National Hedgehog Day 2024: RSPCA's top tips for making your garden hog friendly

Slug, snail, and beetle-munching hedgehogs are more than just garden icons - they're a gardener's best friend.

This Friday (2 February) marks National Hedgehog Day, a celebration of one of the UK's favourite garden visitors. But Britain's native hedgehogs need our help now more than ever - with the species currently listed as vulnerable to extinction on the Red List for Britain’s Mammals. Campaign group Hedgehog Street says numbers have plummeted in recent years - with up to 75% disappearing in some parts of the countryside.

Fortunately, there are plenty of great initiatives going on behind the scenes to save them. Scientists have recently developed 3D-printed hedgehog 'crash test dummies' to help test robotic lawnmowers - and make sure they aren't posing a risk to garden wildlife. Meanwhile, a Change.org petition to give hedgehogs better legal protection has now attracted more than 200,000 supporters.

To mark the day, the RSPCA has released a list of its top tips to make your own backyard safer and more welcoming to hedgehogs. Here's what they say:

Create a 'hedgehog highway'

Hedgehogs will wander up to two kilometres in a single night, and solid fences prevent them from accessing different gardens as they look for food, shelter, and potential mates - which is essential for their survival. Campaign group Hedgehog Street is trying to make garden fencing with ready-made ‘hedgehog highways’ available as industry standard.

But that doesn't mean you can't do this yourself at home. The RSPCA recommends cutting holes in fences (make sure you check with your neighbour first of course), removing bricks from walls, or digging a tunnel under the garden boundary. Hedgehogs can travel through gaps as small as 13 by 13cm, so they don't need to be large.

Replacing garden fencing for native hedgerows will also help make your garden hedgehog accessible, while helping provide shelter for other wildlife too.

Leave them a hedgehog-safe snack in winter

Winter can be a tough time for wildlife. Hedgehogs enjoy an insect-rich diet, but many insects sleep through the colder months.

To help them out, the RSPCA says you can leave a snack of tinned dog or cat food, crushed cat or dog biscuits, or even a good quality, meaty hedgehog food from wildlife food suppliers. A bowl of fresh, unfrozen water will also be appreciated.

However, the animal charity warns not to give them bread or milk, which can upset their stomachs - potentially even making them sick.

Make a hedgehog house

Making sure hedgehogs have a place to nest is a surprisingly labour-free process. It can be as simple as leaving parts of your garden wild - with a few piles of leaves, logs or compost.

Building a home can be as simple as leaning a piece of board against a wall. There are, of course, purpose-built hedgehog houses available for sale, or you could even build your own.

Take care of safety hazards

Preventing hedgehogs from accidentally getting trapped is key here. The RSPCA recommends covering any holes they could fall into - like drains - and make sure any ponds or pools have a way for them to climb out.

The charity also recommends raising any permanent netting at least a foot above the ground so they don't become tangled, as well as packing away temporary fixtures like tennis or football nets when they're not in use. You should also pick up any litter - with hedgehogs known to get themselves stuck in the likes of yoghurt pottles or crisp packets.

If you usually leave your shed door open, the RSPCA also suggests leaving it open a crack, with sheds a prime hedgehog resting spot.

Others are more simple. Avoid using poisons as pest control in your garden - you could opt for a safer alternative such as sprinkling crushed eggshells or coffee grounds around plants you need to protect. Keep your dog on a leash when taking it out to use the bathroom at night - and if you're strimming your hedges, take a peek underneath for hiding hogs before you begin.