Almost a third of Oxfordshire gardens regularly have visiting hedgehogs according to participants in the RSPB’s summer wildlife survey.

The Make Your Nature Count survey also showed that hedgehogs were seen in almost a third of urban gardens.

Experts believe that hedgehogs are finding a refuge in gardens as a loss of habitat in the countryside makes it increasingly difficult for them to survive further afield.

More than 1300 people in Oxfordshire took part in the RSPB’s summer wildlife survey.

While hedgehogs were seen in good numbers in both rural and urban areas, most other mammals were much more common in rural gardens.

Richard Bashford, RSPB Make Your Nature Count organiser, said: “For many species the only way of counting them is to ask people to take part in a garden survey like this and some of the results have been quite surprising.

“Lots of people see hedgehogs, moles and deer in their gardens which you may only expect to see in the wider countryside.

“The range of creatures we have in UK gardens highlights how important wildlife friendly gardening is, wherever you live, to ensure our fabulous wildlife continues to survive.”

Hugh Warwick, a hedgehog expert, said: “Gardens are clearly very important for hedgehogs — a great example of a truly wild animal not only at home with us but also of great benefit to gardeners.

“The hedgehog not only brings a voracious appetite for garden pests, it represents a little bit of wildness.

“We should treasure the fact that they live comfortably in our gardens and so many people can get nose-to-nose with them.”

About 30 per cent of people taking part in urban areas said they had seen hedgehogs in their gardens before, and more than one in seven saw them regularly. They were reported from 48 per cent of gardens in rural areas where more than a quarter of participants saw them at least monthly.

Participants were also asked to report moles and roe deer for the first time this year.

Mole sightings were recorded by 14 per cent of participants in the UK, including sightings of mole hills, with one in six detecting them regularly.

Unsurprisingly, most moles were recorded in rural gardens. They were most frequently sighted in Wales with 25 per cent, compared with 15 per cent in Scotland and 13 per cent in England.

Roe deer, a native species, were recorded in five per cent of gardens in the UK with most sightings in Scotland.

Make Your Nature Count was one of the first garden wildlife surveys since the extraordinarily cold winter and participants also recorded common birds.

The RSPB also asked questions about how well robins, blackbirds and song thrushes were breeding.

The survey, which took place in June, also showed that the blackbird was still the most frequent visitor, recorded in 96 per cent of all gardens, followed by the woodpigeon in 87 per cent. The blue tit took third place in 77 per cent of Oxfordshire gardens.

In the UK, 37 per cent recorded young blackbirds, 18 per cent recorded young robins and five per cent saw young song thrushes.

Participants were also asked to record summer migrants, particularly nesting house martins. Only four per cent of respondents have house martins nesting under their eaves and experts are keen to build on this in future years to find out the extent of their suspected decline.

Next year’s Make Your Nature Count will take place from June 4-12.

For more information on attracting wildlife to your garden visit www.rspb.org.uk/hfw