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Hedgehogs and bonfires

We are approaching winter and big log piles are being built for bonfire night. Hopefully you are also building natural compost heaps full of sticks and leaves for hedgehogs to spend the winter in. If the temperature drops significantly before the 5th of November, hedgehogs will be out looking for a suitable place to hibernate and won’t, of course, be able to distinguish a bonfire pile from a safe place to make a nest in. So even though it might present a challenge, please make sure you check out your bonfire heap for hedgehogs before you light it.

Hedgehogs need to hibernate to survive winter simply because food becomes scarce. They mainly eat earthworms, slugs and snails and a variety of insects and caterpillars and we should welcome them to our gardens as pest controllers

During hibernation, the animal's body functions slow down, almost to a standstill; the body temperature drops from 35°C to 10°C and the heartbeat drops from 190 beats per minute to 20 beats per minute. This helps them conserve energy.

They usually make a nest, about 20” (50cm) in diameter, of leaves, sticks, grass and various other plants. Hedgehogs will also nest under buildings, in log piles or in your own homemade wooden hedgehog box. Sometimes we see hedgehogs out in the middle of winter and that could be because of a sudden warm spell of weather or some disturbance to the animal. These disturbances can use up a lot of energy that the hedgehog really need to survive the rest of the winter season. However, if we get a mild winter and there is enough food, hedgehogs won’t hibernate at all.

Hedgehogs are nocturnal creatures covering huge distances while foraging for food. Young hedgehogs are born any time between May and September in litters of four to five. They have been known to live for up to 14 years but usually most die after 2 years in the wild.

For more information see www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk or www.wildaboutgardens.org