#HedgehogAwarenessWeek

It is currently Hedgehog Awareness Week, 1st – 7th May 2016. As someone who wanders around the garden at night with bare feet, it is in my best interests to be aware of them.

I am very fortunate that there seems to be a healthy population in this area. They have free access to most of the gardens around here. They can travel between 1 and 2 miles each night and need to visit several gardens. They drink a lot of water so it is very helpful if you can leave a shallow bowl of water out for them.

Tonight there were 4 hogs in the garden in 2 sets of pairs.

I’m hoping that love is in the air, they were certainly making a lot of very loud snuffling noises.

They are the UK’s favourite mammal, yet their population is crashing. This is mainly due to habitat loss. Here are some links with a lot of advice on how to help them; these include tips on gardening, making hog houses and supplementing their food. The concentration this year is on educating gardeners and contractors to check for hedgehogs before using strimmers, mowers or other machinery. If you are on Twitter, do check out #HedgehogAwarenessWeek

British Hedgehog Preservation Society

Wildlife Trusts – Gardening for Hedgehogs

Royal Horticultural Society – Planting for Pollinators

Little Silver Hedgehog – a fellow blogger with a wealth of information and ideas