1. Stop using pesticides and slug pellets in your garden. Not only can these harm hedgehogs but also damage their food chain. Use organic methods instead.
  2. Add 13cm x 13cm square gaps (hedgehog highways) at the bottom of boundary fences and walls to allow hedgehogs easy access to your garden. Keep a corner of your garden wild to offer shelter, protection and natural food for hedgehogs and other wildlife. Encourage hedgehogs into your garden, but never move one in from another area, as it may well have a nest of dependent young that you would be condemning to death.
  3. Create wild corners and log piles to provide natural food and shelter. To supplement their natural diet, you can also offer meaty cat or dog food, cat biscuits or meat-based hedgehog food and always supply plenty of clean water. Ensure bowls and feeding areas are kept clean.
  4. Make or buy a hedgehog home to offer a hibernation site that is safer from predators in the winter. It may also be used as a nesting box for a mother and her hoglets in the warmer months. Visit our website for instructions on building a hedgehog home or visit our online shop to buy a pre-made one!
  5. Check areas thoroughly for hedgehogs and other wildlife before strimming or mowing. Keep pea netting 22-30cms (9-12 inches) off the ground so that hedgehogs can pass safely under and plants will grow to the netting. If using robotic lawnmowers check areas carefully before use and never set them to run at night. 
  6. Dispose of litter responsibly. Every year hedgehogs are injured by litter and starve to death after getting trapped in discarded rubbish.
  7. Bonfires offer a tempting home for a hedgehog. Collected materials should be re-sited just before the fire is to be lit, even then, the base should be lifted up with poles or broom handles (not a fork!) and a torch shone in to look (and listen) for any wildlife or pets in need of rescue before lighting. Once checked, light from one side only to allow an escape route for anything you may have missed.
  8. Hedgehogs are good swimmers but can become trapped in ponds or pools with sheer sides. Keep water levels topped up, provide a gently sloping edge or place half submerged rocks and ramps in the water as an escape for them.
  9. Cattle grids can be a problem as hedgehogs fall in and become trapped. A simple rough-surfaced ramp placed in the grid will save lives. Holes in the ground should be covered or surrounded by a barrier to keep hedgehogs out.
  10. Take care on the roads, hedgehogs are nocturnal so are out at night. A hedgehog’s natural defence mechanism is to roll into a ball – this is no match for a vehicle.
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