Hedgehogs are declining in the UK and need our help.
According to The State of Britain's Hedgehogs report, a third of urban hedgehogs have been lost since the millennium.
We are on a mission to protect our spiky friends and we hope you’ll get involved too.
How you can help
Hedgehog Officer Grace Johnson from Hedgehog Street shares her top tips for a hedgehog-friendly garden.
- Link gardens with Hedgehog Highways
- Make ponds safe with a ramp
- Safely deal with netting and litter
- Stop using chemicals
- Put out food (meaty cat or dog food is best!) and water, in a feeding station if possible (see opposite)
- Check before strimming or mowing
- Make a home for hedgehogs (see opposite)
- Become a Hedgehog Champion
Once you have helped in your garden, you can register as a Hedgehog Champion and take it to the next level. By joining the existing 90,000 Hedgehog Champions, you can become an ambassador for hedgehogs in your community, and get your friends and neighbours involved too. 2021 is Hedgehog Street’s 10th birthday, so why not add to the celebrations and help them get to 100,000 Hedgehog Champions in their birthday year? Visit hedgehogstreet.org for more information.
Give a hog a home
The best way to provide a nesting option for hedgehogs is by creating a natural feature, such as a compost heap or log pile, as this has the added benefit of encouraging insects for them to eat too.
If you leave a messy patch in a quiet undisturbed area of your garden, then hedgehogs might make their own nest there either to hibernate in or to rear their young. But if you want to improve your chances of having a resident hedgehog you could either buy or make them a home. Homemade houses tend to be more popular with our prickly visitors and are fun to make.
How to make a hedgehog feeding station
Hedgehogs get most of their food from insects and worms in the wild, but will thank you for a little extra, especially when it is cold or dry and creepy crawlies are harder to find.
To avoid the food, you put out being eaten by pets or foxes, try making a simple feeding station that is difficult for anything larger than a hedgehog to access. You could connect a piece of piping to a lidded box or build a shelter out of bricks and paving stones.
Placing a shallow dish of water at the entrance, and/or a ‘brick maze’ inside a feeding station should also prevent cats getting to the food.
How to make a DIY hedgehog house
Hedgehogs seem to love home-made houses made from untreated wood (ideally durable UK softwood species like Larch, Douglas Fir and Red Cedar). Don’t nail the roof down (so that you can clean inside when it’s not being used) and avoid using paint. When siting the box choose a shady, quiet area of your garden. Tunnels help stop predators or cats getting into the house and can be made of wood or bricks. If the box lacks a tunnel entrance, try to include a dividing wall to prevent predators such as badgers or foxes from getting to the hedgehog with their paws.
Tip: It’s best to clean the house in March/early April when hedgehogs have finished hibernating and left. But make sure it’s before the breeding season (between April and September) as disturbing a mother can cause her to abandon her hoglets.
How we’re helping
One of the greatest challenges facing hedgehogs is a lack of connected habitat. They need to travel around one mile each night to find enough food and a mate but secure fences and garden walls are often standing in their way.
So, to make life a little easier for them, we’ve pledged to create Hedgehog Highways!
By creating a little space in all fences we erect, hedgehogs can wander more freely. We’re proud to be the first landlord in the area committed to building Hedgehog Highways in fencing we replace in existing properties, as well as those we create in new-builds.
We’re working with Hedgehog Street, a campaign run by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and People’s Trust for Endangered Species, to ensure that Hedgehog Highways become standard in all fencing from April 2021 onwards. That’s £1million-worth of new fencing every year for hedgehogs to add to their nightly routes! Get in touch for more information about our new Hedgehog Highways or check out the Hedgehog Street website www.hedgehogstreet.org for further guidance.
Hedgehogs are declining in the UK and need our help.
According to The State of Britain's Hedgehogs report, a third of urban hedgehogs have been lost since the millennium.
We are on a mission to protect our spiky friends and we hope you’ll get involved too.
How you can help
Hedgehog Officer Grace Johnson from Hedgehog Street shares her top tips for a hedgehog-friendly garden.
Once you have helped in your garden, you can register as a Hedgehog Champion and take it to the next level. By joining the existing 90,000 Hedgehog Champions, you can become an ambassador for hedgehogs in your community, and get your friends and neighbours involved too. 2021 is Hedgehog Street’s 10th birthday, so why not add to the celebrations and help them get to 100,000 Hedgehog Champions in their birthday year? Visit hedgehogstreet.org for more information.
Give a hog a home
The best way to provide a nesting option for hedgehogs is by creating a natural feature, such as a compost heap or log pile, as this has the added benefit of encouraging insects for them to eat too.
If you leave a messy patch in a quiet undisturbed area of your garden, then hedgehogs might make their own nest there either to hibernate in or to rear their young. But if you want to improve your chances of having a resident hedgehog you could either buy or make them a home. Homemade houses tend to be more popular with our prickly visitors and are fun to make.
How to make a hedgehog feeding station
Hedgehogs get most of their food from insects and worms in the wild, but will thank you for a little extra, especially when it is cold or dry and creepy crawlies are harder to find.
To avoid the food, you put out being eaten by pets or foxes, try making a simple feeding station that is difficult for anything larger than a hedgehog to access. You could connect a piece of piping to a lidded box or build a shelter out of bricks and paving stones.
Placing a shallow dish of water at the entrance, and/or a ‘brick maze’ inside a feeding station should also prevent cats getting to the food.
How to make a DIY hedgehog house
Hedgehogs seem to love home-made houses made from untreated wood (ideally durable UK softwood species like Larch, Douglas Fir and Red Cedar). Don’t nail the roof down (so that you can clean inside when it’s not being used) and avoid using paint. When siting the box choose a shady, quiet area of your garden. Tunnels help stop predators or cats getting into the house and can be made of wood or bricks. If the box lacks a tunnel entrance, try to include a dividing wall to prevent predators such as badgers or foxes from getting to the hedgehog with their paws.
Tip: It’s best to clean the house in March/early April when hedgehogs have finished hibernating and left. But make sure it’s before the breeding season (between April and September) as disturbing a mother can cause her to abandon her hoglets.
How we’re helping
One of the greatest challenges facing hedgehogs is a lack of connected habitat. They need to travel around one mile each night to find enough food and a mate but secure fences and garden walls are often standing in their way.
So, to make life a little easier for them, we’ve pledged to create Hedgehog Highways!
By creating a little space in all fences we erect, hedgehogs can wander more freely. We’re proud to be the first landlord in the area committed to building Hedgehog Highways in fencing we replace in existing properties, as well as those we create in new-builds.
We’re working with Hedgehog Street, a campaign run by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and People’s Trust for Endangered Species, to ensure that Hedgehog Highways become standard in all fencing from April 2021 onwards. That’s £1million-worth of new fencing every year for hedgehogs to add to their nightly routes! Get in touch for more information about our new Hedgehog Highways or check out the Hedgehog Street website www.hedgehogstreet.org for further guidance.
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