Why Our Suburban Gardens Matter

Hedgehogs have become a genuinely rare sight in many parts of Britain. Their numbers have fallen sharply over recent decades, and while a good deal of that loss has happened in the wider countryside, our towns and suburbs have quietly become some of the most important habitat they have left. Gardens, taken together, form a patchwork of feeding grounds, nesting sites and sheltered corridors that hedgehogs will use every night — provided we let them through.

The encouraging part is that almost everything a hedgehog needs from a garden is either free or very cheap, and most of it improves the plot for birds, frogs, slow worms and insects at the same time. A single hedgehog-friendly garden is a small refuge. A whole street of them, joined together, becomes something much more valuable: a route. The next hedgehog you see at dusk has almost certainly walked through at least half a dozen of your neighbours' gardens to reach you.

Cut a Gap in the Fence: The Hedgehog Highway

A hedgehog is a determined wanderer and will cover a mile or more in a single night, but it cannot climb a fence panel and it will not squeeze under a tight gravel board. Solid boundaries strung across a terrace or cul-de-sac effectively lock them out of exactly the habitat they need.

The remedy is a gap roughly 13cm by 13cm — about the size of a CD case — cut at ground level in the bottom of a fence panel or wall. It costs nothing to lose and nothing to cut, since it sits below the point where most fences need to be sturdy. A corner where two gardens meet is usually the best spot, as it protects your privacy and the gap itself.

• Talk to your neighbours before you cut, and mention the idea to whoever owns the other side of each boundary. A continuous route along the whole road matters far more than one isolated hole.
• Trim brambles and ivy away from the base of fences now and then, so the gap does not silently disappear behind growth.
• If you have a concrete gravel board, lift a couple of bricks instead, or break a small notch at one end.
• Keep an eye on garden gates and new fencing as they go up — it is easy to seal a route without realising it.

Hedgehogs are creatures of habit and tend to follow the same lines night after night, tracking along the base of hedges, sheds and fences as they go.

Food and Water: Getting It Right

Offering food is not strictly necessary, but it is a real help during dry spells, in late spring when the ground is hard, and through autumn when hedgehogs need to build reserves. If you do feed, keep it simple and keep it clean.

• Do put out meat-based cat or dog food — chicken or turkey rather than fish or gravy — or dry kitten biscuits, in a shallow dish under a weighted cover that stops cats and foxes taking it.
• Never offer bread and milk. Hedgehogs cannot digest lactose, and it causes diarrhoea and severe dehydration, which can be fatal.
• Mealworms should only ever be an occasional treat. A diet built around them causes serious bone problems, and hedgehogs quickly become fixated on them.
• Water is more important than food. Leave a shallow dish no more than 3–4cm deep, with a stone or two for footholds, and top it up daily through summer.

Slug pellets have no place in a hedgehog-friendly garden. Hedgehogs are far more likely to meet a poisoned slug than a gardener is to solve a slug problem, and the effects travel up the food chain. Rat poison carries the same risk, and even so-called wildlife-safe alternatives can harm the earthworms that are a hedgehog's natural diet. A little untidiness, a beer trap or a night-time torch patrol will do the job without the collateral damage.

Somewhere to Sleep: Nests, Piles and Quiet Corners

By day, a hedgehog needs somewhere dry, dark and undisturbed. A corner left slightly wild, with a log pile, a heap of leaves or a stack of old pots, will often be used as a nest. A purpose-built hedgehog house is also worth adding: site it in a quiet spot, facing away from the prevailing wind, with the entrance tucked out of sight, and disturb it as little as possible.

Compost heaps are a favourite, particularly in autumn, so always check before turning one with a fork. Hibernation usually begins around October or November and lasts until March or April, though mild winters will see hedgehogs waking and moving about, which is one reason a small amount of food is useful in winter too.

Safety Around the Garden

A few everyday hazards do real damage each year, and most are easy to fix.

• Ponds. Hedgehogs swim well but cannot climb out of steep-sided water. Add a gently sloping ramped edge, or a piece of rough timber or wire mesh reaching from the water to dry land.
• Netting. Football nets, pond netting and pea netting all entangle hedgehogs badly. Store nets off the ground when not in use, and raise the bottom edge of any that stay out.
• Strimmers and mowers. Check long grass and border edges by hand before you start. A sleeping hedgehog will not move.
• Bonfires. Build the pile on the day you intend to burn it, or lift and rebuild it first. A heap of timber left standing for a week is a prime nesting site.
• Litter and drains. Cut plastic rings and looped packaging before binning, and cover or check any open drain, light well or gap beneath decking.

When to Seek Help

A hedgehog is normally out only after dark. One seen in daylight, wobbling, lying in the open, or with flies or fly eggs on it, is in trouble and needs a local wildlife rescue urgently — pick it up in a towel, place it in a lined box with a warm hot-water bottle wrapped in cloth, and offer water rather than food while you make the call. In late autumn, a young hedgehog weighing under about 450g is unlikely to survive hibernation without help, so weighing any hoglets you spot is worthwhile.

Beyond that, the work is mostly patience. Cut the gap, put out the water, leave the leaves, and let the garden stay quiet after dark.