Bonfires are also dangerous, they look like an inviting nest site, so please only set light to rubbish you have moved that day, don’t set fire to a pile of garden waste that has been there for even one night. The safest alternative is to use an incinerator.
           

Provide nest sites:

Sweep your grass cuttings and dry leaves under your hedge or shed so they can easily build a winter nest there. Your compost heap is also an inviting place for a hedgehog to nest,
but please take care when forking through the pile.

Build a log pile - this will act as a nest site for hedgehogs and also a home for the insects and invertebrates they will eat.

You might like to provide additional hedgehog homes either by buying a purpose-built nest box. Or you can build a simple home by propping a board against a wall or shed or putting an upside down crate under a pile of compost, or even putting out an old plastic dustbin on its side.  Fill any nest with plenty of dry leaves, grass, hay or straw.                 

Have a wildlife pond:

Dig a wildlife pond with gently sloping edges, this is a wonderful bonus for all sorts of wild creatures.  Please make sure that hedgehogs and other animals can get out easily if they fall in by providing escape ramps made from stones, rough wood or wire netting.
    

  Put out food and water for hedgehogs:                                           

Always provide water on the ground and put out cat or dog food if you have hedgehogs visiting provided there are no rats.  You can put the food under an upturned wooden box with a 4”/10cm hole cut in one side to discourage cats or dogs from eating it before the hedgehogs get there. This is especially important in the autumn for young hedgehogs born late in the year, to enable them to gain sufficient weight to survive the winter - they must weigh a minimum of 550 - 600g before the weather gets cold. Plastic feeding stations are also a good idea, you can put a brick or piece of wood inside to prevent cats or birds getting to the food or you can make simple feeding stations with a few bricks and paving slabs or an upturned plastic crate
 

         

 

 How do you know there are hogs in your garden?   Look for their droppings which are black/brown and sausage-shaped, the size depends on the size of the hedgehog which left them! This is also the way to check that hedgehogs have emerged from hibernation in the Spring.

                

Hedgehogs are very agile climbers but if  you have a fence round your garden, you might like to cut a hole at the bottom to make access that bit easier!            

                          
NEST DISTURBANCE:

If you accidentally uncover a hedgehog nest whilst gardening: put all the nest material back and leave that bit of the garden until another day.  Or if his nest is destroyed, put him under a hedge or bush in an undisturbed part of the garden to go on his way that night.  If you have disturbed a mother and her babies, please cover the whole nest with a bucket or dustbin to prevent Mum running off and phone for help at once 734340 if you are in Jersey or your local hedgehog hospital in the UK so we can care for them until the babies are big enough to be released back into your garden.

       

Thank you for making your garden a hedgehog friendly place
.

Enjoy the hedgehogs which visit your garden at night!    Thank you for visiting our site and learning more about hedgehogs

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 sources for more information and further reading

Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group

Tel 01534 734340 Email: jerseyhedgehogs@hotmail.co.uk    

 

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