Why are we promoting National Hedgehog Awareness Week?
We’ve lost a third of our urban hedgehogs and over half in rural areas so it’s important we can do whatever we can to slow the rate at which we’re loosing them.
Also when you picture the river you may not imagine a hedgehog there but when you start thinking about the river as a catchment of an area where water flows off the land into it, it encompasses everywhere including all the animals that live within it (and I’m sure a few hedgehogs have taken a drink from the river at some point).
Here’s a video from Catchment Officer Matt showing you what you can do to give hedgehogs a helping hand in your garden/allotment.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbA-jl340U0&w=560&h=315]
The adventures of Paxton the rescue hedgehog!
Next, we have an interview Matt did with Christine and Ava – two of our catchment volunteers that join us on days when we’re Moss Valley.
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Ava planting marginals at Never Fear Dam in the Moss Valley
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Christine bashing Himalayan Balsam
Hi Christine and Ava, I found out recently that you’ve got a rescued hedgehog living in your back garden and since it’s national hedgehog awareness week I wanted to ask you a few questions about it…
Why do hedgehogs need rescuing?
Hedgehog numbers are seriously in decline and there are various reasons why we may be able to help them along. They are often found injured by dog or rat attacks, they can be injured by a strimmer or they can get caught in garden netting and then starve. They can be underweight in the Autumn if they are from a second litter. If they are found wandering in the daytime it means something is wrong.
Where did you adopt your hedgehog from?
We adopted the Hedgehog from a friend who had been asked to look after it. On the 18/10/2019 it was found wandering around in the middle of the day by a South Yorkshire Police Officer, so the Hedgehog was taken into custody! My friend lives next door to the police officer and as the Officer knew she loves wildlife, they asked her to look after it. She rang the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) who put her in touch with people locally who look after Hedgehogs, but they didn’t have room so asked her to look after it.
In November it only weighed 750g and needs to be at least 800g to be released, so she decided to over winter it. in December It went into hibernation and came out in early spring at 800g. She kept it until it had made it back up to 900g, then asked us to give it a “soft release” as we live in the country and have safe water supplies at our ponds. The hedgehog came with it’s house and run and feeding stations. After a couple of days we opened the doors to the cage to allow it to explore our garden and the fields beyond. We have tried to keep track of it with a camera trap but we are not sure if it has been out of it’s run or if it’s still curled up in the house. We’ll keep on putting food down for it at the feeding stations and hopefully it will explore further and further afield and be less dependent on our food.
How do you look after the hedgehog?
Baby Paxton!
The British Hedgehog Preservation Societygave loads of advice. The first thing was to to weigh it. It was found to be under weight in October, at only 200g. So she was advised to keep it and feed it up. They gave her a Hedgehog house and a run and gave advise on feeding stations. She fed it on dried “Hedgehog Food” which you can buy at pet shops and wet cat food from pouches and plenty of water. She supplied it with hay which it used for lining it’s nest.
Have you given it a name? Is it a boy or a girl?
The local people from the BHPS, gave it the name of “Paxton” and thought it is a male.
What’s your favourite hedgehog fact you know?
That baby Hedgehogs are called “Hoglets”.
For more information on hedgehogs and what you can do to help this declining species go to –https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/
