To ask you to please help hedgehogs and other wildlife prepare for winter

[Pricklesinperil]

It is literally a lifeline for them as the weather gets warmer.

if you’d like to know about other ways to help, please go to Help hedgehogs

thank you

Note from MNHQ - please do read the Op's latest update (October 2022) before responding.

Thanks for sharing @Lonelycrab 😍

So it wasn’t dark then?

Ours hasn’t/havent come back for two nights (not sure how many it is), still putting food and water out and hoping they’re OK.

@TheDuchessOfMN no it was still quite early. The last couple of times it’s been around 730-8 rather than later when you’d expect.

Lovely to see the new photo @Lonelycrab you take a good photo! They are notoriously difficult to snap!

@DowningStreetParty my little visitor also didn’t show up as usual last night- it does make you anxious when you don’t see them as usual. You’re doing the right thing by continuing to leave out the food and water. Here’s hoping for another sighting soon …….. 🦔

Bumping earlier today as it’s going to be hot everywhere! Please help hedgehogs (and all wildlife) by leaving out shallow dishes of fresh water each night. Here’s a video from Hedgehog Street with ten tips to make your garden hedgehog friendly

Bumping again for the lunchtime crowd.

🦔 💦 🥣

Bumping with a picture of our hedgehog.

Another one!

Wow!🫶

Thank you @RichardOsmansXraySpecs ! 🙏

Gorgeous photos @Doginthewindow ! Thank you for sharing. Have you logged your hedgehogs on the hedgehog map? Hedgehog Street Big Hedgehog Map

Please check your own facts before accusing me of having inaccurate opinions . I said I don't like hedgehogs because they are an invasive species and eat groundnesting birds. Both of these facts are true. They are not native to all of the uk. Perhaps educate yourself on the impact they have on Scottish Islands.

Assisting hedgehogs on the mainland will have little impact on populations on the Scottish Islands.

@Zwellers i apologise unreservedly. I should have asked where you were located rather than making the assumption that you were based in mainland UK and accusing you. Poor show on my part, I am sorry. Thank you for sharing that as that is new information to me.

I would like to stress to other readers that on the British mainland, hedgehogs are in desperate need of your support, so please don’t stop helping them. Here’s details of the Hedgehog Street campaign if you’d like to read more Hedgehog Street campaign

Zwellers maybe a thread about helping hedgehogs is not the thread for you, if you despise them so much 👋

I live next to a river with shallow banks. It never runs dry. Do I still need to leave water out?

I also have a leaky clean water pipe at the bottom of the garden that the landlord won't fix... I guess that's also suitable for them?

Or are these the sorts of water sources they can't access? I'm a little confused about how they've survived this long if they can't access water from natural sources.

Ok, on further inspection, this whole thing seems to be for urban areas rather than rural, and the making holes in garden walls thing appears to only be an issue for modern walls - it says they can climb up dry stone walls because of the protuberances.

Thanks for this Op. It’s a really important time of year to put water out for hedgehogs, and of course birds. Also a good idea to put a shallow dish of water with a layer of stones or marbles for bees and bugs.

Brambles hedgehog food is suitable as it has a high meat content, but I believe most other hedgehog food doesn’t. Kitten food is cheaper and nutritious.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but can I use this opportunity to highlight that if a hedgehog is seen out during the day it most likely is ill and needs taking to a rescue centre (not vet) for specialist treatment.

Is there any way of deterring them ? My dogs brought in a big fate hedgehog from the garden the other night and dumped it in our kitchen. It seemed uninjured and eventually scuttled away after it unrolled itself. I can't stop the dogs having free run of the garden in the evenings, but love hedgehogs and just want it to leave and be safe.

Sorry that should say big fat hedgehog. it was enormous.

@Chouetted thank you for posting. Lovely to know that hedgehogs near you have the river. You’re right, the campaign is to encourage every household to think of hedgehogs and create hedgehog highways so they can access gardens. This stops them forced onto roads when searching for food and water as sadly, that never ends well for hedgehogs.

if you have seen any hedgehogs, you can log your sightings here Big Hedgehog Map. You can also look up your postcode to see if anyone else has spotted a hedgehog local to you.

Finally, if you haven’t already seen it, take a look at this video with ten tips to make gardens hedgehog friendly

@Eckno please post away! Anyone who loves wildlife and wants to help them are welcome here!

yes, good reminder about water for all wildlife including our pollinators.

thank you for the reminder about hedgehogs during the day. Posting the link from Hedgehog Street here for anyone who wants to know exactly what to do if they spot a sick or injured hedgehog Sick and injured hedgehogs

@Babyroobs thanks for your question and for caring about hedgehogs. Hedgehog Street gives this advice Pets and Hedgehogs

another option is, if you can, is to create a little wild area that hedgehogs can enter but your dog can’t. My neighbour has done this as he had the same concern.

I’m not an expert, so if the advice from hedgehog street doesn’t work for you, and if the option I mentioned is also not suitable, please contact hedgehog street for expert advice by calling 01584 890801

Hedgehog Street has forums as well where you can post for advice in the meantime, you just need to register to post Hedgehog Street forums

Thanks for the links Prickleinperil.