BE A HEDGEHOG HERO!
What?
We’re asking everyone to do what they can to provide for the needs of this iconic little animal which is now classified as VULNERABLE TO EXTINCTION IN BRITAIN!!
And the number one most important thing we can do is to connect our gardens. We want to make a Wychwood Hedgehog Super-Highway across all the Wychwood villages. It's the easiest thing to do but will make a huge difference. See below.
Why?
Hedgehog numbers have declined by as much as 75% in rural areas such as the Wychwoods, just since 2000! This is because of:
- more buildings
- removing hedges
- road deaths (335,000 hedgehogs annually)
- garden casualties (always check before you strim or light a bonfire)
- lack of food - pesticides reducing their diet of insects.
- poisoning due to pesticides - please don't use slug pellets!
- habitat fragmentation - hedgehogs can travel up to 2km a night to forage or breed, but enclosing our gardens stops them in their tracks.
How?
Easy:
- Put out a water bowl in the garden, all the time but especially on hot nights.
- Put out a bowl of food - good quality hedgehog food, cat or kitten food (wet or dry, meaty not fishy). NO bread and milk or mealworms! And remember to keep the bowl clean!
- Keep an area of the garden a little bit wild for hedgehogs to forage in, as well as to encourage insects for them to eat.
Slightly more effort:
- Buy or make a hedgehog feeding station to keep food safe from cats and badgers. There are lots of ideas online.
- Buy or make a hedgehog house. See below.
Most important:
- Get connected - connect your garden with your neighbour's to make a Hedgehog Highway! See below.
How to make a Hedgehog Highway
We're asking you to help us make a Wychwoods Hedgehog Superhighway!
When you've made your hedgehog hole, just email us with your address and we'll add it to our maps. You can check these out using the links below. See how your village is doing and ask your neighbours to 'get connected'. More village maps to be added soon.
ASCOTT HEDGEHOG MAP. SHIPTON HEDGEHOG MAP-NORTH. SHIPTON HEDGEHOG MAP-SOUTH. MILTON HEDGEHOG MAP
What size?
You just need to make a 13cm square hole (about the size of a CD cover) in any of your boundary fences or walls so hedgehogs can pass through. Remember to check with your neighbours first!
Where?
The holes are best created next to some vegetation where hedgehogs will feel safest to scuttle through. Make sure not to direct them towards a road.
When you've made your hedgehog hole, just email us with your address and we'll add it to the map.
How?
- Cut or drill out a hole in a wooden fence.
- Remove a brick from the bottom of the wall.
- Dig a channel under your wall, fence or gate.
- Take out some stones in a dry stone wall and insert a lintel.
Put a sign up!
It’s fun to buy, or better still to make, a sign to go above your hedgehog hole - a great project to get children or grandchildren involved!
Hedgehog Houses
This photo shows one of 6 hedgehog houses we've distributed across the Wychwood villages, kindly sponsored by our local estate agents, Ted George.
There are lots of designs available but do make sure of the following features:
- must be sturdy enough not to be knocked over by dogs or badgers
- must be completely waterproof
- must have adequate ventilation
- ideally have a right angled entrance channel which cats etc. cannot access
- don't be tempted to put food in the house - hedgehogs like to eat and sleep separately and this attracts vermin
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