How to help hedgehogs in your garden

Please try not to use use SLUG PELLET S. The toxins can build up in the slugs and consequently affect hedgehogs too. If you must use them please only do so sparingly and collect and bin the dead slugs and snails before hedgehogs have a chance to eat them.

Another potential hazard to hedgehogs in your garden is FRUIT AN D PEA NETTIN G. If it’s in use please peg it down tightly to avoid large slack coils in which a hedgehog can become completely entangled. Otherwise please store it safely away. The same applies to tennis nets.

BONFIRES and COMPOST HEAP S are very appealing to hedgehogs wanting to create nests. Please do not use garden forks to turn composts without checking very carefully that there are no hedgehogs inside either. It is best to move a bonfire before lighting it to ensure that there are no visitors hiding at the bottom.
Many people like tidy gardens but hedgehogs really appreciate a MESSY AREA . This may also provide an alternative nesting site to a bonfire or compost heap. Leave hedge bottoms uncut and unraked. Keep piles of fallen leaves behind the shed. Hedgehogs often vanish from gardens at the onset of winter when people tidy everything up leaving nowhere suitable for the hedgehogs to hibernate.

PONDS are important in that they provide water for all kinds of wildlife - especially in hot summers. Hedgehogs can swim but many drown because they cannot get out of steep-sided ponds and swimming pools, or those made with plastic pond-liners. Please provide an access out such as a pile of stones, a plank or (best of all) strips of chicken wire dangling over the edge.

FENCES and WALLS, especially brand new ones, can prevent hedgehogs using your garden. Create small holes at the bottom, or remove a couple of bricks, to ensure wildlife can include your garden in their territory. If a fence falls over a hedgehog may be tempted to nest underneath it.

Please take care when using STRIMMER S. The type of area where you are most likely to use one is exactly where hedgehogs like to lie up throughout the summer. If you must use one please cut the rough grass to a foot off the ground and then check the area for any creatures before cutting down to ground level.

Although people have traditionally put BREAD & MILK out to encourage hedgehogs this can cause diarrhoea. The best alternative is to put out dog or cat food.

Great post and water instead of milk as hedgehogs are lactose intolerant