Homes for Hedgehogs Competition

• Hedgehogs especially like to eat worms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars, millipedes and earwigs and even birds' eggs.
• You can help hedgehogs by leaving out meat-based cat or dog food, specially-made hedgehog food or cat biscuits. You can also clear away netting and litter so they don’t get caught, and avoid the use of slug pellets which kill slugs and pests, as this is their natural food source.
• Hedgehogs are generally solitary, non-territorial and nocturnal. They can travel between 1-2km a night, so it is important they have clear pathways to get to where they need to go and avoid habitat fragmentation.
• You can help by creating a hedgehog highway, for example, cutting holes in fences, removing bricks from walls, or digging tunnels under the garden boundary, or even replacing fencing with a hedgerow (Hedgehogs can travel through gaps as small as 13x13cm, so these gaps don't need to be large).
• Because hedgehogs come out at nighttime, they can be hard to see, but if you are lucky enough to spot one you can help by registering the sighting on the BIG Hedgehog Map, which helps conservationists better understand the distribution of hedgehogs throughout the UK.
• Hedgehogs hibernate during cold months in dry, sheltered, out-of-the-way places such as in log and leaf piles, large open compost heaps and beneath sheds, with access to water close by.
• To avoid injuring them, you can help by checking long grass and hedgerows before mowing or strimming, and checking log piles before lighting fires.
• If you spot one out in the open that appears to be sleeping or hibernating, it may be sick, and you can help by calling your local rescue centre to seek further help.
• You can help by creating a hibernation space in your garden by piling logs or leaves or compost.

For more tips on how to help hedgehogs, please visit the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and Hedgehogs In Your Garden | RSPCA - RSPCA - rspca.org.uk 

Fun facts

• Hedgehogs are the UK’s only spiny mammal, and they have about 5,000 to 7,000 spines.
• Baby hedgehogs are called hoglets.
• Hedgehogs curl into a ball when threatened.
• Hedgehogs have poor eyesight but good hearing.
• They can run up to 4 mph.
• Hedgehogs have been around for over 15 million years.
• Hedgehogs are one of just three animals in the UK that hibernate (the other two being dormice and bats).
• When hedgehogs hibernate, they lower their body temperature to around 1°c and slow their heart rate to just 20 beats a minute.