Hedgehog Awareness Week (2 - 8 May 2021)

5 May 2021

Annually, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society host a Hedgehog Awareness Week to help raise awareness around the plight of the European hedgehog and the actions you can take to help local populations thrive. 

Did you know that the hedgehog is now officially classified as vulnerable to extinction?

There are many things that you can do to help the species thrive, including some of the following actions:

Make your garden hedgehog friendly

• Improve access to connected habitats by leaving or creating gaps in fencing/ walls etc.  This only needs to be a 13 x 13 cm gap, about the same size as a cd case (remember these!?)
• Now they can access your garden, allow areas to rewild.  Native hedgerow species - bramble, hawthorn. blackthorn - and native deciduous trees - oak, beech, hazel - provide the perfect nesting material.  Read more on how to create the perfect hedgehog garden.
• Provide a shallow dish of fresh water for all wildlife, and food such as meaty hedgehog food, meaty cat or dog food or cat biscuits for hedgehogs, especially during long dry spells
• Avoid the use of pesticides and slug pellets as these can interfere with the food chain and harm hedgehogs if ingested
• Build a hedgehog house or create leaf and log piles
• Be sure to check areas that hedgehogs may be before routine garden maintenance such as leaf blowing, strimming and grass cutting

Get involved

• Contact us to hear more about our Hedgehog Friendly Campus initiative and how you can get involved. Alternatively, you can follow us in Instagram @hedgehogs_atharperadams, managed by Lauren, our Student HFC ambassador
• Organise a litter pick or a charity event such as a bake sale (observing food safety and covid regulations) donating proceeds to BHPS Just Giving.
• Check out your local community, there are many active groups locally working together.
• Report hedgehog sightings at the Big Hedgehog Map
• Participate in our campus hedgehog presence surveying workshop on the 10 May 2021, 12-2pm.  Email sustainability@harper-adams.ac.uk  for further information.   There will be another session later in the year, closer to hibernation.

We'd love to hear whether this has inspired you to take action or what you're already doing.  Get in touch via sustainability@harper-adams.ac.uk  or @sustainablehau (Twitter and Instagram).