NATURE-LOVING families throughout Worcestershire are being asked to help out with a national survey which will build up a picture of how wildlife is faring in local towns and cities.

The People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is calling for an army of local volunteers to record any sightings of wild mammals they see in their gardens and nearby green spaces such as parks, cemeteries or wasteland over the coming months.

The PTES’ survey called Living with Mammals is now in its 15th year and relies on members of the public offering their time from Monday April 3 until the end of June.

The volunteers are asked to choose a site close to their home or place of work and to spend a short time each week looking out for wild mammals or the signs they leave behind. They can then record their sightings online or via paper forms.

David Wembridge, surveys officer at PTES, said: “The Living with Mammals survey provides a nationwide picture of how wildlife is faring in our towns and cities. Recording wildlife and tracking how numbers are changing is key to ongoing efforts to conserve it.”

Last year, grey squirrels were recorded at seven out of every 10 sites making them the most commonly reported wild mammal in the survey. But grey squirrels are just one of the 28 wild mammal species that have been recorded during Living with Mammals.

Over the survey’s 15-year history, mammal sightings range from smaller species such as wood mice, water voles and hedgehogs, to much larger species including deer, badgers, foxes and otters.

David added: “One thing to come out of this survey is the surprising number of different mammals present in urban areas. Some are only rare visitors to our gardens and parks, but if we can encourage that diversity, it’s a good indication of the natural health of our towns and cities.”

Many of Britain’s mammals, including the hedgehog – recently voted as the nation’s favourite mammal in a 2016 poll – foxes, grey squirrels and bats, are typically found in household gardens, recreational areas, cemeteries and brownfield sites, but other green spaces close to buildings may also provide a home to them.

However, there are some mammals that only live in certain parts of the country - red squirrels are found mostly in Scotland, on the Isle of Wight and in northern England while hazel dormice, which are rare but occasional visitors to gardens, are mostly found in southern counties of England and in Wales.

“The natural world is never far away from us, even in towns and cities. The presence of wild mammals is a positive sign of the health of theses spaces and, while it may not be commonplace to see some of these species, we can still find a surprising number. Taking part in Living with Mammals is a huge help to PTES’ ongoing conservation efforts.”

Anyone interested in taking part in the 2017 PTES wildlife study can register online at http://surveys2.ptes.org/surveys/.

• Volunteers can spend as little as 10 minutes throughout a week observing the wildlife in a chosen site although the PTES encourages people to offer as much time as possible. The observation and recording can be done by an individual or a team.

• Species of Conservation Concern include bat species; hedgehog, badger, shrew species, roe deer, brown hare, weasel, stoat, red squirrel, water vole, otter, hazel dormouse, red deer and fallow deer.

• A long-term trend analysis by PTES based on their Living with Mammals and Mammals on Roads surveys shows that hedgehog populations have plummeted by over a third in the past 10 years.