Hedgehogs are in trouble! We’ve lost a third of all our hedgehogs in the UK over the last ten years, which is alarming as they play a vital part in our ecosystem. There are many ways in which we can help.

Build A Hedgehog House

Hedgehogs need somewhere to hibernate in winter, so here's your chance to provide them with a cosy home. There are plenty to buy on the market, Hedgehog Home has all different varieties, but the Gardeners' World wooden hedgehog house takes just two hours to make out of recycled wooden crates and should entice them away from bonfire stacks and ensure they stay in your garden ready to feast on slugs and snails in the spring. More here

Link Your Garden

Ensuring hedgehogs can pass freely through your garden is the most important thing you can do to help them. Hedgehogs travel around one mile every night through our parks and gardens in their quest to find enough food and a mate. If you have an enclosed garden you might be getting in the way of their plans. One of the main reasons why hedgehogs are declining in Britain is because our fences and walls are becoming more and more secure, reducing the amount of land available to them.

We can make their life a little easier by removing the barriers within our control – for example, by making holes in or under our garden fences and walls for them to pass through. DIY ‘Hedgehog Highways’ 13cm by 13cm is sufficient for any hedgehog to pass through. This will be too small for nearly all pets.

Help the Hedgehog Campaign

Register here to help the charity Hedgehog Street. There is plenty of free, downloadable stuff including fact sheets, posters, action cards and invites to help you encourage people in your local area to be as hedgehog-friendly as you. Remember, hedgehogs cannot survive in isolated gardens but need neighbourhoods of connected land.