A prickly subject: The precarious life of hedgehogs
A READER commented last week, “I’ve never seen so many hedgehogs Sean,” and then by coincidence, my sister called from North Yorkshire, and explained that she had found five young curled up in a ball of leaves in her garden.
So, have you seen large numbers in your area? If so, conditions must be good for our only spiny mammal. That’s definitely the case for Ingleton where my sister lives, because the chances of five young surviving predators and other hazards in their first year are pretty slim. However, there have been reports of a complete lack of hedgehogs in other parts of the country and even within the region. Hedgehogs are widespread and, in some areas, still common, but their numbers locally can vary a lot. They can be entirely absent in arable areas, but numerous in suburban habitats. Areas in and around towns and villages can be excellent habitats for hedgehogs, and hedgehogs often prefer them over farmland. Hedgehogs are nocturnal and solitary creatures, so counting numbers in the field is difficult. Only two reliable estimates of the population size exist and both acknowledge a lot of uncertainty in the figures.
In 1995, and more recently in 2017, researchers have suggested a figure of about 1.5 million hedgehogs across England, Scotland and Wales collectively. The same reader also expressed concern about this year’s Bonfire Night and they would be very pleased if you remembered these tips for the night, or indeed any time in the autumn when you are considering lighting a fire. The hedgehog is one of several creatures vulnerable at this time of year as it rustles around finding food in the undergrowth to fatten up for winter, collecting material to make their nests nice and cosy. It is the hedgehogs’ tendency to climb into bonfires for refuge that puts them in real danger.
Tips to keep hedgehogs safe on bonfire night:
Build your bonfire as close to November 5 as possible to minimise the chance of a hedgehog moving in.
Don’t leave gardens too tidy. Leave some leaves out for hedgehogs to collect so they can make their homes elsewhere.
When collecting material, pile it in one place but build the bonfire in another.
Don’t forget to check your bonfire before it is lit and move any hedgehogs or other wildlife to a safe dry spot away from the fire.
Site bonfires on open ground to prevent the risk of burning bushes and indigenous trees.
If a bonfire has been sitting in the same spot for days, take the time to move the bonfire to another place before lighting.
The hedgehog is common in parks, gardens and farmland throughout mainland Britain. It has also been introduced to many islands including Orkney, Shetland, Isle of Man and some of the Channel Islands. Hedgehogs prefer woodland edges, hedgerows and suburban habitats where there is plenty of food for them. Intensively farmed arable is a poor habitat, as are moorlands and conifer forests.
They eat beetles, worms, caterpillars, slugs and almost anything they can catch, but little plant material. They will take eggs and chicks of ground-nesting birds though rarely in large numbers and far fewer than foxes or crows.