Looking after our hedgehogs
Hi, its Jenny from the Wild Bunch here. I would like to talk about hedgehogs and bonfires.
As the nights are drawing in and it is getting colder, our friends the hedgehogs will be looking for safe, dry places to sleep and eventually hibernate.
Hedgehogs traditionally like to build nests in hedges, where there will be a permanent structure of trunks and branches to make a den, however as so many hedges have been lost, cut down and replaced with fences, or nothing, these safe places are fewer and fewer. Hedgehogs need somewhere to sleep and hibernate safely for winter and many will be seeking these places in our gardens and parks.
Before you clear away or tidy around your spaces outside please think about hedgehogs and what they need. Be careful clearing your wild places/gardens especially if you have a pile of logs or twigs etc that you are looking to burn! With 5th November approaching, we need to be aware that bonfires are very dangerous for hedgehogs: these woodpiles are ideal places for them to shelter and call home.
Sadly, many hedgehogs are killed because of unchecked bonfires. Please check any woodpile or potential woodpile before you have a fire. Check the woodpile thoroughly as hedgehogs tend to nestle deep within these piles. To be extra careful and hedgehog aware it’s better that you store wood for a bonfire in a safe place, then on the day you want the fire, build the fire then. Always place the bonfire on open ground, not on a pile of leaves, as hedgehogs may be hiding underneath the leaves. Please check the whole fire before you light it as hedgehogs tend to hide in the base of the centre of the woodpile.
If you do find a hedgehog, put on gloves to protect yourself and move it very slowly, along with any nesting material it may have been sitting on. Place the hedgehog in a cardboard box lined with newspaper, relocate the box to a safe location and release the hedgehog under a bush or pile of logs. It needs to be able to get out of the cardboard box, make sure the sides of the box are not too high for it, if the box is too high, reduce the height of the sides of the box so that when it is in a safe place the hedgehog can get out.
Another way we can help hedgehogs is to make part of our garden, allotment, park etc hedgehog friendly. That means leave a pile of logs and/or leaves, preferably under a tree or near a bush, so they can have safe space to sleep. You could build a hedgehog house and place this in a safe location, undisturbed. Hedgehogs need to be able to roam to look for food. They won’t survive in a confined space as they wander in search of food. Some neighbourhoods make a ‘hedgehog highway’, making space under fences for hedgehogs to be able to move around from one space to another. From one garden to another; from the park to your space. How wonderful to have a hedgehog in your wild space!
This is the time of year we need to be hedgehog aware.
