The joy of hedgehogs.

Oh I'd love a hedgehog - any idea how to attract them to your garden?

We have at least 3 in our garden. Noticed them pottering around. We have quite a wild front garden, grass and established shrubs and bushes which is paradise for hedgehogs. So now we've bought a hedgehog house which we're hoping they'll use when hibernation time comes. We leave hedgehog food out, bowl of water and we have a camera so we can see what they get up to. Such a joy.

We've got 2 that visit our garden. I leave out hedgehog food, cat food, and water. I bought a special house for them to hibernate in, but they prefer to go under next-door's shed for that.

Well, they do not really like manicured gardens, not to say you let everything go totally wild !
Ornamental grasses, herbs and any plant that attracts bees helps. Obvious point but they have to be able to get in - cut a small area in hedge//fence etc. and ideally ask neighbours to do the same.
I have a hedgehog house which they never use other than to feed as we back on to a lake surrounded by natural vegetation.

i would love to encourage hedgehogs but my dog is bad for hedgehogs.

I took in a young one from my drive which was inactive in full view in the afternoon. I guessed it was in need. I put it in safe large basket with warm hot water bottle, warm towels, water and a very little dog food. I kept it two nights until I was sure it was uninjured and plenty active at night , and released it into an uncultivated green habitat last night where there are trees, long grass. and a hedge.

I can only hope I did right by the poor wee thing and that it will survive.

Just a note of caution: the dried mealworms which people out out for wild birds are bad for hedgehogs.

Good point - ditto bread and milk .

I am sort of 50 50 about this. I have got a wildlife friendly garden but I don't leave food out for hedgehogs because rats. I have to manage my garden very carefully to keep them at bay. Additionally the hedgehogs I have seen in my garden are infested with ticks and I am in a Lyme disease hotspot.

My youngest GD is very keen to have a hedgehog visit her garden. She has set up a little area next to the bug and wildlife patch in the hopes of attracting one but no luck so far. They are in serious decline so perhaps that is why she has had no luck so far.

I rarely see hedgehogs now and wonder how much of it has to do with the steep rise in the number of urban foxes which are very active around here at all times of day. I believe adult hedgehogs are reasonably well protected by their spines but hoglets less so.

Just as it was beginning to get dark a couple of nights ago, I was delighted to see a hedgehog walk past my window. It went into a flower bed below our wall, and then I lost sight of it.
We used to see them regularly when we first moved here, but I haven't seen one for quite some years until the other night.

We have a couple of foxes that pop into the garden to visit, Perdido. I was getting rather stressed seeing as foxes are a natural predator to hedgehogs but my foxes appear to be peace loving! We have film of 2 hedgehogs and 2 foxes in the garden in the middle of the night, pottering around and ignoring each other. But you're quite right about the young not being as safe as their parents.

I too do not put out food as I am concerned about attracting the wrong type of wildlife. Does anyone have any advice? I try to encourage wildlife through the plants I grow and not having all the garden totally organised.

Lollin

I too do not put out food as I am concerned about attracting the wrong type of wildlife. Does anyone have any advice? I try to encourage wildlife through the plants I grow and not having all the garden totally organised.

If its rats and mice you are talking about...and I speak from long experience, the only way to discourage them is to control the food supply and, to an extent the shelter. I used to be quite a relaxed and wildlife friendly gardener until rats and mice colonised my compost bins and rats took up residence in the garage. Tipping point was when they didn't even hide when I went in there and I found half a dead snake and a cooked lobster head behind the freezer. I didn't put down poison or set traps but I did remove all access to food (stopped bird feeding temporarily), beat round and disturbed all the overgrown corners of my garden, and cleared garage and shed. I can now feed birds again (near the house, little and often, no food left out overnight) and I see birds and hedgehogs and the very occasional grass snake. Plenty of mini beasts too. I don't have compost bins and won't ever again but I still have my overgrown areas and heaps of dead leaves.

I saw a hedgehog out in the daytime when we first moved here 6 years ago.Apparently that's not good as means they are struggling. But since then no actual sightings, but I think I've seen hedgehog poo a few times near a feeding station I set up.However without a camera I couldn't be sure it wasn't the large rat we kept seeing eating the food.It has gone now and I think our local fox took care if it.Apparently badgers predate hogs and foxes generally leave them alone.
But I would love to start feeding and encouraging them again.And we've just created a wildlife pond so will get a camera soon.It makes me sad that when my neighbours put in new fencing they thought leaving a hole for hedgehogs was a stupid idea.. And that apart from a couple of other nature loving neighbours who like love real grass,plants and wildlife everyone else is ripping out vegetation, paving and astroturfing and generally treating their gardens as an outdoor room to be kept pristine.No wonder poor hogs are in decline.

We used to put out hedgehog food and have a number of videos of foxes and hedgehogs eating at the same time overnight but from different bowls. If the foxes came too close the hedgehogs would freeze and then roll up in a ball but in general they seemed to ignore each other.
Sadly haven't seen the hedgehogs for over a year, although there are often foxes around, day or night. We stopped putting out hedgehog food when we noticed the cats were arriving earlier and earlier in the night to eat it.

We had to stop feeding birds after seeing a rat but we've just started again, hopefully the rats have gone.

Oh I know what you mean, Washerwoman

everyone else is ripping out vegetation, paving and astroturfing and generally treating their gardens as an outdoor room to be kept pristine.

We have more than a few front gardens which have turned into car parks round here. No bushes, trees or anything. My nearest neighbour is the proud owner of a very large lawn made entirely from astroturf or whatever it is. When we moved here most of the gardens had hedges and trees, flowers popping up in the different seasons. Lovely. So now a lot of them have been buried under brick paving which is sad. In my eyes. Clearly not in their eyes! We're all different. However, maybe the trend might be on the wane. A young couple was strolling past our house and looking at the front garden (which is rather lovely) ... even if I do say it myself! This couple are due to move a few doors down and are wanting to lift the plastic grass and block paving on the drive and wish to plant real grass and have asked my husband for a few hints and tips for good plants and bushes etc etc They inform me that many of their peers are looking into having a front garden they can tend rather than a car park so that's a good sign. Maybe the trend for lush front gardens is on the way!

Very old article here. More than 16 years old! But filled with good stuff explaining why it's nice to stick with an olde world view of front gardens

www.theguardian.com/society/2005/apr/13/thinktanks.environment

I used to see lots of hedgehogs where I live but they seem to haver gone into decline and I have not seen one for about 2 years. I would like to know what has killed them off, people near me still have gardens. There was a garden center (smallish and council run) but it was sold off and now has houses built on it, also a nice sized field which was sold off and now has houses on it. Perhaps their natural habitat has been taken away as also on that land every spring their was an invasion of baby rabbits so good to see but now nothing.
I too have had to cut down on feeding the birds as that only brought rats into the garden and I no longer compost any household waste as that too was a rat attraction.

Perdido

I rarely see hedgehogs now and wonder how much of it has to do with the steep rise in the number of urban foxes which are very active around here at all times of day. I believe adult hedgehogs are reasonably well protected by their spines but hoglets less so.

I think they’re safe from foxes. It’s badgers that target them. They can unfurl them because of their claws.

I haven't seen a hedgehog in my garden for several years. A few nights ago I let one of my dogs out. He started barking and I thought that whatever he was barking would have gone and he would stopped. the barking became anguished and sure enough, he'd found a hedgehog. He's blind and by the time I dot go him he was barking in a different direction and the hedgehog was curled up behind him.

I saw one yesterday evening, there are still a lot round us and it was crossing the road from my garden to get to the field opposite. I don’t feed them, but they often come to the garden to eat the slugs.

We have a wild garden and lots of hedgehogs. I put leftover cat food out and a few peanuts and sunflower seeds, they are there from about 8 p.m. hoovering them up. I think you need some wild area with longer grass etc, and also a way for them to move from one garden to another. Don't forget a bowl of fresh water every night.

When I lived in Torquay I used to see and hear hedgehogs regularly in our back garden at night.
Now I have lived in the countryside for twelve years I have only had one sighting of a hedgehog, and droppings on the driveway just occasionally.
It's so sad that their numbers have declined rapidly.

DH remarked that he'd filled up one hanging feeder with worms and they had disappeared practically overnight.
I said "I do hope it wasn't a hedgehog eating them as they're bad for hedgehogs".
He said "if I ever see a hedgehog hanging off that feeder feasting on worms I'll know I've had too much whisky!".

Not hedgehogs but I did see three goldfinches in the garden this morning for the first time in years.