By Adrian Williams on behalf of SLH
When did you last see a hedgehog? They live across the Heatons but they need your help!
Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) are listed on the ICUN Red List as Near Threatened in the latest assessment. The number of mature adults is in decline as well there being a reduction in suitable habitat in the UK and across Europe.
Here is what I have done to help them in our 22m (75ft) x 8m (25ft) garden:
Firstly, I made our garden accessible. Hedgehogs need a hole at least 15cm (6in) x 15cm (6in) in fences and gates to move from garden to garden. Often called the “hedgehog highway”, these holes allow hedgehogs to roam. As a male can traverse over 2km a night so access into and out of your garden is vital.
Secondly, I only cut our lawn a few times a year (30% of the garden) and then never very short. The bottom 3 to 4m of the garden has also been left to go wild and I put piles of twigs and fallen leaves there and under every hedge and shrub. The wildness encourages worms, beetles, earwigs and other invertebrates that hedgehogs eat.
Hedgehogs hibernate in the coldest months, making nests under leaves in quiet undisturbed corners. You can help by making a hibernation house made from old bricks and paving slabs. The Natural History Museum has produced an excellent guide here.
Here’s Pickle, one of our regulars, in front of our hibernation house based on the Natural History Museum design. We leave lots of leaves around as bedding. Hedgehogs get marks and mud on their prickles. When you see them regularly you can use these marks for identification purposes.
Another thing you can do is provide supplemental feeding and fresh water – water is important and its availability was vital during this last hot summer. I’ve also bought a feeding house. It has two entrances/exits to always provide an escape route in case two hedgehogs meet in the house and start fighting. It also keeps out cats and foxes. Food can be bought at pet stores and in some supermarkets.
Here’s Bernard, another regular, heading out after visiting the feeding house at the bottom of our garden.
Those of us with gardens can do a lot to help hedgehogs. They are under threat and every little bit of space we can give them helps. Lancashire Wildlife Trust would love to hear about any sightings in their annual survey across Greater Manchester and Lancashire. You can report sightings here.
For more information, visit https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/
* Do not encourage hedgehogs if you already have badgers visiting your garden. Badgers and hedgehogs can fight and the hogs come off worse. *