Sustainability @ Home - Hedgehog Awareness Week

Hedgehog Awareness Week runs from Sundy 3 –9 Saturday May and hedgehoggy activities are happening in homes and gardens all around the country!

The annual week is organised by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) and aims to highlight the problems hedgehogs face and how you can help them.

Despite being voted the nation’s favourite mammal, the hedgehog is suffering from a dramatic population decline. Since the year 2000, urban hedgehog numbers are down by 30% and rural hedgehogs down by 50%.

This year the charity is asking the public to get involved by making any outdoor space you have more hedgehog-friendly.

 

Start by linking your garden to the neighbourhood

The first step is ensuring that hedgehogs can access our gardens. Hedgehogs roam between 1-2km each night during their active season, therefore no single garden is large enough. Make your garden hedgehog friendly with CD case-sized holes (13 x 13 cm) or ‘Hedgehog Highways’ at the base of fences and walls. This will let hedgehogs through but be too small for most pets.

 

More ways to be hedgehog friendly

 There are many simple things we can all do to help hedgehogs:

• Create wild areas in your garden
• Move bonfires to a new site before burning
• Check areas carefully before mowing or strimming
• Ensure netting is kept at a safe height when not in use
• Check compost heaps before digging the fork in
• Stop or reduce the amount of pesticides and poisons used
• Cover drains or deep holes
• Ensure there is an easy route out of ponds and pools
• Become a Hedgehog Champion by registering on Hedgehog Street

 

Why not include all the family and try some of these activities with the kids:

• Build a log pile to offer natural shelter and food for hedgehogs. Did you know that we have 2 of these ‘Insect Hotels’ on campus along the canal?
• Create a Hedgehog Café, offering meaty pet food and a shallow dish of water for your hog friends. Check out the RSBP’s step by step guide.
• Get the older ones involved to build a Hedgehog Home. View the Wildlife Trusts Instruction.
• Get creative and make a sign declaring your garden a Hedgehog Friendly Space, or making a name plaque for your hedgehog home or café.

 

 

For more information on helping hedgehogs and Hedgehog Awareness week follow @hudsusainability and visit the BHPS website, or their partner website Hedgehog Street.