Things to look out for in the garden - building a hedgehog hideaway

With its spiky coat, and cute twitching nose, the hedgehog is one of the most easily recognised wild animals in Britain and the most popular. An adult hedgehog can have up to 7500 spines, which it uses when it feels threatened and curls up into a ball. They're agile climbers and can also squeeze through extremely small holes and travel up to two miles a night in the search for food.

You can encourage hedgehogs by putting out food and water throughout the year. They like to eat minced meat, fresh liver, dog or cat food (not fish based) or even scrambled eggs. Don't give bread and milk as it will upset their digestion. Slug pellets are a great threat to hedgehogs, so try using beer traps or sprinkling fine sand around the plants you want to protect (though with hedgehogs in your garden your slug population should be under control anyway). Ponds are another hazard, needing a couple of bricks or a wire net installed to help hedgehogs get out if they fall in - you actually buy hedgehog ramps from some pet superstores.

Hedgehogs often choose sites in quiet corners of gardens for their winter hibernation, gathering together dry vegetation under hedges, beneath or in sheds, and under compost heaps. You can build your own hedgehog house to encourage them into your garden

Use strong untreated wood at least 2 cm thick to make a 40 cm square box. Fix the lid using hooks (so you can remove it to clean the box). Cut a 10cm square hole in the front and fit in an entrance tunnel, also made from untreated wood and measuring 10cm deep x 10cm wide x 60cm long. Ventilate the box by inserting a 2cm pipe, with wire mesh on the box end to stop blockages. It should slope downwards to let water run out of the box. Now furnish the interior with lots of dry leaves for bedding. Camouflage it with leaves in a quiet part of the garden

If this seems beyond you, simply lean a wooden board up against a wall and fill with dry leaves to make a simple and snug shelter.

On bonfire night, remember to check your bonfire before striking the match because a hedgehog may have decided it's a prime site for hibernation.

Garden hedgehog hideaway photograph by Ansik, used under a creative commons attribution licence

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