Woodlands – Would you like some help with your gardening?

Woodlands – Would you like some help with your gardening?

Our gardens can be very personal spaces and are usually quite important to us.

They often provide us with our own private outside space, shadowed only by blue skies or the Great British rain cloud!

But help is at hand; whether you’re looking for a perfectly manicured lawn, a sea of colour and a variety of flowers, a more rustic setting to relax in or your own bit of wilderness to escape from the world for a while, the humble hedgehog could be the answer you are looking for!

The Erinaceinae (hedgehog to you and me) has been bumbling around our soils for the last 15 million years and on our Island since the last Ice age!

Hedgehogs will eat insects such as slugs, beetles and caterpillars which are all pests that we can spend a lot of time and often money trying to get rid of! Flowers, plants and crops can all fall prey to these insects, and whilst insecticides can be effective many people would rather not use such chemicals on their own area of nature.

So why not, by simply enjoying your garden, and encouraging hedgehogs into it, you could also play a part in supporting and helping to rejuvenate a native British wild species; one that has outlived the sabre toothed tiger, survived the ice age and lived alongside bears and wolves when they were living as wild animals on British soil!

Whilst they will trample across your lawn and scamper around your veg patch, they will also scoop up all the bugs you are trying so hard to eradicate.

They may even take a dip in your pond, but, you will never know that they were there! Like Jack Frost they leave no footprints, and wish no harm to your decorative railings, expensive and highly pruned hedge, beautifully crafted flower beds or your lovingly painted fence.

Their only request is an escape route out of your garden, which needs only be a 3cm squared space through which they can saunter. Contributing to these ‘hedgehog highways’, will mean that you are giving the one million hedgehogs that our left in this country, (this has reduced by 30% in the last 10 years alone) a chance to survive.

These highways are necessary because hedgehogs can roam up to 2km per night, which is about the same size as 20 small gardens linked together. Hedgehogs are insect eaters (insectivorous) and nocturnal – this is why you will often hear ‘if you see a hedgehog out in the day – it is not ok’! They are therefore foraging for food and somewhere safe and warm to sleep during their nocturnal wanderings.

So, if you fancy seeing Mrs, or Mr, Tiggy-Winkle tip toeing across your lawn, gardening for you, free of charge, whilst you sleep, its actually surprisingly easy – hedgehogs are merely seeking food (insects as previously discussed, but dry cat food can also be a nutritious option, more easily to hand), safety and the space to roam as they see fit. Placing a shallow bowl of dry cat food biscuits in your garden, encouraging an area of suitable habitat; a pile of leaves and twigs, dense shrubbery will do, anywhere the hog can safely hide and sleep and allowing them uninhibited access into and out of your garden are all you need to do to encourage these cute prickly animals into your garden and that will in turn aid the species survival.

By reducing the amount of insecticides you use can also help increase the insect population – which is the hedgehogs natural diet.

So remember: if you see a hog out in the day, It’s not OK and there will be something wrong with it. In this case you will need to pick it up, in an old towel or thick gloves, place it in a box or other secure container and give it a direct source of heat. This can be done with a hot water bottle, or even an old plastic drinks bottle, filled with hot water, wrapped with a tea towel and put the hog on it in the box.

Providing this heat source, is the most effective way of you providing first aid to a sick hedgehog. No further treatment can be given – it is almost certain that they will need further treatment, even if you cannot see any obvious wounds or injuries, if the hog’s temperature is not within the normal range. Once you have done this it is a good idea to contact a reputable hog rescue to see if they are able to take the hog in.

The dedicated team at Woodlands Animal Sanctuary, are an animal sanctuary caring for around 300 animals on their site 365 days a year.

They are also a hedgehog rescue and rehabilitation centre and can accommodate up to 100 hedgehogs at any one time.

At the moment they are busy releasing, to pre-approved soft release sites, all the healthy ones that have been overwintered at the sanctuary, but are also preparing for the onslaught of new admittances they will be receiving over the coming months.

From abandoned baby hoglets, to pregnant females and everyone in between the team needs to be ready for whatever cases may be brought in to them.

Woodlands, like some other charities rely sole upon donations and money raised for them for their running costs. to be able to continue their lifesaving work.

So if you do take a sick hog into one of these rescues please think about giving them a generous donation as every hog they take in can cost them 100’s of pounds.

If you would like to support a local charity Woodlands next fundraising event is their Open day on Sunday 20th May. It is a great way to support such a local worthwhile cause