In the past few months the Government have been looking into having a National Symbol and after some long discussion (typical of Parliament) the Hedgehog was put forward as an ideal choice.
However, that decision is now on hold as several MP’s agreed with a Spokesman as to why have an animal as a national emblem when it’s only awake for six months of the year !

True that may be, but are they a wildlife creature only for Summer?

The tragic fall in the Hedgehog population over the last 60 years, especially in the last 20, mainly due to lack of suitable habitat highlights that any time of the year should be time spent on ensuring this wonderful creature has a future.

Already outlined in the Garden Wildlife Hedgehog pages are various things we can do to attract them to our Gardens by making holes in solid fencing ensuring a highway, leaving parts of our garden wild, putting logs down, building Hedgehog Houses and more.

Hedgehogs like many wild (and pet) creatures get used to their surroundings, Great Tits, Blue Tits and other small birds won’t move into a bird house straight away, so the Winter is a good time to prepare for the Spring.
By going around making your environment more Hedgehog friendly, it will be there, nicely weathered, by the time they come out of hibernation and start their families.

A fine example of this is I made my Hedgehog Houses and formulated a ‘plan attract them’ in Autumn 2013. None visited at all in 2014, but this year, two have been seen regularly and one has hibernated in one of my DIY Homes.

Attracting any sort of wildlife isn’t an instant success, it takes time but it’s worth it!

Read more in the Garden Wildlife Hedgehog Pages.