Make your garden more hedgehog friendly with these handy hints. 

1. DON’T BE TOO TIDY

Leave undisturbed areas where hedgehogs can forage and shelter.

2. CREATE A COMPOST HEAP

Hedgehogs love the warmth and security – and food. 

3. PROVIDE SHELTER

Simply lean a piece of wood against a wall or build a hibernation box.

4. AVOID PESTICIDES AND CHEMICALS

These eliminate key prey species for hedgehogs.

5. TAKE CARE

Watch out for nesting hedgehogs when using lawnmowers and strimmers.

HOW TO SEE A HEDGEHOG

You don’t necessarily need a garden to see a hedgehog – just a bit of patience and the ability to sit quietly and listen.

Locate a suitable habitat 

If you’ve a hedgehog-friendly garden, sit out on a warm evening, with a glass of something nice, and wait. Otherwise, find a junction of hedges on a small farm or a field on the edge of a deciduous woodland. Sit quietly and wait.

Shut your eyes and listen

Hedgehogs rely mainly on smell to locate prey, and make a highly distinctive snuffling noise when foraging.

Observe behaviour

If you are out and about in late spring/early summer, you might get to see or hear one of the wonders of British wildlife – hedgehog courtship. The male and female shuffle around in circles, snorting explosively, until the female finally relents and allows the male to mate with her.

Did you know?

• A hedgehog defends itself by rolling up into a ball. It does this by contracting special muscles under its spiny skin. The head, legs and tail are forced inside the contracting ball.

• Hedgehogs will sometimes anoint their back and flanks with frothy saliva so that it looks as if they are covered in bubblebath. Experts are not sure why they do this.