Why a hedgehog is worth tempting into your garden

A hedgehog snuffling along the edge of the lawn at dusk is one of the quiet joys of a British garden. They are restless, curious creatures, and each one can wander up to two kilometres in a single night, working its way along hedgerows, through borders and under fences in search of beetles, caterpillars, earthworms and slugs. A hedgehog that visits your patch is doing useful work while you sleep.

Numbers, though, have fallen sharply over recent decades. Roads, tidy fences and loss of habitat have fragmented the places they can live. That is why gardens matter so much now. Individually, yours is a small piece of the puzzle; joined to your neighbours' gardens, it becomes part of a corridor that lets hedgehogs move safely through a whole street.

Open up the boundary with a hedgehog highway

The single most valuable thing you can do is let hedgehogs in and out. A hedgehog cannot climb, and it will not squeeze through a tight mesh fence. It needs a gap roughly 13 centimetres square — about the size of a CD case — at ground level.

• Cut a notch out of the bottom of a wooden fence panel, or lift a gravel board slightly to leave a clear opening.
• If you have a brick or stone wall, leave out a brick at the base during a repair, or set a short length of pipe through it.
• Keep the route clear of clippings, pots and stored timber so it stays passable all year.
• Ask two or three neighbours to do the same. Gaps lined up through several gardens create a genuine hedgehog highway.

Check any opening for sharp edges, and always look before you cut or strim near a boundary — a resting hedgehog is easily missed among long grass.

Leave a wild corner and piles of good clutter

Tidiness is the enemy of hedgehogs. A corner left to run a little wild gives them cover and foraging ground, and a heap of natural material gives them somewhere to sleep. Aim for a mix:

• A log pile with a few gaps at the base, stacked in a shaded spot and left undisturbed.
• A leaf mound in a quiet corner — hedgehogs will happily nest in dry leaves.
• A compost heap that you turn gently, or not at all between late autumn and spring.
• Patches of long grass, nettles or brambles along a boundary, cut on a rotation so there is always some cover.

A hedgehog house can be useful, particularly in autumn. Site it in shade against a wall or under a shed, with the entrance facing away from the prevailing wind, and use untreated wood. Cover the roof with a weighted sheet of plastic or roofing felt to keep it dry, and leave it alone once occupied — hedgehogs hate disturbance.

Shallow water and the right kind of supper

Water matters more than many people realise. A shallow dish, no more than a few centimetres deep, with a few pebbles in the base for grip, gives hedgehogs a safe drink. Refresh it daily, and if you have a pond, add a gently sloping ramp or a piece of roughened timber at one edge so anything that falls in can climb out. Steep-sided ponds are a real hazard.

Supplementary food helps, especially for young hedgehogs in late summer and into autumn. Offer:

• Meaty cat or dog food — pate-style, not fish-flavoured, and served at room temperature.
• Cat biscuits or a specialist hedgehog food for crunch.
• Mealworms only as an occasional treat. Fed in quantity they upset the calcium balance and can cause serious bone problems.

Never put out milk or bread. Hedgehogs cannot digest lactose, and a saucer of milk will do far more harm than good. Put food under a weighted cover if cats and foxes are a problem, and clear away leftovers each morning.

The hazards that undo all your good work

Some common garden habits are lethal to hedgehogs, and a few small changes make an enormous difference.

• Slug pellets. Hedgehogs eat poisoned slugs and can die. Control slugs with barriers, gravel, copper tape, a sunken beer trap with its rim 3cm above soil level, and by encouraging frogs, birds and beetles.
• Bonfires. A heap of dry wood is a perfect nest. Build your fire on the day you light it, or move the whole pile a metre or two with a fork before lighting, checking with a torch and listening for rustling.
• Strimmers and mowers. Walk the long grass first, and cut from the middle outwards.
• Netting, drains and decking. Peg netting taut so nothing can tangle in it, cover open drains, and leave a gap under decking rather than blocking it entirely.

Watching, and keeping a nature journal

Hedgehogs are strictly nocturnal, so the best hours to look are the first after dusk and the last before dawn. Sit quietly with a torch and listen for a steady snuffling, or watch for small dark droppings on the lawn. A trail camera set low to the ground will tell you far more than you would guess.

Keep a simple journal as the seasons turn: the date of your first spring sighting, the night temperatures, whether you see a hoglet, how late in the year hedgehogs are still active. Note anything unusual, too. A hedgehog out in broad daylight is often in trouble and may need help, and a young one still wandering in late autumn may be too small to survive hibernation. Your records build a picture of what is happening on your patch — and give you a very good reason to be in the garden at dusk.