Hedgehog Awareness week runs from the 3rd – 9th May 2020 to raise awareness of these gorgeous creatures which are sadly in decline.   Help to attract hedgehogs into your garden so they continue to survive and thrive in our countryside and urban areas.how to attract hedgehogs into your garden

Rescued Hedgehog by the London Colney Hedgehog Rescue

We know that nature and wildlife has been proven to have a profound effect on our health, well being as well as keeping our ecosystem healthy even more so now than ever.  Hedgehogs are such an iconic and important part of British wildlife but are sadly now in decline due to an increase in traffic, agriculture, the way we are now designing gardens with decking and paving and the reduction of plants, crucial undergrowth and the use of pesticides and poisons. how to attract hedgehogs into your garden

To help protect hedgehogs below are some top tips on how you could help the hedgehogs and encourage them into your garden. Let’s keep hedgehogs happy and thriving in our countryside for now and future generations to come. how to protect and attract hedgehogs into your garden

Top tips to help the hedgehogs

• Create a wild corner in your garden which will offer shelter, protection and food for hedgehogs and other wildlife.
• Avoid using pesticides and slug pellets in your garden. Not only do these harm the hedgehogs but also damage the food chain.
• Provide a shallow dish of fresh water and food such as meat based cat or dog food or chopped unsalted peanuts, especially during long dry spells.
• Make or buy a hedgehog home, it may be used as a hibernation site for the winter months or as a nesting box for a mummy hedgehog and her hoglets in the warmer months.
• Make sure hedgehogs have easy access in and out of your garden by having a 13cm x 13cm gap in your boundary wall or fence allowing hedgehogs to pass through.
• Check for hedgehogs before strimming or mowing.
• Dispose of litter. Every year hedgehogs get injured or trapped in rubbish.
• Check bonfires before they are lit as these are a perfect home for a hedgehog and other wildlife.
• Hedgehogs are good swimmers but can get trapped in ponds or pools with sheer sides. Keep water levels up and provide a gently sloping edge or place half submerged rocks in the water.
• Take care on roads, hedgehogs are nocturnal so are often seen at night. A hedgehogs natural defence is to roll up into a ball – this is no match for a motor vehicle!

With busy lives and technology taking over it is easy to forget the beauty of the outside world and appreciate the importance of nature is for us and for future generations to enjoy, protect and cherish. how to attract hedgehogs inhow to protect and attract hedgehogs into your gardento your garden

For more information on hedgehogs head over to The British Hedgehog Preservation Society

Help support The London Colney Hedgehog Rescue

Esther Chant – founder of the London Colney Hedgehog Rescue

The London Colney Hedgehog Rescue was founded in 2012 by Esther Chant who has dedicated her life to help rehabilitate injured, sick or orphaned hedgehogs and it is one of our local hedgehog rescue centres.

The rescue centre is self-funded and relies on donations from the public but since the outbreak of the Corona virus this has had a devastating impact on the charity as half of the annual income to help pay for the hedgehogs vet bills and medicines will be lost as all the events and fayres where a lot of the vital funds are raised have now been cancelled.

To donate or find out ways to help the hedgehog rescue please click here. Thank you.

cute hedgehog rescued by the London Colney Hedgehog Rescue

Love hedgehogs? Check out this wonderful hedgehog stuff!h

Pins & Nettie

Pins and Nettie is a brand new animated series about two shy little hedgehogs, produced by a Dublin-based studio, Daily Madness and recently launched on YouTube. Check it out here www.youtube.com/channel/UCE2z01fL-ukrwVP9wlbcm-w/featured

ow to protect and attract hedgehogs into your garden

Mintie

Mintie the hedgehog is the happy brand mascot for Environmental Life, the makers of eco and plastic free lunchboxes and lunch wear items. To find out more about Mintie and their stainless steel products you can visit them here. www.environmentallife.co.uk

Tommy & Lottie

Unisex, organic cotton, hedgehog design baby tees, sweatshirts and wall prints. Sweatshirts are available in childrens and adult sizes and are ethically made from sustainable organic cotton.

www.tommyandlottie.com

how to attract hedgehogs into your garden