One of our most familiar garden mammals, the hedgehog is a welcome visitor for many gardeners as they feed on invertebrates such as slugs, snails and caterpillars. Unfortunately, their numbers are in decline due to their changing and fragmenting habitats. Luckily there are many things you can do to attract hedgehogs to your garden and make sure they're kept safe.
We asked landscape designer Mark Lane, a familiar face from BBC Gardeners’ World and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, his expert advice on how to encourage hedgehogs to your garden.
Create a hedgehog highway
Hedgehogs love to roam. In fact, every night they can travel up to 2km (up to 3km for males during breeding season). It’s therefore important to make space for hedgehogs in our gardens. You need to think of your garden as a corridor or highway for hedgehogs. If you have fencing around your garden, then ensure you have a hole cut in the bottom fencing board. This should be 13-15cm in width and height.
Keep an area of your garden a little untidy
When it comes to your garden, less manicured areas are great for hedgehogs - long grass and dense vegetation provide places to hide and nest in. Become an organic gardener, avoiding pesticides and insecticides, which can be harmful to wildlife and hedgehogs.
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Toxic plants to avoid using in your garden
- Flowering bulbs, such as autumn crocus, cyclamen, tulip and daffodil
- Azaleas and rhododendrons
- Yew
- Compositae plants such as daisies and chrysanthemums
- Common ivy
- Also avoid the better known toxic plants such as foxglove, delphinium, tomato and wisteria
Feeding hedgehogs
Hedgehogs are quite greedy. Every night, they like to fill their stomachs twice. One of the benefits of attracting hedgehogs into your garden is that they love eating slugs, snails, and bugs, which many gardeners really hate. You can also supplement their natural sources, during the summer months, with a little wet dog or cat foods or dry cat biscuits. Never leave out bread or milk.
It’s also important to provide water, especially during hot summers. Water bowls are great, but if you have a pond or small brook then provide a gentle slope or beach made from pebbles, so that hedgehogs can easily get to the water and leave without ending up in the pond.
- Small garden pond ideas to create a haven for wildlife
- Best bird baths to attract wildlife to your garden
If you discover a hedgehog nest
When it comes to clearing up your garden of fallen branches, leaves or debris, always make sure you have never disturbed a hog nest. If you have, cover it back up again. Also, if you plan to have a bonfire, always check the pile of material to be burnt before you light the match, as hedgehogs do like to hide and nest in bonfire material. If you do find one, put on a pair of gardening gloves, gently lift the hedgehog and its surrounding nesting material into a high-sided cardboard box with plenty of shredded paper or newspaper. Relocate the hog away from the bonfire to a safe and suitable location.
Finally, never disturb a natural hedgehog nest if you come across one. Leave them alone. You can provide shelter with a hedgehog box - the RSPB have a range of hog houses. Never place it in direct sunlight and face the entrance away from prevailing winds. Thick vegetation is the perfect spot for the box, deep underneath thick shrubs or under a dense hedge.
Then you’ll need a little patience - just as it takes time for birds to find new bird feeding stations, it might take time for hedgehogs to find your hog house. But with these tips in place, one day you might just end up with your 'own' hedgehog nesting in your outdoor space!
Mark Lane is also the gardening expert for Stannah.