Meet the Hedgehog Champions: The Lear Family
6th May 2020
Hedgehog Awareness Week Day 4
Harriet, Matt, Cara (12) and Tommy (8) live in south-west Devon and have been Hedgehog Champions since October last year, when they found a hedgehog in distress and took action to make their garden a ‘hog haven.
Not a Hedgehog Champion yet? You can sign up HERE.
At the end of October we found an adolescent hedgehog in the garden wobbling on the spot apparently unable to move or run away. We carefully brought it into the house, put it in a box with sawdust and hay, and decided to call him or her ‘Hedgie’.
We gave Hedgie water and meaty cat food and within a few hours he/she started scuttling around. The next morning Hedgie had built an incredible nest out of the hay in the box. After seeking advice from BHPS and a brief stint with a local hedgehog carer, luckily Hedgie could be released.
For Hedgie’s release, we built a little wooden house with a tunnel leading to the entrance so that cats and foxes couldn’t get their paws into the main section. We positioned the house in a secluded overgrown part of the garden under a tree and behind a shed. We carefully placed Hedgie into the house with some nesting materials. We did this using gloves not only to protect ourselves from anything undesirable that the hedgehog might have had, but also so we didn’t get our scent on him.
Although part of our garden is well kept, we purposely leave a large sections completely overgrown for to protect wildlife and provide animals with safe places live.
We didn’t want to disturb Hedgie, so we don’t actually know whether he/she hibernated there over the winter or left the little house but during April we have spotted hedgehogs roaming our garden late in the evenings on several occasions. They sometimes set off the motion sensor lights, but this doesn’t seem to bother them as they regularly potter past the patio doors.
