5th – 11th May is Hedgehog Awareness week!

Let’s celebrate by making Christleton Hedgehog friendly!

Cllr Buckley provided the following information for residents at our open morning last week.

Very sadly we have lost a 1/3^rd of our hedgehog population since the millennium, as hedgerows have disappeared, and urbanisation has replaced their homes. Fortunately, hedgehogs love gardens, and there are around half a million hectares of garden in the UK! If we make these gardens hedgehog friendly, then they can thrive.

Follow these steps to help our hedgehogs:

Create a log pile in your garden – This will provide a home for insects (natural food) whilst providing shelter for your local hedgehogs. (Do you have any spare logs you can donate for anyone who would like to create a log pile?).
Create a ‘hedgehog highway’ a 13cm x 13cm gap in the bottom of fences to allow hedgehogs to pass through. You can log your ‘hedgehog highway’ as well as hedgehog sightings, on the hedgehog street map. This helps to create records on hedgehog numbers, movements, and the success of highways.
Keep a corner of your garden wild to offer shelter, protection and natural food for hedgehogs and other wildlife.
Avoid using pesticides and slug pellets in your garden. Not only can these harm hedgehogs but also damage their food chain. Use organic methods instead.

Image of a hedgehog drinking from a shallow bowl.

Provide a shallow dish of fresh water for all wildlife, and food such as meaty hedgehog food, meaty cat or dog food or cat biscuits for hedgehogs, especially during long dry spells. DO NOT offer peanuts, oats, sunflower hearts, and dried mealworms as these have limited nutritional value and cause metabolic bone disease.
Make or buy a hedgehog home, this offers a hibernation site that is safer from predators in the winter. It may also be used as a nesting box for a mother and her hoglets in the warmer months. The British Hedgehog Preservation Society can provide a leaflet on building a hedgehog home see www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk. The RSPB also has instructions on how to build a hedgehog house.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/nature-on-your-doorstep/garden-activities/build-a-hedgehog-house/
Check areas thoroughly for hedgehogs and other wildlife before strimming or mowing.
Keep pea netting 22-30cms (9 – 12 inches) (along with football netting) off the ground so that hedgehogs can pass safely under, and plants will grow to the netting.

Image of a hedgehog with a veterinery cone

Dispose of litter responsibly and do a litter pick in your local area. Every year hedgehogs are injured by litter and starve to death by getting trapped in discarded rubbish.
Bonfires offer a tempting home for a hedgehog. Ideally, collected materials should be re-sited just before the fire is to be lit, if this is not possible, the base should be lifted with poles or broom handles (not a fork!) and a torch shone in to look (and listen) for any wildlife or pets in need of rescue before lighting. Once checked, light from one side only to allow an escape route for anything you may have missed.
Create a wildlife pond as Hedgehogs like to go for a swim. However, make sure there are sloped edges/ submerged rocks so that they can climb out, as hedgehogs can become trapped in ponds or pools with sheer sides.
Place ramps in cattle grids to prevent hedgehogs falling in and becoming trapped, a simple ramp placed in the grid will save lives. The surface should be rough to enable the escapee to gain a foothold. Holes in the ground should be covered over or surrounded by a barrier that keeps hedgehogs out.
Take care on the roads, hedgehogs are nocturnal so are out at night.
Write to local organisations and councils to ask what they are doing to improve the environment for hedgehogs.
Report any injured or sick hedgehog to local wildlife charities, do not attempt to nurse and release them unless you are an experienced wildlife rehabber.
Become a hedgehog champion through hedgehog street.
Record your sightings on the big hedgehog map:
https://bighedgehogmap.org