Homemade hedgehog crossing signs put up by Bristol road

Signs warning motorists to watch out for hedgehogs crossing the road have been installed beside a city street.

The signs were created by Claudia Bonney to help the endangered animals safely cross Egerton Road in Bristol.

Ms Bonney, who now wants Bristol City Council to put up official road signs, said: "I fundamentally believe these signs could save hedgehogs' lives."

The council said it would consider signage if there was a "particular issue of risk to small animals".

Ms Bonney said she had put up a number signs in people's gardens and in the local church in Bishopston with the warning: "Please drive slowly hedgehogs crossing here" because the area was a "hedgehog hot spot".

"The signs have gone up because we're very proud to have a thriving population of hedgehogs here.

"It is prime hedgehog mating season and nesting season so they're incredibly active and zipping around and sadly a few of them are getting squashed on the road."

Up to 335,000 hedgehogs die each year on UK roads, according to a study.

Recent estimates put the hedgehog population in England, Wales and Scotland at about one million, compared with 30 million in the 1950s.

Ms Bonney said the triangular warning signs would "definitely make a difference".

"I absolutely fundamentally believe these signs could save hedgehogs' lives," she said.

"They're quite unusual and [drivers will] see these signs with the hedgehog and go, 'Right I need to be alert and slow down'."

She is also campaigning for the city council to "take responsibility" for official signage along Egerton Road before the spiny animals "become extinct".

A spokesman for the authority, said: "Where there's a particular issue of risk to small animals we can look at the signage options."

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