How to Attract Hedgehogs to Your Garden UK

The British hedgehog population has declined by roughly a third since 2000. In rural areas the decline is even steeper – intensive farming, loss of hedgerows and pesticide use have dramatically reduced the insects and earthworms that hedgehogs depend on. In urban and suburban areas, the picture is more hopeful – gardens can provide genuine sanctuary if they offer what hedgehogs actually need.

A hedgehog typically roams one to two kilometres each night in search of food. For that to be possible in a suburban neighbourhood, gardens need to be connected – which means gaps in fences and walls. This is the single most important thing you can do, and it costs almost nothing.

Why hedgehog numbers are falling

Understanding the reasons behind the decline helps you understand which garden changes make the most difference.

Garden access – the hedgehog hole

A hedgehog needs access to multiple gardens to find enough food each night. Solid close-board fencing between every garden in a street creates an effective barrier that fragments habitat and reduces the area any individual hedgehog can forage across.

The solution is simple: cut a 13cm x 13cm hole at the base of each fence panel, close to the ground. This is large enough for a hedgehog to pass through easily but too small for most dogs. If you have a wooden fence you can use a jigsaw or hole saw. For brick walls, a single removed brick creates the perfect access point.

Mark the hole with a small sign or registration with Hedgehog Street (hedgehogstreet.org) so your garden appears on the national map of hedgehog-friendly gardens – a useful tool for researchers tracking population recovery.

Creating the right habitat

Hedgehogs need three things from a garden: food (invertebrates), shelter for nesting and hibernation, and safe passage to move through without hazards. Most of what hedgehogs need requires you to do less rather than more.

• Leave a wild corner – a 2m x 2m area of long grass, nettles and rough vegetation provides foraging ground and nesting material. Most gardens can accommodate this in a corner without affecting the overall appearance.
• Create a log pile – a pile of old logs and branches provides shelter, nesting sites and crucially habitat for the beetles, woodlice and other invertebrates that hedgehogs eat. The more weathered and rotting the logs, the better.
• Keep a leaf pile – hedgehogs use dry leaves for nesting and hibernation. A pile of fallen leaves in a sheltered corner, left undisturbed from October to April, may attract a hibernating hedgehog.
• Reduce pesticide use – pesticides reduce the invertebrate population that hedgehogs depend on. Slug pellets containing metaldehyde are particularly harmful – switch to ferric phosphate-based products which are safe for hedgehogs and other wildlife.

Feeding hedgehogs correctly

Supplementary feeding is not essential for hedgehogs that have access to good natural foraging habitat, but it can help during dry spells when earthworms are deep underground and invertebrates are scarce. If you choose to feed, the food matters enormously.

Safe to feed: specialist hedgehog food (available from pet shops and garden centres), good quality meaty cat or dog food (wet or biscuits), and fresh water in a shallow dish. Fresh water is arguably the most important supplementary provision, particularly in summer.

Never feed: bread and milk (the most common mistake – hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and bread provides almost no nutrition), mealworms (counterintuitively, mealworms cause metabolic bone disease in hedgehogs when fed regularly), or anything sweet, salty or processed.

Hazards to remove from your garden

• Ponds without ramps – hedgehogs can swim but tire quickly and drown if they cannot get out. Add a rough ramp of chicken wire or a piece of wood at the pond edge so any hedgehog that falls in can climb out.
• Netting at ground level – fruit cage netting, football nets and garden netting left at ground level trap hedgehogs and cause serious injuries or death. Raise netting at least 30cm from the ground or remove it when not in use.
• Strimmers and rotary mowers – hedgehogs curl into a ball when threatened, making them invisible in long grass until it is too late. Always check long grass carefully with a stick before strimming or mowing.
• Bonfires – hedgehogs love to nest in bonfire material. Always check and move a bonfire pile before lighting it, or better, build it on the day you plan to light it rather than leaving it for days.
• Deep-sided drains and gullies – cover or mark these so hedgehogs do not fall in and become trapped.

Hedgehog houses – do they work?

Hedgehog houses work, but location matters far more than design. A well-positioned basic box will be used more readily than an elaborate structure in the wrong spot. Place the house in a quiet, sheltered corner with the entrance facing away from prevailing wind and rain (usually south or east-facing). Cover the top with leaves or a piece of bark for insulation and camouflage. Leave it undisturbed from November to April.

Do not check inside during winter. A disturbed hibernating hedgehog uses stored fat reserves to warm up and re-enter hibernation, which can be fatal if food is not available. If you want to know if the house is occupied, place a small stick loosely across the entrance – if it has moved, something has been in or out.

Making your garden hedgehog-friendly is one of those changes that costs almost nothing but contributes meaningfully to the conservation of one of Britain’s most loved wild mammals. For more on creating a wildlife-friendly garden, read our guide on how to create a wildlife garden UK.