Hedgehog Awareness Week 2022
From Mrs Tiggy-Winkle to Anabelle, it’s easy to see why we can so easily fall in love with these popular characters of children’s fiction. Despite their prickly spines, it’s something about their long faces, beady eyes and cute noses that we can relate to. You can easily understand why some will chose to keep these unique creatures as pets (Please don’t take any from the wild as they are a protected species throughout the UK).
In the wild, hedgehogs have a key role in maintaining a healthy ecosystems. They work to control insect and pest populations which includes keeping our gardens and woodlands healthy.
Despite this, in real life hedgehogs are not having such an easy time. Our urban environment is becoming increasingly difficult for them to navigate. Walls and fences present unsurmountable barriers for them to cross whilst a drive to low maintenance hard landscaped gardens is destroying their habitats.
It is now well known that the population of hedgehogs in Britain is suffering from a serious decline. The most recent analysis of the research done through the combined work of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species indicates that urban populations have fallen by up to 30% and rural populations by at least 50% since the turn of the century.
This week marks Hedgehog Awareness Week 2022. The British Hedgehog preservation Society runs this annual event to promote the simple things we can all do to help our spikey friends. From helping them move about to removing poisons, simple steps can help protect and grow the surviving wild populations throughout the UK. You can learn loads more about hedgehogs online through their website – https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/
If you’re really lucky you may even get a hedgehog setting up residence as a guest in your garden. If you do, you may like to offer it food and water. Please make sure you check how to keep you hedgehog safe and healthy first though – Information for feeding a hedgehog.