Why Hedgehogs Need Our Help

Hedgehogs are one of Britain's best-loved garden visitors, but their numbers have fallen sharply over recent decades. The reasons are many — loss of hedgerows, more intensive farming, busier roads — but one thing is clear: suburban gardens have become genuinely important. A well-connected patchwork of back gardens can offer food, water, shelter and safe passage for a hedgehog moving through the neighbourhood after dark. If you have a garden, however small, you are already part of that network.

The good news is that hedgehogs are not fussy. They do not need a manicured lawn or a designer border. They need water, a bit of cover, somewhere to nest, and the ability to get in and out. The rest follows naturally.

Build a Hedgehog Highway Through Your Fence

The single most useful thing you can do is leave a gap. Hedgehogs can travel a mile or more in a night, but a solid fence stops them dead. A gap roughly 13cm square — the size of a CD case — is enough for a hedgehog but too small for most pets. Cut one at the base of a panel, or lift a gravel board and prop it slightly.

• Speak to neighbours on both sides and line up gaps so a route connects several gardens.
• If a fence must stay solid, a tunnel under a gravel board works well.
• Better still, plant a native hedge — hawthorn, blackthorn or beech — with a gap at the base.
• Check gaps stay clear of debris, and avoid blocking them with plant pots over winter.

You will know it is working when you find droppings the size of a small bean on the lawn, or hear snuffling in the border at dusk.

Water, Food and What to Leave Out

Hedgehogs need water far more than most people realise, especially in hot, dry spells. A shallow dish — a plant saucer sunk slightly into the soil so it does not tip — is ideal. Refresh it daily, and keep it out of reach of the lawnmower. Do not use a steep-sided bowl, as small hoglets can drown.

Supplementary food helps, particularly in autumn when they are building fat reserves. Put out:

• Cat or dog food in jelly, not gravy.
• A specific hedgehog food if you prefer, widely available from garden centres.
• Fresh water at all times.

Never leave out milk or bread — hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and bread fills them up without nourishing them. And please, put the slug pellets away. Metaldehyde and similar pellets are lethal to hedgehogs, either eaten directly or through poisoned slugs. A hedgehog eats dozens of slugs a night, so your garden will be better served by letting it do the work.

Make Space for Shelter and Nesting

A tidy garden is a poor hedgehog garden. Leave a corner undisturbed — a log pile, a heap of leaves, a wild patch behind the shed. These are the places hedgehogs choose for day nests and hibernation, and they need quiet above all else.

• A hedgehog house should sit in a shaded, quiet spot with the entrance facing away from prevailing wind.
• Compost heaps are popular nesting sites — take care when turning them.
• Leave leaf litter in borders through winter rather than clearing it all.
• Piles of prunings and logs offer instant cover in a small garden.

Even a modest suburban plot can hold two or three nest sites if you resist the urge to tidy every corner.

Avoid the Common Garden Hazards

Hedgehogs are creatures of habit, and many garden accidents are avoidable with a little forethought.

• Strimmers and mowers: check long grass before you cut, and cut from the centre outwards.
• Bonfires: move the pile on the day, or check it thoroughly before lighting.
• Netting: keep it 30cm or more above the ground, or peg it down firmly.
• Ponds: add a gently sloping ramp or a shallow beach so a hedgehog can climb out.
• Drains and holes: cover open gullies or fit a grid.

If you see a hedgehog out in daylight, especially in winter, something is usually wrong. Contact a local wildlife rescue for advice rather than trying to feed it yourself.

A Garden That Works After Dark

You do not need to sacrifice beauty for wildlife. Plant for evening scent and cover — honeysuckle, night-scented stock, jasmine, foxgloves, lavender, and native shrubs such as hawthorn and hazel. Allow a few seedheads to stand through winter for insects, and let clover and dandelions grow in a patch of lawn.

Season by season, the rewards come. A rustle in the border on a June evening. A snuffle in the leaf litter in September. A hedgehog drinking from a shallow saucer under a warm September moon. Small changes, made deliberately, add up to something considerable — a garden that works for you by day and for them by night.