Spring has arrived and hedgehogs are beginning to wake up from hibernation. After living off their body fat during the winter, their quest for food can mean they travel around two miles a night. Which is why it is so important to create a hedgehog highway so they can move freely between gardens.

There are lots of easy, practical ways that we can help them throughout the spring months. Here are my three easy tips to help our prickly friends:

1. Make a hole in your fence. Talk to your neighbours, they can add gaps in hedges or fences which are critical for hedgehogs moving about the areas. 13cm by 13cm is sufficient for any hedgehog to pass through and this will be too small for nearly all pets. My garden has a hedgehog hole in the fence at the bottom of the garden and then a gap under the gate as well as a gap to next door.
2. Their urgent need when waking from hibernation will be fresh drinking water, in a ground level dish (to avoid tipping), and dry hedgehog food. You could consider making a hedgehog feeding station!Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window
3. Start off the gardening year without using chemicals in the garden, using pesticides damage the eco system. Hedgehogs are a gardeners’ friend, the staple of their diet is made up from slugs, beetles and caterpillars.

If you don’t have your own garden and still want to get involved, see what activities are happening around campus. The Hedgehog Friendly Campus group launched during Green Week and we are now working to achieve the Silver Hedgehog Friendly Campus Award! If you want to get involved, contact the team.Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window

Did you know:

Hoglets (baby hedgehogs) are born in May or June without spines, soft spines appear soon after and as they grow they develop the sharp, protective spines that make our hedgehogs famous. Watch out for baby hedgehogs in the early summer, putting out fresh water and dry hedgehog food.

Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, so milk should never be left out for them.

And finally, Hedgehog Awareness Week runs from 1^st– 7^th May 2022, it is organised by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and takes place every year. Find out more here.Link opens in a new window