07 May 2025

The 4th - 10th of May marks the 2025 Hedgehog Awareness Week and we would like to invite you to get involved in helping this declining species. The European hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus is known to be widespread throughout the UK, however, population numbers have declined by a third over recent decades and now our beloved garden friendly critter is classed as 'vulnerable' on the IUCN Red List (GB). 

So what can you do to help?

Here are some tips on what you can do in your green spaces to help:

  • Create a hedgehog highway by making a hole in you garden boundaries (13cmx13cm) to allow them to forage more easily for food. They can travel up to 2km in the night searching for invertebrates to eat.
  • Let your garden grow - to coincide with #NoMowMay, creating log or foliage piles on the edge of your garden allows a little area for hedgehogs to rest during the day. Or even better, purchase a hedgehog home from your local garden centre.
  • With the current dry weather, we need to hydrate the hogs. They will be on the lookout for water sources such as ponds. If you have a pond in your green space, please make it hedgehog friendly by adding a ramp to ensure they can reach the water safely. Or if you don't have a pond, keep a little bowl of water out for them.
  • Lastly, avoid nasty chemicals - Try to not use poisons or pesticides in your garden as this can have a huge impact the whole wildlife food chai, hedgehogs included.

If you find an injured hedgehog, please contact a specialist group or for more information about what else you can do please visit #hedgehogawarenessweek