November’s wildlife challenge – provide a highway and home for a hedgehog
We are pleased to report a few sightings or signs of hedgehogs in the area. These prickly little animals are under threat in the UK where there are thought to be fewer than 1 million left, so it is great that some of them are still snuffling around the parish. Gardens, hedgerows, woodlands, grasslands, parks and cemeteries are all good habitats for hedgehogs. As with many birds and wild animals they can fall victim to a ‘tidying up’ of gardens and the countryside, where there is not enough connected rough grassland, bushy hedgerows and sheltering woodland and scrub for them to live in. It is vital that these areas are connected as an adult hedgehog can travel between 1 and 2 km per night, with home ranges as large as 20 hectares. There are a number of ways you can help them:
- Do not use pesticides in your garden, including slug pellets. Slugs are a vital part of the hedgehog diet so they need plenty of them to stay healthy. Have a hedgehog in your garden and it will help you keep down the slugs naturally.
- Have you got a fence separating you and your neighbours? Why not make a hole in the fence (13cm x 13cm), or dig a channel beneath it, so that visiting hedgehogs can move through an area without having to go on to roads.
- Leave a pile of logs and leaves as hedgehogs will use them to nest in with their young and to hibernate in. You could go one step further and build a hedgehog home – see the advice on doing this at building a hedgehog home.
- Check an area before mowing/ strimming or burning a bonfire to make sure there are no sleeping hedgehogs in the area.
- And lastly, create an environment in your garden that attracts the invertebrates that the hedgehog eats, whether this is through planting, leaving some long grass and leaves or making a small pond. Embrace a little natural ‘mess’.
We hope that by taking these actions together we might create an area in which hedgehogs can thrive. Please do let us know if you see a hedgehog near you.
Hedges
Hedges are now coming into fruit, creating a winter larder of berries for birds and wild animals. If you have a hedge in your garden or bordering it (if it doesn’t impact road access/ visibility) please consider cutting this back on a 2 or 3 year rotation, targeting different sections each year. The flower buds and fruit often form only on second year growth so by rotating the cycle and leaving some untouched for a year or two you can ensure this vital winter bounty is available. According to the Wildlife Trusts, hedges cut every three years can produce two and a half times as much blossom and fruit as those cut annually.