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.

That’s so sweet @AgathaMystery you write beautifully about hedgehogs!

😀they are very casual creatures aren’t they - until they want food. Then they can motor! Ours are OUTRAGED if we forget to leave food out. One went charging into the bushes last night when I went out to feed them. Came out pretty quick when he saw the pile of luxury cat biscuits.

😂
They sound like real little characters.

I’m wondering if anyone has successfully litter trained a hog?!

No, we hand reared a lost baby, and kept her in the house over winter. She lived with our cats; but the litter tray was an unknown concept! Well, she liked to snuggle up to the cats on the hearth rug; they weren’t so keen on the prickles!

I love the way you write about hedgehogs! @AgathaMystery 😀

some of the other lovely posters on this thread have also said about hedgehogs appearing when they hear the familiar noise of food being put out.

If you haven’t already, please register as a hedgehog champion Become a hedgehog champion

@TheSummerPalace how wonderful you are to have cared for a hoglet. It’s been an honour to have read your story and other stories from lovely posters like @AlanThePig and @bloodywhitecat who have cared for hedgehogs

We hand reared her with kitten formula milk, as in those days, we thought it was the closest we could get. If we were sitting on the floor, she used to walk up our trouser legs, as far as she could go! Getting back out was a bit more difficult. She loved to lie with her belly against the hearth (with the fire on) in the winter! We let her go, in the summer. She lived under our shed!

We have a family group who visit our garden!
Always a dish of water out for them & all other thirsty critters. :-) They all eat better than we do, too!
Luckily our gardens are on a bit of a slope so they can get under the fences to next door's & NDBO's gardens and there's a kind of plantation with lots of shady trees & undergrowth. :-)

Thank you for sharing that lovely story!

That’s wonderful @mamabear715 ! If you haven’t already, please log your hedgehog family on the Hedgehog Street Big Hedgehog Map. The data helps Hedgehog Street with their campaign to keep hedgehogs a common and familiar part of British life.

Sharing this video from Hedgehog Street for anyone reading who would like to know how they can make their garden hedgehog friendly 🦔

@Pricklesinperil
Done! xx

Thanks! @mamabear715 🌟

Sharing this video from the legend that is Sir David Attenborough

Evening bump - it’s still so dry, although rain is expected, here on the South Coast it’s going to be fragmented and very light.

please leave out water for wildlife

in another county far far north tonight and the place we are staying at has hedgehogs! We have been asked to feed them!

Ooooh that’s brilliant @AgathaMystery !

please leave them details of Hedgehog Street (it’s available as an app too!) if they weren’t already aware Hedgehog Street

The owner is a hedgehog champion!!

That’s made me so happy!

i’ve just filled up the water dishes as well as the food dishes. We’ve had light rain most of the day here on the South Coast but the ground is still hard so hedgehogs find it difficult to dig for insects.

I finally saw one on my lawn last night, for the first time this year. Hopefully it will be a returning visitor from

So pleased that you saw a hedgehog Duchess! I hope it becomes a regular visitor too.

There’s a heatwave special on Countryfile tonight (7pm, BBC 1). As the heat bakes the British countryside into crisis, Adam Henson and John Craven meet those on the front line: the farmer who is double sewing and trying a new crop; the wildlife champions battling to save chalk streams.

I’ve just refilled the water dishes and food bowls - still so very dry - please leave out water for wildlife

Bumping - it’s getting dark so much earlier already ……..

Thanks for the reminder! Food and water are out