Hedgehogs After Dark: FAQs

26th May 2020

A big thank you to everyone who’s taken part and submitted videos for Hedgehogs After Dark, we hope you’re enjoying it! To help you get the most out of the project, we’ve answered some commonly asked questions below…

Which wildlife camera should I buy?

While it’s not essential to have a wildlife camera to take part in Hedgehogs After Dark or to enter the competition, many people are interested in purchasing one. Wildlife cameras are a great way to keep an eye on your local hedgehogs, and means you can avoid late nights to watch them. Our friends at NatureSpy have kindly provided recommendations and top tips for purchasing a wildlife camera.

Should I still log sightings on the Big Hedgehog Map?

Yes please! The BIG Hedgehog Map is an ongoing project to log your sightings and is extremely important as it allows us to compare records from different years, plus we share it with records centres and researchers.

Hedgehogs After Dark will give us a snapshot of hedgehog behaviour this summer, along with rough location, but the map provides important distribution information, so please keep logging!

I get emails from Hedgehog Street but can’t log in as a Hedgehog Champion.

Monthly hedgehog update emails are sent to Hedgehog Champions who have opted into email, but are also sent to people who have engaged with a previous project or logged a sighting on the BIG Hedgehog Map, but aren’t necessarily a Hedgehog Champion. If your email address isn’t working, try registering, or contact hedgehog@ptes.org and we can check for you!

I don’t have any hedgehog videos – can I still enter the competition?

You don’t need to submit a video in order to enter the competition – it’s a prize draw for all who have logged behaviours.

Where will my hedgehog video be shown?

Your hedgehog videos may be used for PTES or BHPS social media, but more likely on the Hedgehog Street YouTube channel, where we’re trying to showcase as many as possible, with new videos every day. Make sure to subscribe to the channel to keep up to date on all new videos! Of course, you can also share your videos on your own social media, please tag PTES and BHPS and use the hashtags #HedgehogStreet and #HedgehogsAfterDark to spread the word.

I see lots of hedgehogs, do I need to keep recording their behaviour every day?

Some lucky people have lots of hedgehogs visiting every night, sometimes up to 10 individuals! Understandably, you may not be able to log all behaviours seen by all hedgehogs every evening, and in this case we would just ask that you log as much as you’re able and happy to, maybe record the behaviours from a few nights a week.

I see so many hedgehogs, how do I know if it’s the same hedgehog or several?

If you’re seeing several hedgehogs, it’s best to stick to logging the most that are seen or recorded at one time.

Should I log behaviours seen before and after midnight as two separate nights?

Ideally, we’d ask all behaviours seen in a night to be logged under the date before midnight. So for example if you were logging sightings on Tuesday 12^th from the night before, log them all as Monday 11^th. If you’ve been logging as two separate dates, don’t worry just alter for future sightings.

Which behaviour have I seen?

While some behaviours are easy to spot like feeding or drinking, others can be trickier to identify. Check the behaviours here and have a look through other YouTube vids for examples. We’ll also be exploring behaviours in more detail over the project period, so keep an eye on the news pages.

How long does Hedgehogs After Dark last?

You can keep logging behaviours and submitting videos until Sunday 26th July. But after that, you can still share videos on social media with the hashtag #HedgehogStreet to raise awareness.