Hedgehog House

We have had signs of hedgehogs in the garden over the years and last year I used a wildlife camera to capture one ambling up the path by our house. The garden is enclosed on three sides but hedgehogs do roam far each night and there is access to roadside shrubbery in the immediate neighbourhood.

Spurred on by local hedgehog hero Jo we bought a hedgehog house from an ebay supplier she had used before. I had to admit I wasn’t going to get around to making one myself even though the instructions are starightforward. The one we bought is robust, has a home-made touch, and is constructed to the highest specification.

We have probably missed the hibernation period but it doesn’t matter. It has some bedding material inside (hay and leaves) and some left outside as they like to do their own thing. There is a small dish with a little moist dog food just incside the entrance as the smell might provide attractive to a hedgehog. We have had a small dish of water available nearby and this might well have been the invitation to our garden in the summer.

I have added more dried leaves to the immediate surroundings and will add some small logs to help build up some insects. The shrubs will provide shade when in leaf.

Links
Jo’s Ashford Hedgehog Observation Group
https://www.facebook.com/AshfordHedgehogObservationGroup

Wild About Gardens – get creative for hedgehogs https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/sites/default/files/2018-05/WAG get creative for hedgehogs.pdf

Hedgehog Street
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org

British Hedgehog Preservation Society
https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/hedgehogsociety/

Hedgehog House supplied by Bespoke Bird Boxes of Wigan