Why Hedgehogs Need Our Help

There is something quietly wonderful about a hedgehog shuffling across the lawn at dusk. For many of us, that first glimpse of a prickly visitor snuffling about the borders is a highlight of the gardening year. Sadly, those glimpses are becoming rarer. Hedgehog numbers in Britain have fallen sharply over recent decades, and while the causes are many — loss of habitat, busy roads, intensive farming — the good news is that ordinary gardeners can make a genuine difference.

You do not need acres of countryside or a rewilded meadow to help. Even a modest town garden, a courtyard or a strip of grass behind a terrace can become a lifeline for these animals. Hedgehogs roam surprisingly far in a single night, often a mile or more, and they need a network of safe, connected gardens to feed, shelter and raise their young. Think of your plot as one link in a chain — and the stronger you make your link, the better the whole chain works.

Leave a Wild Corner

The single kindest thing you can do for hedgehogs is to loosen your grip on tidiness. A perfectly manicured garden offers little in the way of food or shelter. A slightly scruffy corner, on the other hand, is a five-star hedgehog hotel.

Choose a quiet spot — behind a shed, under a hedge, along a north-facing fence — and simply leave it alone. Pile up fallen leaves, twigs and logs. Let a patch of grass grow long. Resist the urge to cut everything back in autumn, because hedgehogs may already be hibernating in that leaf litter, and waking one mid-winter can be fatal.

• Leaf piles make ideal nesting material and hibernation sites — leave at least one undisturbed from October to April.
• Log piles attract beetles, slugs and other invertebrates, which are natural hedgehog food.
• Long grass provides cover while they forage, and a safe route between feeding spots.
• A compost heap is a favourite daytime resting place — always check before turning it.

If you want to give them a helping hand, a purpose-built hedgehog house placed in a sheltered, dry spot and covered with leaves is well worth the modest outlay.

Create a Hedgehog Highway

A hedgehog cannot climb a fence or squeeze under a solid gate, and a garden sealed on all sides is effectively a prison. The simplest fix is a hedgehog highway: a small gap, roughly 13cm square (about the size of a CD case), cut into the base of a fence panel or dug beneath a gate.

Talk to your neighbours before you start. If several gardens on your street leave matching gaps, you create a continuous route that lets hedgehogs travel safely without ever stepping onto the road. In many areas, local wildlife groups promote exactly this kind of scheme, and it costs nothing but a little DIY.

A few practical points:

• Avoid gaps that lead directly onto a road — angle your highway towards neighbouring gardens instead.
• Keep the gap clear of gravel boards and concrete footings.
• If you have a pond, always provide a gentle ramp or a sloping edge so hedgehogs can climb out. They swim well but drown when exhausted.
• Check any netting, fruit cages or pea netting — hedgehogs commonly become tangled.

Feed Them Wisely

Hedgehogs are insectivores by nature, and a healthy garden full of beetles, caterpillars, earwigs and earthworms will feed them well. But in dry summers and late autumn, when natural food is scarce, a little supplementary feeding can make all the difference — especially for youngsters trying to build up fat reserves before hibernation.

What to offer:

• Meaty cat food — the pâté or jelly kind, not fish-based or in gravy. A couple of tablespoons per night is plenty.
• Hedgehog biscuits, available from wildlife suppliers, are a convenient dry option.
• Fresh water in a shallow dish — vital, especially in hot weather.

What to avoid: bread and milk, which cause digestive problems; mealworms in quantity, which can lead to bone disease; and anything salty or sugary. Place food under a weighted dish or a purpose-made feeding station to stop cats and foxes pinching it, and never leave more than they can clear in a night, as leftovers attract rats.

Make Your Garden Safe

Hedgehogs are gentle, slow-moving creatures, and many of the hazards they face are entirely avoidable. A few simple precautions will keep your visitors out of trouble.

• Never use slug pellets. The blue ones are lethal to hedgehogs, and even the so-called "safe" ferric phosphate versions can harm them indirectly. Encourage birds, frogs and beetles to control slugs naturally instead.
• Check before strimming. Long grass is a favourite daytime resting spot. Walk the area and look carefully before you cut, and ideally leave the strimmer in the shed until evening, when any hidden animal has moved on.
• Check before forking or mowing compost heaps and leaf piles.
• Cover drains and steep-sided ponds, and put a board over any open water butt.
• Keep bonfires unbuilt until the day you light them — a heap of dry wood is irresistible to a sleepy hedgehog.

Enjoy the Rewards

Attracting hedgehogs is not an instant project. It may take a season or two for word to travel along the highway, and you may never see your visitors directly — they are shy, nocturnal and remarkably good at going unnoticed. But the signs will come: a dropping on the lawn, a rustle in the border at dusk, a nest of leaves that has been quietly rearranged overnight.

Set aside the wild corner, cut the gap in the fence, put out a dish of meaty cat food and a bowl of water, and then simply be patient. A garden that welcomes hedgehogs is a garden that is alive — and there are few better feelings than knowing you have made room for one of Britain's most endearing wild neighbours.