A tough start to 2011 for hedgehogs

hedgehog (credit: Daniel Wehner)

Most people would agree if asked that the hedgehog is probably their favorite garden wildlife creature. Ask a hedgehog and it would probably agree that the local garden is it’s favorite habitat. But with some estimates putting hedgehog numbers down by a third over the last 20 years, the popular hedgehog is in need of some extra help.

Dry Spring makes it harder for hedgehogs to feed.

The very dry start to the spring this year has not helped many hedgehogs. As they wake from their winter hibernation they are in desperate need of food to build up their energy levels and fat levels again. The long winter sleep means that many hedgehogs wake up close to starvation.

If climate change is going to make our Spring a much drier season we need to start thinking about feeding hedgehogs in much the same way as we now feed birds.

Hedgehogs feed predominately on beetles and worms (slugs only make up about 5% of a balanced diet for them). With the current weather many gardens are dry and the ground is too hard for the hedgehogs to root around looking for food. If you know that your garden is visited by hedgehogs or you are fortunate enough to have a hedgehog living in your garden then you could make it’s life a little easier by putting out some dog food or, even better, one of the specialist hedgehog food mixes. Don’t put out milk and bread, it will do the hedgehog no good at all and may even make it ill.

May is the time of year that hedgehogs start to give birth to their babies. They need a lot of food to ensure that they can feed the hoglets or kits – there’s no official title for a baby hedgehogs though hoglet is becoming increasingly popular and replacing the previously used kit or pup. If you have a nest in your garden then put out some dog food or hedgehog food close by. This will mean that the mother can spend less time looking and digging in hard ground for food and more time feeding her hoglets, giving them a better chance of survival. Rains are on the way for many areas of Britain but while the ground is hard and dry the hedgehogs need as much help as possible.

Reversing the decline in hedgehog numbers.

Everyone with a garden can help reverse the decline in hedgehog numbers. Unlike many species that need national government action and help, the hedgehog can be helped by us all. How we look after our gardens can make the biggest difference to reversing the decline of the hedgehog. These prickly creatures really do prefer to live in our gardens. A radio tracking study done in 1997 showed that almost the first thing that hedgehogs released into Lower Moss Wood, Cheshire, did was to head for the local villages to set up home under sheds or in compost heaps.

Making your garden friendly for hedgehogs could help reverse the trend. Hedgehogs need at least 12 average gardens as a territory so you should makes sure there is some way of hedgehogs getting into and out of your garden. Make sure there’s a small gap of a few centimetres in any fences or under gates (hedgehogs are very flexible and can squeeze through gaps that are small enough to keep out any cats or dog).

Encourage a hedgehog into your garden.

To encourage a hedgehog to make a home and overwinter in your garden you need to ensure there’s a suitable nesting site for it. In the past hedgehogs would squeeze under sheds or hide in gaps of rockeries or make home in a compost heap. Today’s gardens are very different to those of a couple of decades ago. They tend to be paved over, have more fences than hedges and any sheds or greenhouses are much more embedded into the ground. If you have a ‘tidy’ garden that doesn’t offer any place for hedgehogs to nest then you can buy one of a number of different hedgehog houses and place it in a sheltered area of your garden preferably under some shrubs or vegetation to offer a bit of camouflage. Wooden houses are better than the plastic housing as they provide warmth in the winter and cooling in the summer. Most wooden hedgehog houses also provide a flap for you to look into the house – but don’t disturb the nest too often. If you do the female can opt to go elsewhere. If she already has hoglets she may decide to take them with her. But be aware that mother hedgehogs are known to kill their babies if the nest is disturbed enough for her to have to move.

Hedgehogs are great little creatures and we can all help bring them back to the numbers of a few years ago to ensure that they remain a vibrant and friendly aspect of our gardens. But we do need to give them a boost. If climate change is going to make our Spring a much drier season we need to start thinking about feeding hedgehogs (and putting out water for them) in much the same way as we now feed birds.