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PROVIDE A HOME FOR HEDGEHOGS
Hedgehogs are an increasingly rare sight in our gardens, with their sharp decline in numbers due to myriad factors, including loss of habitat and food. They are now so rare, in fact – with their numbers believed to be at fewer than 500,000 – they are classed as vulnerable to extinction.
Creating a hedgehog home in a quiet corner of your garden, ready for when they are househunting in autumn, will provide a warm, safe place for them to sleep, give birth or hibernate. In return, hedgehogs help in the garden as they eat a wide variety of garden pests, slugs and snails.
It is easy to build your own hedgehog house, with lots of plans available online, or create one by cutting a door and two rectangular air-vents in an old, plastic storage container and fill it with dry leaves.
Place the house near plenty of nesting material, such as leaves, straw, hay, grasses and twigs, as the hedgehog will want to build their own nest. Don’t clear or cut back the plants around the house, either, as you need them to feel as protected as possible.
To help them further, put out a little food for hedgehogs – such as cat food (not fish-based) – in an open area, not by their house. Hedgehogs are mostly nocturnal, so put out the food in the evening.
You need to clean out the hedgehog house once a year, towards the middle to end of spring, to prevent pests taking advantage of the cosy box. However, make sure that you don’t still have a hedgehog inside before you start clearing it out.