Making your garden a hedgehog haven!

By Published On: July 17, 2017Categories: Garden & Wildlife

Unfortunately, the hedgehog’s native to the UK are in remission due to several issues such as loss of habitat. However you can help by implementing these hedgehog friendly features in your garden.

Creating a hedgehog highway is a great way of ensuring hedgehogs can move from place to place freely and safely. Hedgehogs need to roam to find new nesting sites, coming across potential mates and finding food. It’s easy to implement this, simply get together with your neighbours and create hedgehog size holes in your fence or dig channels underneath fencing.

Providing a nesting site will lead to well rested and happy hedgehogs. Nesting sites are great because they allow hedgehogs to hibernate in a safe place without fear of being disturbed. Creating a nesting site is relatively easy, you must simply pile together fallen leaves and push them into a secluded area within your garden.

Do not use slug pellets. A hedgehog’s diet consists of 100’s of invertebrates that they hoover off the floor. Unfortunately, it is not easy for hedgehogs to distinguish the difference between food and pellet. Also consuming a slug that has been effected by the pellets can be just as bad for a hungry hedgehog.

Growing a variety of plants Is a great way of enticing wild hedgehogs to your garden, the wilder the better. Growing your grass long and leaving leaf litter is a fantastic way of producing prey for hedgehogs.

Covering your drains and gulley’s will stop any curious hedgehog from falling in and getting stuck. Due to a hedgehogs poor eyesight they are suspect to finding themselves in situations where they might need a little help and covering any type of hole will certainly give them a helping hand.