13, June, 2019
Hedgehogs need our help to ensure their survival now more than ever, as numbers in the UK have dropped from 30 million in the 1950s, to fewer than one million today*. We have put together this handy list of top tips so that you can get to know the ways in which you can do your bit to help save our spiky friends:
Cultivate a wild corner in your garden to make your hedgehog feel at home. Hedgehogs love to hide and wild corners also provide a natural food source.
How to help hedgehogs in your garden
- Avoid using slug pellets and other strong pesticides if possible. These are extremely harmful to hedgehogs.
- Leave a ramp or slope out of your pond so hogs can climb out
- Avoid handling baby hogs unless orphaned, as the mother will abandon them. If you do have to handle a sick or injured hedgehog, ensure you are wearing protective gloves i.e. gardening gloves or thick plastic ones
- Hogs seen in daylight are usually hungry, thirsty or ill. When in doubt, contact your local hedgehog hospital
- Leave food and water out in shallow dishes each evening at dusk
- If you have a fully fenced garden, ensure that you create a ‘hedgehog highway’ by cutting a small hole in the bottom of your fence so that hedgehogs can come and go as they please.
*sourced from gracethehedgehog.co.uk: https://www.gracethehedgehog.co.uk/about-hedgehogs/197-general-facts