How to Encourage Hedgehogs into Your Garden

Why hedgehogs need our help

The hedgehog is one of Britain's best-loved garden visitors, but it is also one of our most threatened. Numbers have fallen sharply over recent decades, with loss of habitat, busy roads and tidy, fenced-in gardens all playing a part. The good news is that ordinary gardens like yours can make a real difference. A hedgehog-friendly garden is rarely a scruffy one — it simply has a few thoughtful features that give these nocturnal wanderers somewhere safe to feed, rest and raise their young.

Encouraging hedgehogs is not about grand gestures. It is about small, practical changes that fit around the way you already garden.

Open up your boundaries

A hedgehog can travel up to two miles in a single night in search of food and a mate, but it cannot climb over a solid fence or squeeze through a tight gap. A single garden, however well stocked, will not sustain a hedgehog on its own. What matters is connection.

Create a hedgehog highway by cutting a gap roughly 13cm square at the base of fences, walls or gates. This is big enough for a hedgehog to pass through comfortably, but small enough to discourage most pets and deter rats. If you can, chat with your neighbours and line up gaps on both sides of each boundary, so hedgehogs can move through the whole street.

• Cut gaps at ground level, not raised up
• Keep the base of fences clear of solid gravel boards where possible
• Leave a gap under garden gates
• Encourage neighbours to do the same

Provide food and water

Hedgehogs are natural pest controllers, happily eating slugs, beetles, caterpillars and earthworms. You do not need to feed them to attract them, but a little supplementary food can help, especially in late summer and autumn when they are building up fat reserves for hibernation.

If you do feed, offer meat-based cat or dog food in jelly rather than gravy, or specialist hedgehog biscuits. Place it in a shallow dish under a shelter or a purpose-made feeding station to keep cats and foxes away.

What matters even more is water. A shallow bowl of fresh water, refreshed daily and especially during hot spells, is one of the simplest and most valuable things you can provide. Hedgehogs get thirsty, and a steep-sided pond or container is not safe for them.

• Never give bread and milk — it causes diarrhoea and can be fatal
• Avoid large amounts of mealworms, which can lead to bone problems
• Check the bowl has not frozen over in winter

Remove the hazards

Many everyday garden items are dangerous to hedgehogs, and a few changes can prevent a great deal of harm. Slug pellets are one of the worst offenders: hedgehogs eat slugs that have taken the poison and can die as a result. Choose wildlife-friendly slug control instead, such as barriers, hand-picking or nematode treatments.

Other risks are easy to overlook:

• Check long grass before strimming or mowing — hedgehogs often rest there during the day
• Cover drains and holes, and add a ramp to any steep-sided pond so hedgehogs can climb out
• Keep netting, including pea netting and sports nets, raised at least 30cm off the ground
• Move logs and piles of garden waste before burning them
• Keep dogs and cats away from nesting areas

Make room for shelter

Hedgehogs need somewhere to sleep during the day and somewhere to hibernate over winter. A small, undisturbed corner of the garden is ideal — and it does not need to be large.

• Leave a pile of leaves, logs or twigs in a quiet spot
• Let a patch of grass grow long
• Keep a compost heap with a gap at the base
• Install a hedgehog house in a shaded, sheltered position, facing away from the prevailing wind
• Avoid tidying everything in autumn — leave some cover through winter

If you use a hedgehog house, line it with dry leaves and resist the urge to check on it too often. Disturbance can cause a hibernating hedgehog to wake and use up precious energy.

When to step in

Most hedgehogs need no intervention at all, but there are times when a helping hand is essential. A hedgehog seen out in broad daylight is usually in trouble — it may be ill, injured or starving. A young hedgehog out in late autumn and weighing less than about 450g is unlikely to survive hibernation without help.

If you find a hedgehog in difficulty, pick it up using gardening gloves, place it in a secure box with a towel and a hot water bottle wrapped in cloth, and contact a local wildlife rescue for advice. Do not try to feed it milk or bread.

With a gap in the fence, a bowl of water and a wild corner left to itself, your garden could become a genuine refuge. It takes very little — and the reward is one of the most charming visitors you could hope to see.