Where are all the hedgehogs?

I have posted quite a few hedgehog posts. This is perhaps as they are frequent garden visitors/residents. Or were, it seems.

So far in 2018 I have not seen a hedgehog either in my own garden or ambling around the estate. I do wonder if this is an effect of a long, cold Winter. Or perhaps it is building works in the estate, although I would have thought the hedgehogs had multiple potential other homes. Though perhaps they have indeed met the fate of Philip Larkin’s “The Mower”

Of course, having posted this, I will likely look outside and see a hedgehog in the next few minutes. But the poor old hedgehogs needs all the help it can get.