Attracting Hedgehogs into a Suburban Garden

Why Hedgehogs Need Suburban Gardens

Hedgehogs have been declining sharply across Britain for decades, and the reasons are mostly about habitat. Fields have been tidied, hedgerows removed and gardens paved over. The hedgehog that once wandered freely through the countryside now finds itself squeezed into our towns and villages, where it survives as a nocturnal visitor moving from garden to garden in search of food, shelter and somewhere safe to sleep.

The encouraging news is that suburban gardens are genuinely good hedgehog country. A well-planted garden with a few messy corners and a shallow dish of water can genuinely make a difference, not just to the hedgehogs that pass through, but to the wider local population. A single garden is useful; a whole street of connected gardens is transformative. The trick is thinking of your plot not as an isolated island but as one link in a chain that runs along your road.

Create a Hedgehog Highway Through Your Fence

The single most effective thing you can do is to open a gap in your boundary. Hedgehogs are wanderers, and a mature adult may cover a kilometre or more in a single night. A solid fence or wall stops them dead. A small gap lets them through, and it costs nothing but a few minutes with a saw.

• Make the hole 13cm by 13cm — roughly the size of a CD case. That is large enough for an adult hedgehog to pass through comfortably but too small for most cats to squeeze after them.
• Talk to your neighbours. A gap in your fence only works as part of a chain. If four or five houses in a row each cut one, you create a genuine corridor along the street.
• Position gaps at ground level, in a corner or behind a shrub where it is less visible from the house and less likely to be blocked later by a plant pot or bin.
• If you have a solid wall or gravel board at the base of a fence, you can lift the gravel board slightly or cut a notch in the concrete panel. Check with the fence owner first.

Leave a Wild Corner to Sleep In

Hedgehogs need somewhere to spend the day. They are nocturnal, and by dawn they will be looking for a sheltered, dry spot with plenty of cover. A neat garden offers very little. A slightly untidy one offers everything.

• Pile up leaves, twigs and prunings in a quiet corner behind a shed or shrub. A heap of autumn leaves left undisturbed through winter becomes a favourite hibernation site.
• Build a log pile. Loose stacked logs and branches, left to rot naturally, provide damp, insect-rich shelter and a perfect summer nest site.
• Let a patch of grass grow longer. It provides cover for foraging and a home for the beetles and caterpillars that make up much of a hedgehog's diet.
• Leave a compost heap alone. Warm, dark and full of worms, a compost heap is prime hedgehog real estate. If you must turn it, do so gently and check for residents first.
• Consider a purpose-made hedgehog house, placed in a quiet, shaded spot against a wall or fence, with the entrance facing away from prevailing wind. Cover the roof with leaves and don't lift it between November and March.

Provide Shallow Water — and the Right Food

A hedgehog's nightly travels are thirsty work. A shallow dish of fresh water, no more than 3cm deep, placed at ground level near a hedge or shrub, will be used constantly. Put a few pebbles in the bottom so that if a small animal falls in, it can climb out. Never put out milk — hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and it causes serious digestive problems. Bread and milk, sadly still a common offering, does more harm than good.

If you want to feed, offer:

• Meat-based cat or dog food (not fish or gravy varieties), served in a shallow dish.
• Hedgehog biscuits, which are widely available, or crushed cat kibble as a standby.
• Mealworms in small quantities only — a treat, not a meal. Too many can cause bone problems.

Feed at dusk, clear leftovers each morning to avoid attracting rats and foxes, and never leave a deep bowl that a hedgehog could tip into and struggle out of.

Make the Garden Safe After Dark

A hedgehog-friendly garden is one that has removed its hidden hazards. A little forethought here saves lives.

• Avoid slug pellets entirely. Even the formulations now permitted in the UK can harm hedgehogs, and the dying slugs are themselves poisoned.
• Check netting and pea supports. Keep garden netting at least 30cm above the ground so hedgehogs can pass underneath without getting tangled.
• Add a ramp to any pond. A gently sloping piece of stone or wood, or a piece of sturdy plastic mesh, lets a hedgehog climb out if it falls in.
• Check before strimming or mowing long grass, and check bonfire piles on the day you light them — move the whole pile first, then burn.
• Keep drains and gullies covered with a grid mesh, and check any open holes or steep-sided trenches before leaving them overnight.

Watching Without Disturbing

Hedgehogs are creatures of habit, so once one finds your garden it will tend to return along the same route at roughly the same time. A quiet spot with a torch, ideally red-filtered so the light is less intrusive, is all you need to watch them go about their business. Keep dogs away from the wild corner after dark, and resist the temptation to handle a healthy visiting hedgehog — they are far better off left alone.

If you spot a hedgehog out in daylight, or one that looks small or unsteady between November and March, it likely needs help and should be reported to a local wildlife rescue. Otherwise, the best thing you can do is keep the gap open, keep the water topped up, and let the leaves lie where they fall.