Why a Slightly Untidy Garden Suits Hedgehogs Best

Hedgehogs have been part of British gardens for centuries, but their numbers have fallen sharply since the 1950s. The reasons are mostly about space and connection: sealed fences, paved-over front gardens, immaculate lawns and a shortage of the rough, insect-rich places where hedgehogs feed and nest. The encouraging thing is that a hedgehog-friendly garden usually needs less work than a manicured one, not more. What it needs is a little deliberate untidiness in the right places, and a way in and out.

An adult hedgehog can walk a kilometre or more in a single night, hunting beetles, caterpillars, earthworms, slugs and earwigs. It has no interest in your boundary line. To find enough food, it must be able to move between several gardens, which is why the single most useful thing you can do is join yours up with your neighbours'.

Leave a Wild Corner

Choose a back corner, ideally against a fence or hedge, and simply stop tidying it. A patch roughly two metres square is plenty, though bigger is better.

• Let the grass grow long from spring to late summer. Cut it in stages in autumn, and always cut from the middle outwards so anything hiding has an escape route.
• Allow seed heads to stand through winter — they feed insects, which in turn feed hedgehogs.
• Leave fallen leaves where they land. A shallow drift of leaves is warm, damp and full of the invertebrates hedgehogs eat.
• Avoid strimming the long patch until you have checked it thoroughly, especially in May and June when females are nesting.

If you want to plant into the corner, native species such as hawthorn, hazel, honeysuckle and bramble are all excellent. Bramble in particular is one of the best nesting plants in the country — a thorny, layered tangle that cats and foxes rarely bother to push through.

Build a Log Pile That Earns Its Keep

A log pile is part nest site, part larder. Stack half a dozen logs of around 20–30cm diameter loosely against a fence or under a shrub, leaving gaps between them rather than packing them tight. Tuck in some twigs, dead leaves and a little soil or leaf mould to hold the damp in. A couple of bricks or stones at the base will create the small cavities hedgehogs prefer.

Site it in shade or part shade, and leave it alone year-round. Disturbing a pile between November and March can wake a hibernating hedgehog, which costs it precious fat reserves. A well-built pile will be used for summer nesting, autumn foraging and winter hibernation.

A compost heap is another favourite, particularly one built directly on soil rather than on a plastic base. Turn it gently with a fork and check first — a hedgehog can bed down in a warm heap in a matter of hours.

Cut a Gap Under the Fence

A hedgehog only needs an opening about 13cm square — roughly the size of a CD case — to pass through comfortably. Cut a notch at the bottom of a fence panel or lift a gravel board at one end. In a brick wall, removing a single brick at ground level does the job perfectly.

• Make one gap in each boundary: back fence, side fences and the front boundary too. Hedgehogs arriving from the street need a way into the front garden before they can reach the back.
• Keep the gap clear of leaves, soil and overgrown grass so it stays usable.
• Talk to your neighbours. If three or four houses in a row each cut one gap, you create a connected run of gardens long enough to support a healthy local population.

Choose a spot away from a road side if you can, and avoid siting gaps directly beside busy kerbs where hedgehogs may be funnelled into traffic.

Water, Food and the Slug Pellet Problem

Hedgehogs get thirsty, particularly in hot, dry spells and in autumn as they build up reserves before hibernation. Put out a shallow dish of fresh water — a plant saucer no more than 2–3cm deep is ideal, with a stone in it so anything small can climb out. Refresh it daily and position it near cover so hedgehogs feel safe drinking.

Never offer milk or bread. Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, and both do more harm than good. If you know you already have hedgehogs visiting, a small portion of meaty cat or dog food (chicken or turkey based, not fish) at dusk is fine, or a purpose-made hedgehog food. Feed little and often, remove leftovers, and stop if you are attracting rats.

Avoid slug pellets completely, of every type. A hedgehog that eats a poisoned slug or the pellets themselves can be seriously harmed, and slug killers also strip out the beetles and worms that make up most of its natural diet. It is far better to let frogs, toads, slow worms, ground beetles and birds do the work. If you feel you must use a trap, choose a covered design and check it every single morning.

Check Before You Cut, Burn or Dig

Most hedgehog injuries in gardens come from ordinary jobs done at the wrong moment. A quick check takes seconds.

• Bonfires: build the pile on the day you intend to burn it, or move it completely first, lifting from the bottom with a torch. A hedgehog will happily sleep in a warm heap of cuttings within hours.
• Strimmers and mowers: walk the long grass and nettle patches first, and cut from the centre outwards.
• Netting: keep garden netting, pea netting and sports nets at least 30cm above the ground, and roll them away when not in use. Hedgehogs get badly tangled.
• Ponds: fit a gentle ramp — a piece of sloping stone or a bundle of twigs — at one edge. Hedgehogs can swim but cannot climb out of vertical sides.
• Holes and drains: cover, grille or leave a rough twig ramp in anything steep-sided deeper than a few centimetres.
• Chemicals: reduce or drop weedkillers, lawn treatments and insecticides. They remove the insect life a hedgehog depends on.

Small Changes, Lasting Difference

A hedgehog garden is mostly a matter of leaving things be: one wild corner, one log pile, one shallow dish of water, and a small gap in the fence. Add a neighbour or two doing the same and you have a genuine wildlife corridor. You may never see the results directly — hedgehogs are shy and largely nocturnal — but the signs are unmistakable. Listen for rustling and snuffling after dusk, and look for dark, cylindrical droppings about 4–5cm long, often glistening with beetle cases, on the lawn or path. If you spot a hedgehog out in daylight, that is usually a sign of trouble, so contact your local wildlife trust or a hedgehog rescue for advice rather than handling it yourself.