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- Close
- - We protect wildlife in Britain and around the world by bringing our most threatened species back from the brink of extinction. We do this through ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
Wild places
- Close
- - Some habitats contain such a richness of life that we need to protect them at all odds. We are working to preserve ancient woodlands, orchards and wood pastures and parklands, as well as the countless species they support.
What we do
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- - Everything we do is based on scientific evidence. We gather this through surveys, which you can take part in, and by awarding research grants to the most inspiring scientists worldwide. This evidence guides our conservation efforts and is shared through our events and publications.
Who we are
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- - People’s Trust for Endangered Species was set up in 1977 to save our wildlife. We are governed by a board of volunteer trustees and our team of staff are passionate about protecting endangered species and places.
Success stories
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- - We strive to bring our most threatened species in the UK and around the world back from the brink of extinction. Our successes come from ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
Get involved
- Close
- - There are so many ways you can help save endangered species. Fancy taking part in a survey, joining us on a wildlife event or becoming a regular supporter?
Shop
- Close
- - Support our work in our shop with a range of charity gifts, home-ware, cards and more. 100% of the profits go directly to help wildlife both in the UK an overseas.
Donate
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- - There is nothing natural about the alarming rate at which we are losing animals and their homes. It is absolutely avoidable. We can stop the loss of our wildlife – but we need your support. You can act now by choosing to give to our cause. Thank you.

Home // National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme Privacy Policy

National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme Privacy Policy

Last updated 24/12/25

Privacy policy for deploying wildlife trail cameras as part of the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme

Introduction

This Privacy Policy outlines how personal data collected by trail cameras operating during the course of the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme (NHMP) is handled. The purpose of this programme is to monitor wildlife and produce population estimates of hedgehogs and other mammals, and data collected is used solely for wildlife research and conservation. Please note this policy pertains only to the imagery collected by trail cameras; other personal data collected during the course of NHMP activities falls under the wider PTES privacy policy.

Data controller

The National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme is a pilot programme run by People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and The British Hedgehog Preservation Society in partnership with Nottingham Trent University (NTU), Zoological Society of London (ZSL), London HogWatch, Durham University and MammalWeb, and majority funded by Natural England.

The NHMP team is the Data Controller responsible for the collection and use of personal data in connection with the wildlife trail cameras used for this survey. If you have any questions regarding your personal data, please contact the NHMP Coordinator at: nhmp@ptes.org.

Purpose of data collection

The aim of the NHMP is to assess the feasibility of using trail cameras to produce robust population estimates of hedgehogs and other mammals across the UK, within a citizen science framework. These population estimates are essential to understand where hedgehogs are declining and to what extent, and to guide targeted conservation strategies at local, regional and national levels, to reverse the decline of this much-loved species.

Types of data collected

The data collected by the NHMP trail cameras primarily includes:

Wildlife footage: Images of hedgehogs and other wildlife in a variety of sites including private land and residential gardens and public space such as parks, recreational grounds and cemeteries.

Potential collection of personal data

While the purpose of the survey is to capture images of wildlife, the cameras may capture images of individuals passing through the field of view of the camera. The cameras are placed between 20-30cm off the ground, reducing the likelihood of capturing recognizable images of people, and are positioned away from areas of high human traffic (e.g. trails and playgrounds). The images are uploaded to an online platform (www.mammalweb.org) by local co-ordinators, all governed by their own organisational privacy policies. Once uploaded, all raw images stored locally or on SD cards are deleted.

Images are uploaded to MammalWeb for both storage (on secure Amazon Web Services storage) and processing of the images (see MammalWeb privacy policy). Species captured in the images are identified by both AI models and members of the public, to vastly reduce processing time. As soon as possible after upload, machine learning tools identify and filter out any images of humans. The remaining images are then made available to view by members of the public. Without the public input, image processing would take staff members many months, incurring considerable time and financial costs. To view and identify species in the images, users must be registered with MammalWeb and have agreed to the terms of their Privacy Policy. In constantly updating and re-training the machine learning tools, every effort will be made to ensure no images of recognisable humans are available to the public. Images that have been tagged as containing humans remain on the AWS storage to help evaluate the performance of the machine learning tools but can only be accessed by the project team, and are not routinely accessed. Occasionally images of people are shared with a third-party AI developer to further train the models; these images do not contain recognisable faces.

Consent

Permissions for all camera sitings are obtained from the landowner. In private settings such as gardens, residents are aware and consent to the incidental capturing of their personal image, subject to the stipulations above. In public spaces, where people cannot explicitly opt in to the survey, appropriate signage will be placed at site entrances to inform individuals of the potential for camera surveillance, and consent will be implied by continued presence in the area. The signs contain information about the survey, and a link to the NHMP website where the privacy policy can be obtained. The cameras also have labels on them describing what the camera is for and a QR code to find out more information.

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact the NHMP team at nhmp@ptes.org.