Save Mrs Tiggy-Winkle

As a child I loved BEATRIX POTTER books and one of my favorites was THE TALE OF MRS. TIGGY-WINKLE the washerwoman hedgehog. I fell in love with these adorable creatures and was always fascinated with their prickly spines. My father was always pleased to see a hedgehog in our garden, as they would eat the slugs that attacked his vegetable.

So I was sad to hear the news that the hedgehog was in decline, once common in U.K gardens with the population estimated at 30 million in the 1950's. But that has plummeted to fewer than one million today, this is due to many factor's. Widespread use of pesticides reduces the invertebrates hedgehogs eat, hedgerow management, and rise in badger numbers, which can eat hedgehog. The urban hedgehog has to deal with impermeable garden fencing and walls limits the area of connected land available.

Here in the Morvan I have seen a few, this one was out for a stroll last summer.

I hope it's hibernating some where nice and warm over these cold winter months. I used to have a hedgehog that walk through my garden at night stopping to eat Charly's dog food. He wasn't very happy, barking and trying to attack it he soon backed off when he got realized this little animal was not too be messed with.

What can we do to help the Hedgehog?

The natural diet of a hedgehog mainly consists of slugs, ground beetles, caterpillars and worms. To help in cold or dry periods you can supplement this with meat-based wet dog or cat food, or dry cat food. Don't give them bread and milk, as hedgehogs a lactose intolerant leave out a shallow dish of water.

Don't use poisonous slug pellets, I have used beer traps around my vegetables getting the slugs drunk, they then full into the dish. Hedgehogs have poor eyesight but are quite curious, meaning they full into holes and get stuck, my neighbor has rescued a couple from her pool just in time.

Build them a home.

Give your hedgehog a place to live and eat, Log and leaf piles are a perfect place, try to pile these in quiet, undisturbed corners of your garden to allow hedgehogs a safe, secure area to breed and hibernate. Or choose one of the many different types of house that are commercial available or make your own.

This website has a nice selection of hedgehog homes https://thehedgehog.co.uk/product-category/house/

Place your hedgehog home in a quiet part of your garden, preferably against a boundary wall or fence, and ideally under plant cover.
Do not use anything to treat the wood – most wood treatments contain chemicals that can be harmful to hedgehogs and other animals.
If possible, place the house in an untidy area so that when they come out to forage they have some protection.
Don’t position the entrance so that it’s facing North or North East – this will prevent its residents being subjected to the worst of the winter winds.

So let's try to save these wonderful creatures for future generations to enjoy.

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