Homes for Hedgehogs
Hedgehog travels
Hedgehogs really are habitual wanderers. A hedgehog’s territory can cover up to 20 hectares and they’ll travel 3km a night just to find food, shelter and mates. Males during breeding season can go even further when they’re looking for females. If you’re lucky enough to have regular hedgehog visitors, then your garden is clearly open enough to allow for nightly travellers.
If your garden is totally enclosed, then you can make some changes which might open up your garden for hedgehogs. Encouraging your neighbours to do the same can create a true Hedgehog highway that will allow hedgehogs to navigate safely across your gardens without going close to dangerous roads.
Photo: WildNet - Tom Marshall
Hedgehogs need a square 13cm on all sides to move through, which is too small for most pets. You can do this in a number of ways depending on the boundary type...
Brick walls?
If you have a brick wall, remove one brick from the bottom layer, this should be enough.
Fencing?
Cut a small hole in the bottom of your fence – you can buy plastic surrounds to make sure you cut the right size, but this isn’t essential.
Solid boundaries?
If your boundary is too solid, dig a channel underneath, you can even line it with a clay or plastic pipe to stop it collapsing
Thank you for being a Hedgehog Hero
This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to actions you can take to protect Somerset’s hedgehogs. See below for some more ideas, and look out for emails from us over the next three months as we share lots of tips, ideas and fun facts about hedgehogs and how you can help the hogs in your garden.
Share the love!
We’d love to see your pictures of your hedgehog holes and highways! You can share them with us on social media by tagging us and using the hashtag #Homesforhedgehogs
