#wildaboutgardens

ve
Get creati

hedgeh ogs
fo r
umn
this aut
Small steps everyone
can take together to help
save the hedgehog

Find out more information at

wildaboutgardens.org.uk
How well do Did you know...?
you know There are

14 different species
these spiny of hedgehog around the world. The UK’s hedgehog
– the European hedgehog – is found across Western

garden Europe and Scandinavia.

visitors?
2-5years
Particularly On average hedgehogs live for
slippery slugs are
sometimes de-slimed
with deft forepaws

Gillian Day
before eating. in the wild, but some
have lived up to 10!
Home range & distribution
Hedgehogs are found across the UK,

7,000
absent only from some Scottish islands. An adult hedgehog has up to
Gardens, hedgerows, woodlands,
grasslands, parks and cemeteries are
all important hedgehog habitats. Adult
hedgehogs travel between 1-2km per night
Breeding spines and a small,
over home ranges as big as 10-20 hectares hidden tail.
During the breeding season amorous
in size. In suburban areas, this means
they range over entire housing estates
hedgehogs can be seen (and heard!!) Some hedgehogs
circling each other with snorts and grunts.
and neighbourhoods.
Young are usually born from May onwards
are blonde! This colour
in litters of up to five and the young leave mutation is called leucism
On the menu
Hedgehogs are most famous for eating
the nest after around four weeks. Baby Hedgehogs and is thought to be caused
hedgehogs (or hoglets) are born with their by rare recessive genes.
slugs and snails, but they eat a huge range spines sheathed beneath their skin which are in trouble...
of other garden invertebrates too. In fact, then emerge a few hours after birth.
Over the past

50 years
beetles, earthworms and caterpillars make
up most of their diet, whereas large snail
Hibernation we’ve seen declines in
shells can prove tricky for hedgehogs to
While many animals have adapted to two thirds of the UK’s
tackle. If you want hedgehogs, you need
cope with the harsh conditions of winter, plant and animal species,
creepy crawlies in abundance which
hedgehogs are one of only a handful of including many of our once common garden species.
can be attracted by planting a variety of
UK mammals to truly hibernate, along
different plants and creating habitats such Hedgehog numbers have fallen by in just over
with bats and dormice. Depending on the

30 percent 10 years
as log piles.
weather and their body condition, they
enter a state of torpor from October/
November to March/April, lowering their

1 million
Hedgehogs must feed body temperature and slowing their and there are now left in
intensively and be in great metabolism to save energy. Hedgehogs thought to be fewer than the UK.
condition before hibernating must feed intensively and be in great
condition before hibernating if they are to
have enough reserves to last the winter. They are
disappearing from our countryside
as fast as tigers are worldwide.
02 wildaboutgardens.org.uk wildaboutgardens.org.uk 03
How To Help: Living in an urban area needn’t mean
that you can’t help the ‘hog. Here are some

Welcoming top tips for getting involved:

Post some invitations around your local neighbours to

the hedgehog make them aware of what they can do to help. You could
even throw a hedgehog-themed party to break the ice.

If you live in a flat, try and influence the management

To save the hedgehog we need people to work together with neighbours of local greenspace by attending management meetings
to make small changes that will make a big difference. This is crucial or joining the ‘friends of’ group.

r
because no garden or green space can help hedgehogs in isolation, but

Coope
If you do have ‘hogs in your garden, you could set up
when they are linked together hedgehogs can thrive in any location.

David
a feeding station by cutting a hole in a plastic storage
box and weighing down the lid with bricks: this will stop
Create hedgehog highways Grow a wide variety of plants Check out the website: cats and foxes taking the food.
Hedgehogs need to be able to roam far and Attract plenty of natural hedgehog food
wide in search of food, mates and nesting by keeping your garden diverse with a hedgehogstreet.org If you are worried about rats, don’t put out grain-
sites. Get together with your neighbours wide variety of habitats e.g. ponds, log You can map any based foods on the floor. Take in any excess food when
to cut a 13cm x 13cm hole (5in) hole in your piles, hedges, and a wide range of plant hedgehogs you may your hedgehogs have been for a visit.
fence or dig a channel beneath garden types. Don’t be afraid to let your grass see, tell us about the
boundaries to connect your gardens. You grow a little wild and leave some leaf litter Keep an eye out for people doing work on their gardens,
hole in your fence or
can then add your hedgehog hole to our – as both are important homes for the or using fencing contractors - this is a prime time to get a
national network at HedgehogStreet.org. hedgehog’s prey. become a Hedgehog
hedgehog hole put in and influence connectivity.
Champion and get
Avoid the use of pesticides Be aware of dangers stuck in right away.
Ditch the slug pellets and avoid the use of Check for hidden hedgehogs before
pesticides. Hedgehogs are natural “pest”
controllers and need a plentiful and varied
lighting bonfires, strimming and mowing
the lawn. Keep plant netting, tennis nets
What do I do if I
supply of invertebrate prey to stay healthy. and household rubbish above ground level
to prevent entanglement.
find an underweight
Make water safe hedgehog?
Hedgehogs are great swimmers but can
sometimes struggle to climb out of steep-
Log and leaf piles, If you’re concerned about underweight
sided ponds and many drown. Provide a wilderness areas and hedgehogs or hedgehogs active in winter, provide
ramp from a plank wrapped in chicken
wire or create shallow areas at the edge so
purpose-built hedgehog tinned cat or dog food and fresh water. The British
Hedgehog Preservation Society can offer advice
they can scramble out. homes make great places and help you find a rescue centre near you:
for hedgehogs to nest
Provide nesting sites
Log and leaf piles, wilderness areas and
purpose-built hedgehog homes make
great places for hedgehogs to nest and
hibernate. Fallen leaves also make the
perfect nesting material, so make sure
you don’t clear all of these away.
w. britishhedgehogs.org.uk
e. info@britishhedgehogs.org.uk
t. 01584 890 801

04 wildaboutgardens.org.uk wildaboutgardens.org.uk 05
 Working
Key
1. Create ‘hedgehog highways’ in your
fences to connect your gardens.

together
2. Provide an escape route out of ponds –
‘hogs are great swimmers but they
struggle to climb out.
3. Create a variety of habitats
e.g. ponds, hedges, log piles and
compost heaps to attract food for
the hedgehog. Take these small steps to welcome
4. Build a hedgehog home – give
them somewhere to hunker
hedgehogs into your neighbourhood.
down for the winter.
5. Let your grass grow wild (or
even a section of it) to encourage
the hedgehog’s prey. Check
carefully before mowing or
strimming areas.
6. Create nesting opportunities
– leave wild areas for ‘hogs to
hibernate.
7. Set up a feeding station
offering hedgehog food or meaty
pet food and water.
8. Tidy up – litter harms wildlife,
and hedgehogs can also become
entangled in garden netting.
9. Keep domestic drains covered,
hedgehogs can fall into them
and get stuck.
10. Check bonfires before
lighting; ideally rebuild them on
the day it is to be lit.
11. Keep your gardens green – 6
paving and decking over gardens
reduces hedgehog habitat. 10
8

11

2 5
9
7
1 3

06 wildaboutgardens.org.uk wildaboutgardens.org.uk 07
08
Make a simple hedgehog house #wildaboutgardens

wildaboutgardens.org.uk
© corinne welch, copyright Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts 2015

Produced in collaboration with Hedgehog Street

wildaboutgardens.org.uk

Make a deluxe hedgehog house #wildaboutgardens

© corinne welch, 2015

wildaboutgardens.org.uk

Produced in collaboration with Hedgehog Street

09

wildaboutgardens.org.uk
Hedgehog Delicacies
Hedgehogs eat a variety of insects, molluscs and other invertebrates, 1.3%
often switching from one food type to the other depending on the time flies &
leatherjackets
of year. How does your garden stack up as a hedgehog buffet?
1.1 %
bird feathers

3.0% 0.6%
earwigs
3.0% others

Tick off the menu items you’ve seen 3.4%

all wasps,
bees & ants
millipedes * spiders & ticks,
0.4%* harvestmen,

27.2%
woodlice, centipedes.

4.7%
slugs

5.3%
& snails
beetles
Earthworm Leatherjacket Earwig Millipede
(cranefly larva) mammals

10.7% ** bird eggs

earth
worms caterpillars

13.0%
Caterpillar Snail Slug Ground beetle

26.0%

Data from Yalden, D.W. (1976) The food of the hedgehog in England. Acta Theriologica 21: 401-424
**study examined animals that were trapped by gamekeepers using eggs as bait, so the proportion of
eggs in a natural diet is likely to be lower.

Image credits for p 10. Leatherjacket - RHS / P. Becker. Millipede - Joy Russell.
Beetle larva Chafer beetle Weevil Butterfly/ Caterpillar - Chris Maguire. Ground beetle - Margaret Holland. Beetle larva - RHS / Andrew Halstead.
Chafer beetle - David Longshaw. Weevil - Margaret Holland. Butterfly - Joyce Maynard.
moth pupa

10 wildaboutgardens.org.uk wildaboutgardens.org.uk 11
 Gardening 4 Wood pile
dall
Tim San

Encourages a rich

For Hedgehogs
feast of earwigs,
centipedes and woodlice!

Encourage a glut of the hedgehog’s favourite food by

creating micro-habitats that are great for invertebrates!
Oliver Kite

Choose plant
1
species that are
attractive to a
range of insects

P.Becke
Have a look at the RHS
Perfect for Pollinators list

r
for suggestions:
rhs.org.uk/perfectforpollinators 5 Allow a patch of
grass to grow long
Will harbour insects including leatherjackets.

Tim Sandal
Dawson
Richard

l
2 3 6
Mulch beds with Fallen leaf pile ‘Build a bug hotel’
garden compost Provides the perfect Stuff it with lots of straw
shelter for ground beetles. and hollow plant stems and
Encourages plenty of
earwigs, centipedes and
earthworms, woodlice and
woodlice will soon make it
beetles as it begins to rot down!
Tom Marshall

their home.

7 Leave hollow
8 plant stems
Create nesting over winter
opportunities The perfect hiding
place for ladybirds!
Leave prunings and leaves in

Tom Mar
a wild corner for hedgehogs
to make nests with. Hogs love
sh
all apple and cherry leaves, and
Richard hawthorn and honeysuckle
Dawson
prunings make good
structural supports.
12 wildaboutgardens.org.uk wildaboutgardens.org.uk 13
14
How to make an animal footprint trap #wildaboutgardens

wildaboutgardens.org.uk
© corinne welch, copyright Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts 2015

Produced in collaboration with Hedgehog Street

.wildaboutgardens.org.uk

Leave your garden wild #wildaboutgardens

© corinne welch, 2015

wildaboutgardens.org.uk
15

wildaboutgardens.org.uk
About Us
For more information about how you can help wildlife in your garden, including
gardening advice, activity ideas and species guides, visit The Wildlife Trusts and RHS
partnership website wildaboutgardens.org.uk

The Wildlife Trusts The Royal Horticultural Society

The Wildlife Trusts are the UK’s largest people- For more than 210 years the Royal Horticultural
powered organisation caring for all nature Society has been the force behind gardening
– rivers, bogs, meadows forests, seas and much in the UK. We’re driven by a desire to enrich
more. There are Wildlife Trusts covering the everyone’s life through plants, and make the
whole of the UK with a shared mission to restore nation a greener, more beautiful place.
nature everywhere we can and to inspire people
to value and take action for nature. We believe that everyone in every village, town
and city should benefit from growing plants to
Many Wildlife Trusts run projects to specifically enhance lives, build stronger, healthier, happier
address the disappearance of our hedgehogs, communities, and create better places to live.
including raising awareness amongst local
communities, recording sightings, encouraging Our work in education, science and
people to take action at home to help and communities is only possible thanks to the
targeting hedgehog hotspots for conservation generous support of our visitors, members,
effort.Find out more about some of these partners, donors and sponsors.
projects and how you can get involved at With your help we can harness the power
wildlifetrusts.org/hedgehogs of horticulture, one gardener at a time.

The Wildlife Trusts, The Kiln, Mather Road, The Royal Horticultural Society,
Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG24 1WT 80 Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PE
t: 01636 677711 e: info@wildlifetrusts.org t: 0845 260 5000 e: membership@rhs.org.uk
w: wildlifetrusts.org w: rhs.org.uk

@wildlifetrusts /wildlifetrusts

Registered Charity No 207238 Registered Charity No 222879/SC038262

Hedgehog Street
Hedgehog Street is a campaign by People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and the
British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) aimed at ensuring the hedgehog, the UK’s only
spiny mammal, remains a common and familiar part of British life. We know hedgehogs are in
trouble. We’ve lost a third of all our hedgehogs in ten years.
Fortunately, hedgehogs love gardens, and there are around half a million hectares of garden
in the UK. Hedgehogs need access to lots and lots of different gardens to survive, so this
campaign is as much about getting people to cooperate as it is about gardening for wildlife.
Hedgehog Street has over 34,000 volunteer “Hedgehog Champions” right across the UK.
Wherever you live, the green space in your local area can be a vital refuge for hedgehogs.

Hedgehog Street, 3 Cloisters House, 8 Battersea Park Road, London, SW8 4BG
t: 020 7498 4533 e: hedgehog@ptes.org
w: hedgehogstreet.org

Registered Charity No.s PTES 274206 / BHPS 326885

Find out more information at

wildaboutgardens.org.uk