How to help hedgehogs from your garden
Wild hedgehogs are now in decline in some countries, so it’s a privilege to have one visiting your garden.
How you can help a hedgehog visiting your garden:
– Hedgehogs need a route in and out of your garden so that they can find food throughout the night. So, if you have a fence or wall then there should be a gap of about 12cm for the hedgehog to squeeze through.
– Dedicate a corner of your garden to hedgehogs. Leave it wild with piles of leaves, dry wood, branches, logs. These are an attractive nest as well as a home for the invertebrates that hedgehogs like to eat. Wild garden areas give hedgehogs the chance to find shelter, bring up young and hibernate.
– Provide them water and food: hedgehogs get hungry and can travel 1-2 km each night in search of food. Milk and bread can make hedgehogs sick, so stick to a dish of fresh water, meat-based cat/dog food (but no fish),chopped unsalted peanuts, sunflower hearts, hedgehog food found in garden centres and pet shops.
If there are hedgehogs around they will come to know where there is a reliable source of food. If you want to keep them around make sure you do this every day; you could supply a feeding station and maybe a house as well. If you’re lucky one may stay.
Thank you for watching!
