Hedgehog Gardens & Houses
Hedgehog Gardens and Houses
Help to make your garden Hedgehog friendly and ideas to make your own Hedgehog Houses.
Video by Laura Turner : www.antfarmfilms.com
We all have our favourite places to hang out, our favourite desires, our sins and passions…..in fact I have about 9 or 10 gardens I love to hang out in – but the little Bamboo garden is where I spend the majority of my Hog life , I just love it, and heres why…
- EASY ACCESS: Luckily there’s a few holes in my fence, so I can wander freely when I desire, and its not full of concrete slabs and decking – like some of the barren places I’ve travelled to with nothing to snuffle, to hunt or hide in (We’re not called HEDGEhogs for nothing). I often wander around a mile to two during the night – so if you can, make sure that there’s easy access for us to come and check out your garden – if not, you could just cut a small hole at the bottom of the fence or take a brick out of the wall. This fantastic article shows you the problem with some great tips!
- CHEMICAL FREE ZONE: My human cohabitants don’t use any pesticides, NO slug pellets and NO chemicals so I can munch to my hearts contents without the consequence of illness and a slow, painful death. So, please don’t use any, not only can kill Hedgehogs and other creatures linked to our food chain, they are highly toxic and can seriously harm cats and other pets. I have 2 cat additions to my garden family, as much as they irritate me when they come snooping around my ball of spikes with their fat paws – I’ve grown to love them, particularly the spotty one that thinks it’s a Dog, I’ve spent many evenings curled up watching it play fetch with a Bamboo cane. When I work it out, I’ll post a video… They’ve started using Nematodes recently to sort out the slugs, pretty freaky if you ask me, but it seems to be working and they don’t harm me so bring it on.
- LEAVES, TWIGS & COMPOST HEAPS: Another thing I love about my Hedgehog Garden is that there’s lots of cosy little corners for me to rest and nest in, irresistible piles of dry leaves and twigs…Hedgehog heaven. They also have a fantastic compost heap, but please be careful though when your prodding about with a garden fork, check it out first or you could easily injure or kill us, the best time to spread your heap is around October or November when most Hoglets have left home and we’ve not started to hibernate yet. If you really want to play safe then provide a safe space like one of the Hedgehog houses above or a nesting box. You can even build you own Hedgehog House for free, it’s great fun and we love them.
- WATER: We’ve got a little pond, I didn’t like it at first, I couldn’t get out, but now theres a few rocks and some netting at the side which makes a perfect escape route for me. Now I find it irresistible, I often invite the neighbours over for dreamy midnight swims, gazing at the stars followed by rambling conversations, sometimes even snuffling kisses….
- LITTER FREE ZONE: I know we can all be a little messy now and again, but litter can be a serious problem for Hedgehogs, my little Hoglet Cousin got stuck in a can last month, luckily she’s fine but try and put your littler in the bin, theres other stuff like plastic ties from beer cans – they easily get stuck round our necks. I don’t like to preach, but I’d hate to finish my prickly life stuck in a rotten tin of cat food. A friend also had a similar problem with some vegetable netting, I know you need it but try and keep it nice and taught and if you have old tennis, cricket net etc… keep it stored away or rolled high when your not using it.
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) have launched ‘Hedgehog Street’ – a Neighbourhood Watch scheme for urban wildlife which encourages people to create wildlife friendly gardens and help to conserve Hedgehogs. Hedgehog Street is a brilliant campaign and lets you volunteer in a huge project to help monitor Hedgehogs in the U.K., so sign up and enjoy the fun.
