Hedgehog Gardening/Allotments alert
It’s sunny and the start of gardening season.
We are lucky in this area to have a small number of hedgehogs, which are vulnerable now, numbers having fallen from 30 million to one million over the last 50 years.
Hedgehog charities are beginning to see hedgehogs with strimmer and lawn mower injuries often fatal.
So please before starting to use your strimmer/lawn mower etc 'Think Hedgehog.'
They are to be found in long grass and in hedges, use a stick to feel the area you are intending to strim.
They will not move away when they feel danger but rather curl up into a ball so making them harder to see.
Please also check out log piles before you light a bonfire, and try not to use pesticides, which kill them, garden ponds also need a slope so they can get out of them.
It's going to be dry over the next few days/ weeks/months and hedgehogs easily dehydrate.
Importantly they will need a bowl of water (which can't be tipped over easily eg ceramic ) so please put a small shallow bowl of water in your garden and keep it filled. Even if hedgehogs don't use, it birds will !
Hedgehogs, as well as being your garden friend, eat either cat biscuits and /or meaty dog food if you wish to go further .
If you want to buy a feeding station or make a simple feeding station (an interesting lockdown activity) for them to stop other animals getting at the food, they can be made out of bricks, an old box or large plastic tub etc
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/diy/making-a-hedgehog-feeding-station/
Also please look at the advice on the British Hedgehog Preservation society:
https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk
https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/leaflets/A-guide-to-helping-hedgehogs.pdf
https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/hedgehog-homes/
or they can be bought ,eg. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everything-Wildlife-Hedgehog-Feeder-House/dp/B00A9TT85K
This is the info for any injured hedgehog/wildlife:
Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (Enfield) Wildlife Hospital & Animal Centre Trent Park Cockfosters Road Barnet EN4 0PS Tel: 0208 344 2785 or 07970 141282 Email address: rescue@wras-enfieldwildlife.org.uk
Replies
Thank you for the reminder to look out for hedgehogs. I also think the reminder to put out water is important. It hasn't rained for a very long time and everything is very dry.