Hedgehogs are waking up
By Charlotte Owen
WildCall Officer
With spring now well on the way, hibernating hedgehogs are waking from their winter sleep. Many of them went to bed much later than usual last year thanks to the relatively mild weather, which allowed them to remain active well into December and cram in a few vital extra meals in preparation. Even so, they have had to rely almost entirely on their body fat to see them through the past few months, so they will still be waking up very hungry.
Hedgehogs eat a wide variety of insects and other invertebrates but will opportunistically hoover up whatever they can find from carrion to bird’s eggs, frogs and fallen fruit. They love earthworms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars, earwigs and millipedes and these can be plentiful in gardens with compost heaps, log piles and plenty of undergrowth.But natural food can still be hard to come by this early in the year, even in the wildest of gardens, so providing a supplementary meal will give your local hedgehogs a welcome boost.The most popular option is meaty cat or dog food, either wet or dry, along with a shallow dish of water.Other favourites include unsalted peanuts, boiled eggs or a commercial hedgehog food. One item that should never be on the menu though is bread and milk; hedgehogs are severely lactose intolerant and milk will make them seriously ill, while bread is nutritionally poor (and no good for ducks, either).
If you’re not sure whether hedgehogs are visiting your garden, look out for faint trails in the grass, especially on their more regular routes, and their droppings are gritty, dark and about 5 cm long. They can also be very vocal, so any strange nocturnal huffing and grunting may well be hedgehogs. They can easily travel a mile or more in a single night, passing through multiple gardens, parks and other green spaces in their search for food but often encountering fences, walls and other impenetrable barriers along the way. If there aren’t already any gaps in your fence, try cutting a small (13cm x 13cm) hole at the base or digging a channel underneath it to create a simple ‘hedgehog highway’ and welcome these prickly characters into your garden.
Comments
No sign of hedgehogs yet cold they still be asleep?
I have a box for their food which is eaten every night but no sign of them yet.
01 May 2021 09:07:00
I do all I can to maintain “MY” family of hogs. Proof every year they visit and with their young too.
They’ll be safe here in my gardens.
01 May 2021 09:11:00
Hedgehogs have emerged from the house tucked away down the side of ours and are feeding regularly at night from a dish of hedgehog food – which they empty each time. Camera last night saw two (looking quite young) come under the fence. One was very aggressive, trying – and succeeding – in pushing the other away from the food. This went on for about 30 minutes before ‘Bossy’ departed and the other was able to eat what was left.
01 May 2021 09:15:00
Hedgehogs have been active in our garden for nearly a month already.
01 May 2021 10:04:00
So far this year we have had 4 different hedgehogs visiting. We feed them with wet cat or dog food and dry commercial hedgehog food, with fresh water from the water butt each day.
They seem to have their regular feeding time !
01 May 2021 10:17:00
Thanks. I built the hedgehog home that was in your Autumn newsletter. I know it was used briefly by at least one of the 2 hedgehogs that we had but then it was vacated. The sand tray showed no paw prints from early this year.
01 May 2021 10:18:00
I am in Bexhill on Sea and have had hedgehogs coming for food for the last couple of weeks or more. On Wednesday evening this week there was a large hedgehog and two smaller ones.
01 May 2021 11:42:00
I have had a hog in my garden twice this week, the last week of April. Maybe more nights but it’s been in the early hours when I happen to look out. I have a hole in the bottom of my fence and a couple of hog houses. Non resident yet though. I do put food here and there and always water in a low dish with a wedge shaped piece of brick in case a young one gets stuck.
01 May 2021 15:45:00
I have had up to 3 hedgehogs visiting my feeding station, but these last few nights we dont think they are eating much, the wet food ( meaty dog food ) has been left and the kibbles are not finished either. We leave plenty of water dishes around the garden. My question therefore is, do they leave a feeding station they have been using for two seasons and go else were, my neighbours hedgehog has also disappeared. ?
ANSWER: It's impossible to say but they will now be more interested in mating than feeding, and females will be busy nesting ready to give birth – most hoglets are born in June but they do sometimes arrive earlier.01 May 2021 17:08:00
At the moment we have three hedgehogs which visit our garden. Sometimes they are together, sometimes they come separately.
They are mostly feeding on cat food, peanuts and Spikes hedgehog food .
01 May 2021 20:02:00
Lovely to see hedgehogs around- would miss them terribly if not about
01 May 2021 20:29:00
we are feeding a pair of hogs in the last few weeks in front garden on dog food one of them comes most evenings about 9 oclock for dinner. also feed 2 foxes in back garden every night, have a trail camera to film them.
01 May 2021 21:49:00
I have had two visits from a hedgehog already the first time was at 2.30pm around the 7th April. Gave him some dog food and he toddled off. The second time was a week later around 5.30pm, fed him and followed him to an area of the garden where we had piled up leaves and he disappeared into them. I haven’t seen him since.
01 May 2021 22:22:00
Two now visiting for snacks!
02 May 2021 07:11:00
I have never seen a hedgehog… I’m 72. I imagine that, near the sea and with stone walls all around I am highly unlikely to see a hedgehog in my garden. Am I right?
ANSWER: Yes, stonewalls will be a barrier, esp if there are no access points such us under a gate02 May 2021 07:48:00
Two now visiting for snacks!
02 May 2021 11:16:00
Husband made 4 hedgehog houses none have been used we have hedge open bits by field
03 May 2021 06:27:00
We’d love to put food out for hedgehogs and build houses for them but we know theirs rats in the local gardens so how do we help the hedgehogs without encouraging rats?
04 May 2021 07:12:00
I have two hedgehogs come to the garden every night. I buy their food from the pet shop .
08 May 2021 09:55:00
I have two hedgehogs come to the garden every night. I buy their food from the pet shop .
09 May 2021 13:43:00