HEDGEHOGS IN YOUR GARDEN?
So you have made your garden as hedgehog friendly as possible but how do you know that hedgehogs are now visiting your garden?
Hedgehog Poo
The easiest way to tell if a hedgehog has visited your garden is by spotting a Poo on the grass – or anywhere else in the garden (patio/path are favourite spots). They are not fussy where they poo though near Hedgehog Highways seems to be a favourite way of telling other hedgehogs that they forage in this garden.
Image: Hedgehog poo on the grass with a 50 pence coin to show the scale.
Keep an eye, and an ear out, for hedgehogs
You may well here them snuffling around in your garden after dusk or see a garden light trigger as they pass. Also on nights when the moon is full it is sometimes easier to see them moving around in the garden, especially if you can look down on your garden from an upstairs window.
Wildlife Camera
Wildlife cameras are great, not only will you know if a hedgehog visits your garden, you may find that you get several visitors over the course of a night and in summer you may also get to see young Hoglets out with their mother (sow). There are now many commercial wildlife/night time cameras available. In general, the more expensive, the better the quality. The Facebook group Wymondham: A Hedgehog Haven is a good social media site to ask about cameras.
Once you have a camera, try various locations in the garden and see what you find. That’s the fun part, you never know what you will see!
Be patient, some hedgehogs will visit the same gardens every night whilst others, especially males will roam further. So there will be some occasions when no Hedgehogs visit.
They are socially tolerant of each other (except breeding season when male fights are fairly common) so you might find 1 or 2 in close proximity to each other.
Images: two pictures from our wildlife camera. First of two hedgehogs at feeding station and second of hedgehog foraging in wildflower meadow area in garden.