Page 45 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #04

5 HEDGEHOGS
6

Crossing roads
while roaming their
territory can be fatal
for hedgehogs.

7
IS YOUR NECK
OF THE WOODS
HEDGEHOG
FRIENDLY?

Your neighbourhood could be a hedgehog paradise. Here are some
ways you can help create a safe haven for Britain’s favourite mammal.
8 HELP WITH NESTING PLACES MAKE THROUGH ROUTES
1 A purpose-built hedgehog house 6Cut 13cm x 13cm holes in your
in a quiet spot will give your garden fences at ground level. Hedgehogs
guests a luxurious nest site. need to be able to roam for food.

CREATE EASY ACCESS GIVE NATURAL SHELTER
2Ponds supply insect prey and 7 A wood pile provides abundant
drinking water. The best design has insect food together with a sheltered
a sloping gravel ‘beach’ for the hogs. spot to start a family.

ESTABLISH A WILD AREA AID THE GREAT ESCAPE
3A tussocky patch is a perfect 8Make small tunnels underneath
daytime nesting area.Sow part of your fence panels to give hedgehogs
lawn with native grass and wildflowers. access to neighbouring gardens.

PROVIDE LEAFY BEDDING OFFER A MEAL
10 4Piles of dead leaves left after 9Supplement natural foods with
autumn can be used for nesting. meat-based cat or dog food, crushed
unsalted peanuts and mealworms.
CULTIVATE A COMPOST HEAP
5Decaying garden waste supports PREVENT DROWNING
nutritious creepy crawlies. Choose 10If a neighbour’s pond has
an accessible spot for your compost steep paving sides, suggest they add
mound and don’t cover it up. plants or a ramp so hogs can escape.

the species – hedgehogs can anddowalk considerable Simply dab patches of paint onto the spines in a
distances. So they need a connectedlandscape. pattern to create an easy-to-follow code.
Hedgehog Street launched in 2011 and now has Suddenly you have the beginnings of true citizen
nearly 50,000 households signed up as hedgehog science, and achance to work out how many
champions – making little holes in garden fences. hedgehogs there are locally. With some clever
On my January visit I’m surprised to find that statistics, it might also be possible to come up with
Jackie and David are not already signed-up members an estimate of the wider area’s population. I love the
of Hedgehog Street. But it’s comforting too – here are idea of identifying beacons of hope, like the garden of
two ordinary people who simply care about wildlife and Put out water Jackie and David. We’ve had to absorb such bad news
have used their own understanding to help the hedgehogs for hedgehogs, about hedgehogs over the last decade or so that
Illustrat on by Rachel Hudson Illustrat on leaflets to neighbours and arrange a small local meeting. + FIND OUT MORE (2017) and APricklyAffair: My Life
especially during
something positive is worth grabbing on to, because
that come visiting. The opportunity to join in with all the
hot weather.
other hedgehog champions is irresistible and intoxicating.
it reminds us that all is not lost.
As a first step, champions like the Sages might circulate
HUGH WARWICK is
a naturalist and writer.His
Making sure that hedgehogs can access as many gardens as
O Hedgehog Awareness Week is 6–12 May:
www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk
books include Linescapes
possible is the next step – 13cm-square holes in fences work
O For tips on helping the species and to report
fine. Then one might look at ways of marking hedgehogs,
so that you can see how far they roam around your estate.
April 2018 sightings, visit www.hedgehogstreet.org with Hedgehogs (2008). 45
BBC Wildlife