Why Hedgehogs Need a Hand

Few garden visitors lift the spirits quite like a hedgehog. That familiar rustle under the shrubs at dusk, followed by a snuffling tour of the flowerbed, is one of the great pleasures of a British garden — and one that is becoming rarer. Hedgehog numbers have fallen dramatically over the past few decades, and the reasons are mostly about space. Fields have been fragmented, hedgerows grubbed out, and gardens sealed off behind fences and walls. What was once one continuous landscape is now a mosaic of small, disconnected patches.

The good news is that gardens can put some of that back. Hedgehogs need very little from us: a route through, somewhere to shelter, a drink, and a supply of beetles, caterpillars, slugs and earthworms. None of it costs much, and most of it involves doing slightly less rather than more.

Opening Up a Hedgehog Highway

A hedgehog can travel well over a mile in a single night, but it cannot climb a six-foot fence or tunnel under a concrete gravel board. The single most useful thing you can do is cut a gap at the base of your boundary — 13 centimetres square is the accepted standard, roughly the size of a CD case. That is plenty for a hedgehog, too small for most pets, and easy to disguise with a shrub or a clump of ferns on either side.

Talk to your neighbours before you start. A gap in one fence is helpful; a run of gaps down an entire terrace or along a cul-de-sac becomes a genuine corridor, letting hedgehogs move between gardens to find food, mates and safe nesting spots. If a neighbour is reluctant, a small hole in the bottom of a gate or a lifted gravel board can serve the same purpose. Where a wall is solid, a single missing brick near ground level does the job beautifully.

Let a Corner Go Wild

Hedgehogs are foragers, not fussy eaters, and a tidy garden is a poor larder. Leave one corner to grow long, or let a patch of lawn become a mini-meadow through the summer. Long grass shelters beetles and caterpillars; seed heads from teasels, knapweed and wild carrot bring in the insects that hedgehogs hunt. Native planting always outperforms bedding plants for this purpose.

A few simple features will make a wild corner far more useful:

• A log pile in dappled shade — stacked loosely, not cemented together, so there are damp crevices for beetles and a dry space for a nesting hedgehog.
• A leaf pile left undisturbed from October to March, ideally in a quiet corner behind a shed or under a hedge.
• A compost heap with a lid and a small entrance gap, which hedgehogs adore for the warmth and the worms.
• Shallow-edged borders rather than abrupt kerbs, so a hedgehog can walk in and out without tipping over.

Resist the urge to tidy in autumn. Cutting back everything in October removes the cover that hedgehogs rely on to move about safely during their busiest foraging weeks.

Shallow Water Saves Lives

Hedgehogs get thirsty, particularly in hot, dry spells and during the autumn build-up to hibernation. A shallow dish of fresh water at ground level is one of the kindest things you can offer. Use a saucer or a plant tray with a rough stone or two inside, so that if a hedgehog does tumble in, it can climb straight back out.

Never put out milk or bread. Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, and milk causes serious digestive problems. Bread fills them up without giving them any useful nutrition. If you want to supplement their natural diet, a shallow bowl of meat-based dog or cat food — the jelly kind, not the gravy — or a dedicated hedgehog food will do nicely.

Check ponds carefully too. A steep-sided pond with no exit is a drowning trap. A gently sloping bank, a ramp of stones, or a piece of rope tied to a stake and draped into the water will give any animal that falls in a way out.

Boxes, Bonfires and Other Practicalities

If your garden has a quiet, sheltered spot against a wall or under a hedge, a purpose-built hedgehog house is worth considering. Site it with the entrance facing away from prevailing wind, cover the roof with a layer of dry leaves or soil for insulation, and then leave it alone. Hedgehogs are easily disturbed and will abandon a nest if it is checked too often.

Before lighting a bonfire at any time of year, lift the whole pile and rebuild it on clear ground. A heap of dry sticks is an irresistible hibernation site, and this simple check prevents a truly avoidable tragedy. Similarly, strimmers and mowers cause terrible injuries; always walk the long grass before you cut it.

Slug pellets are another serious risk, and the irony is that a hedgehog will happily eat the slugs for you. Choose barrier methods, beer traps or nematodes instead, and avoid any chemical that leaves poisoned slugs lying about.

Watching and Recording

If you are lucky enough to see a hedgehog, note the date and roughly how big it looked. A hoglet out in daylight in late autumn and weighing less than about 600 grams is unlikely to survive hibernation on its own and may need help from a wildlife rescue. Otherwise, the best thing you can do is keep the water topped up, keep the gaps open, and let a little wildness creep back in. Hedgehogs repay that small kindness many times over.