How Can I Help Hedgehogs?... By creating a Hedgehog Friendly Garden :-)
How Can I Help Hedgehogs? 10 things to help Hedgehogs in your garden!
Create an access hole!
A Hedgehog friendly garden needs access! One of the best things you can do for the local Hedgehog population is allow them into your garden. A 13cm x 13cm hole creating a Hedgehog Highway is all a Hedgehog needs to get in and out. Encourage neighbours to do the same and hopefully they will ask 'how can I help hedgehogs?' too. Why not frame your Hedgehog Highway with one of our Hedgehog Highway Surrounds!
Create a wild area!
One of the main reasons for the decline in the Hedgehog population is believed to be a loss of habitat. A Hedgehog friendly garden requires plants, weeds and wildflowers! Let them go mad in one or more areas of your garden! Plant some hedges and create log piles to encourage bugs for the hedgehogs to eat and a place for the hedgehogs to sleep. Compost heaps are great too! You could put a Hedgehogs R Us Hedgehog House in the wildlife area too for even more protection.
Make your pond safe!
Keep your garden rubbish and netting free!
If you are lucky enough to have a pond in your Hedgehog friendly garden, make sure that Hedgehogs can escape if they fall in. They can swim but only for a short amount of time. Build up one side of the pond with stones so there is a shallow end for them to climb out or why not build a ramp?
Keep your garden rubbish and netting free!
Keep your garden rubbish and netting free!
Due to all of their spines, hedgehogs are prone to getting tangled. If someone asks you 'How can I help Hedgehogs?, tell them to make sure all waste is disposed of correctly to prevent Hedgehogs getting stuck. Where possible, replace netting with a rigid structure. Sports and garden netting should be tied up or put away when not in use. If this is not possible, check it each morning to ensure nothing got stuck in the night. A Hedgehog friendly garden should have no rubbish or netting. If you find a tangled hedgehog, take it straight to your local rescue.
Put out food and water!
A Hedgehog friendly garden should generate a lot bugs for Hedgehogs to eat, but they still really benefit from extra food on top of their natural diet. Offer meaty cat/dog food and/or kitten biscuits every evening. Ensure hedgehogs always have access to a shallow dish of water.
Take a look in the shop at Hedgehog Dishes and Hedgehog Feeding Stations.
Stop using chemicals!
Lawn treatments, pesticides, insecticides and slug pellets all prevent you from having a Hedgehog friendly garden. Poisons and chemicals are toxic to Hedgehogs and can be fatal. In addition to this, the treatments reduce the numbers of creepy crawlies that are available for Hedgehogs to eat.
Check before strimming!
Be careful with bonfires!
Hedgehogs will not run away from the sound of a strimmer. Check ALL areas before strimming and move hedgehogs to a safe place (wearing gloves). Moving a family is more complicated and you should contact your local rescue for advice and support.
Be careful with bonfires!
Be careful with bonfires!
If you are planning on burning piles of debris, ensure that you move the pile to another area on the day you wish to set it alight to ensure there are no Hedgehogs hiding underneath.
Buy a decent Hedgehog house!
Buy a decent Hedgehog house!
If you are handy, you can google plans to build your own Hedgehog house. or even better, you can buy them from the Hedgehogs R Us Shop!
Hedgehogs R Us Hedgehog Houses meet all recommended standards for a Hedgehog friendly garden and are weather proof too :-)