Can you tell one neighbour about Hedgehog Street?
2nd July 2019
Hedgehog Street has been running now for eight years, and we are thrilled to say that over 60,000 people have volunteered to be Hedgehog Champions, with thousands more logging their sightings on the BIG Hedgehog Map. This is truly amazing, and gives us so much hope for the vulnerable hedgehog.
But, could we be doing even more?
If you think about it, there are 23 million homes in the UK and it is estimated that a staggering 87% of those have a garden. In fact, estimates say that 20-25% of urban greenspaces are in fact gardens!
Gardens are a huge proportion of land and are often thriving with insect life that hedgehogs depend on. Whereas, large parks and open amenity spaces can often have far less pollinators.
So, just think of all that great habitat that could be used by the hedgehog to find food, nesting spots and potential mates, but they just can’t get to.
We believe that its a loss of habitat and fragmentation through the installation of fences, walls and roads that has caused hedgehog numbers to plummet.
But, there is hope. There is you. And there is your neighbour.
Here are five simple steps to help hedgehogs thrive in the UK and bring them back from the brink of extinction:
- Step 1 – Make your garden hedgehog-friendly by following our Top 10 Tips
- Step 2 – Check out the BIG Hedgehog Map. Are there hedgehogs in your area? Do you think they can get to your garden? Think about how many gardens need to be connected for hedgehogs to travel from where they were last sighted to your garden – or are there lots of fences/walls in the way? Remember, hedgehogs can travel around a mile each night, so even a sighting that is a mile away means a hedgehog could get to you if there weren’t any barriers.
- Step 3 – Plan your Hedgehog Highways. Decide which of your neighbours need to make a hole in their fence or wall to allow for a hedgehog to travel from a mile away to your garden. Then print out copies of our free invitations and pop them through their letter boxes.
- Step 4 – Follow up with your invitations by doing a talk in the community. This could be at your local school, brownie or scout group or even your local church. Everyone loves to hear about hedgehogs and the talks are super easy and fun to give. We can even send you some of our Top Tips leaflets for free to hand out to people if you run an event or have a stand.
- Step 5 – Share the good news. If you are a registered Hedgehog Champion make sure to share your stories and images with your fellow champions. You can even discuss ideas in the Forum.
