmilieu, Schuyt & co, Van de Wiele, Natuurreservaten, WWF, Instituut voor Natuurbehoud Hossain MF, Chen W, Zhang Y (2015) Bulk density of mineral and organic soils in the Canada’s arctic and sub-arctic. Information processing in agriculture 2:183–190 A body lies motionless on the ground. Small, with a snouty head and covered with spines, it is unquestionably dead before its time. And all of those gathered around the corpse are suspect. So which one of them is responsible for this crime – and for the disappearance of many many thousands of hedgehogs in recent decades?” Monreal NLR, López-Vicente M, Romero MEN, Ojanguren R, Adán JAL, Errea P, Bellido NP (2018) Catchment based hydrology under post farmland abandonment scenarios. Cuadernos Invest. Geogr./Geogr. Res Lett 44:503–534 Stavi I, Lal R (2013) Agroforestry and biochar to offset climate change: a review. Agron Sustain Dev 33:81–96Jacobson MC, Charlson RJ, Rodhe H, Orians GH (2000) Earth system science: from biogeochemical cycles to global change. International Geophysics Series72 New York: Academic Press Bot A and Benites J (2005) The importance of soil organic matter. FAO soils bulletin 80. Publishing Management Service, Information Division, FAO, Italy Author and researcher Dr Tom Moorhouse’s new literary offering takes the unexpected shape of a ‘hedgehog whodunnit’. Ghosts in the Hedgerow offers an in-depth, insightful and impossibly funny look at the plight of the hedgehog.