The Christmas storms and flooding in Surrey and the South East has done “potentially irreparable damage” to vulnerable wildlife species.

The Surrey-based Wildlife Aid Foundation (WAF) has said that the bad weather over the past week has been terrible for the Surrey locals but has had an even more devastating effect on the local wildlife.

WAF founder and chief executive, Simon Cowell, said: “Birds and small animals have died in huge numbers and have had their habitat destroyed by the storm and floods. For wildlife the storm damage is potentially irreparable.

"Species such as hedgehogs have suffered deadly losses in the past week. "I am not sure how Surrey's hedgehog population will be able to survive in Surrey at all if it is continually battered by atrocious weather conditions in addition to all the other problems these creatures face.”

The number of hedgehogs in surrey and throughout Britain has been on a steep decline and recent damage caused by the floods has made recovery more difficult for the local hedgehog population.

Mr Cowell also stated that the current proposals by local councils in Mole Valley and Guildford to take protected land out of the Green Belt and build on it would lead to a direct loss of countryside and wildlife habitat, in addition to making the flooding an even greater danger in future.

"Concreting over Surrey's precious green spaces reduces natural drainage for water and makes flood risks even worse", he said.