British Wild Animal Of The Month – The Hedgehog – RSPCA South London

One of the most common visitors to our gardens is the hedgehog, but sadly due to a shrinking of its natural habitats and an increase in road traffic their numbers are falling.

Hedgehogs are a gardener’s friend, as they eat beetles, caterpillars, worms and other invertebrates. Did you know as many as 10 different hedgehogs may visit a garden over several nights? This could mean ‘your hedgehog’ is actually a number of different ones visiting at different times!

Here’s what you can do to help encourage hedgehogs into your garden and keep them happy throughout the year.

Make a hedgehog a home

Leave areas of the garden wild, with piles of leaves, logs or compost. These make an attractive nest, as well as a home for the invertebrates that hedgehogs like to eat.

Making an artificial home can be as simple as placing a piece of board against a wall. Or you can buy a purpose-built hedgehog house – find out how to build your own at this link.

Create hedgehog highways

Hedgehogs can travel around a mile every night, so they may need help to get into and out of your garden. Try cutting holes in fences, removing bricks from walls, or digging tunnels under the garden boundary. Hedgehogs can travel through gaps as small as 13x13cm, so these gaps don’t need to be large.

Replacing garden fencing for native hedgerows provides access through your garden for hedgehogs. Hedgerows also provide shelter for other wildlife too. Remember to check with your neighbour before making a highway.

Feeding hedgehogs

You can encourage hedgehogs into your garden by providing food and fresh water.

Tips for leaving out food and water:

Leave out foods like tinned dog or cat food and crushed cat or dog biscuits.
Supply good quality, meaty hedgehog food from wildlife food suppliers.
Never feed hedgehogs milk or bread – milk can cause diarrhoea and bread isn’t very nutritious.
Check the food and water bowls each day to top them up with fresh water and food, and remove any food that hasn’t been eaten.
Always clean the dishes – do this outside (not in the kitchen) every day using hot, soapy water and rinse well. This will help to reduce the risks of spreading disease between different hedgehogs that might eat from the same dish.

Hedgehog-friendly gardening tips

Here’s what you can do to keep your garden hedgehogs safe.

Cover holes: hedgehogs can easily fall into uncovered drains or holes in your garden. Cover holes or check them every day to make sure no hedgehogs have become trapped.
Provide an exit route from ponds and pools. Use bricks or stones at the side of the pond. Create a sloped edge on part of the pond to help hedgehogs to climb out if they fall in. Cover swimming pools overnight and when they’re not in use.
Check for hedgehogs before using strimmers or mowers – particularly under hedges, where they might be resting during the day. If you’re forking over a compost heap, check them for any nesting hogs first.
Always thoroughly disturb bonfires immediately before you light them, as there could be hedgehogs nesting or hiding inside. Moving the whole bonfire by hand before setting it alight is the best way of ensuring that hedgehogs and other wildlife aren’t sleeping in there.
Avoid slug pellets and pesticides – these can poison hedgehogs and should only be used as a last resort. Instead, try using one of many natural alternatives, like sprinkling crushed eggshells or coffee grounds around the plants you need to protect. If you have to use pellets, place them under a slate that’s inaccessible to hedgehogs. The outdoor use of slug pellets containing metaldehyde was banned in Great Britain from March 2022.
Raise any netting: if you have any netting or wire in your garden, make sure it’s at least a foot above ground level, as hedgehogs can easily become tangled up in it. Pack away or roll up fruit nets, tennis and goal nets when they’re not in use. Replace any netting in your garden with solid metal mesh, as it’s less likely to entangle hedgehogs.