It's National Hedgehog Day!

Albus_Scope

Today is the day we celebrate our snuffly little garden pals!

While Americans will be celebrating Groundhog day, which was made more popular thanks to the Bill Murray film classic of the same name back in 1993, Europeans have been celebrating Hedgehog day since the early days of the Romans.

It was originally thought by the Romans, that if they saw a hedgehog at the start of February, it would mean warmer days in the near future and thus better for their crops.  While if there were no sightings, it'd mean they'd need to be ready for another several weeks of winter. 

Unfortunately, this has been proved to be a bit silly, as our humble hoggy friends hibernate from November to the middle of March.  But they do periodically wake up to change nesting sites. 


[Image shows a small hedgehog inside a flowerpot, surrounded by wildflowers]

Alas hedgehog numbers are still on the decline, this looks to be due to a variety of complex factors such as habitat loss through urbanization and agriculture, food scarcity due to pesticide use (they're insectivores, so their diet is mostly grubs, slugs and bugs, but they do love wet dog food and cat food) and disease caused by parasites.
Food scarcity is especially an issue with the rise of things like Astroturf in peoples back gardens. Astroturf isn't animal friendly, as it can heat up to 68c on a hot summers day, often more as our summers are getting even hotter! Not to mention the plastic contaminates the ground underneath it.

If you want to help out our spikey friends, if you have a garden, you could let an area get a bit wild, then leave a collection of logs, pots and branches in a pile in a quiet corner, to act as both a food source AND a nice cozy nest for the winter.  
 Additionally they're big fans of compost heaps and wildflowers, which will help attract their main food sources so they can survive their hibernation.
 If you have a pond in your garden, make sure it has a sloping edge, so if a hedgehog falls in while trying to get a drink, it'll be able to get out.  
Is your house surrounded by a fence or wall? Maybe look into digging under it a bit, so you can create a "Hedgehog Highway" and save the little fellas from having to wander over roads in their nightly 2km snuffle around for food.

So there's a little bit about another of my favorite UK animals. I hope you enjoyed the information and maybe learned something new?

Will you be doing your bit to help our humble hedgehog?
Do you see them in your garden?  

Let me know.

xAlbusx


[Image shows hedgehog walking through a man-made hedgehog highway]

Beaver79

We used to see them in our garden but not anymore. I rescued a tiny 6 week old hedgehog with a broken leg and phoned hedgehog rescue. I was asked if I could put it on a warm hot water bottle and give it cat food and water. When I did it uncurled and make a little chirrup noise. They came and collected it. I still make donations to the charity. @Albus_Scope

Albus_Scope

Awww, thank you for helping our little "hodgeheg" friends @Beaver79

woodbine

From around April to October we feed our hedgehogs every night often getting one to two but have seen as many as five or six we even cut gaps under our garden gates so they can get through them, we feed them cat biscuits,sultanas and crushed peanuts with cat food.

Tori_Scope

My partner and I looked after a friend's lesser hedgehog tenrec a few months ago. He's adorable! 


Houdini, a small hedgehog, relaxing on his heat mat. He's beige, with small spikes, big ears, and sleepy eyes.


Houdini, a small hedgehog, standing next to his empty food bowl. He's looking at the camera, and has a dark nose, big ears, and ever so tiny feet.

I don't have a garden, but enjoy seeing hedgehogs out in the wild

Albus_Scope

Excellent @woodbine, I'm glad the hedgehogs have such a wonderful friend in you. Hedgehog highways are great for them.

Ada

I adore them. I just want to hug them. I do have pots and plants out front for them as they do show them selves but I get frightened for them. So cute. 

woodbine

It's great to see them usually just before it goes dark, the big ones can be quite large and the baby ones so cute, it's a great shame their numbers have fallen so much

Jimm_Scope

I love hedgehogs, they're so cute.

I had to rescue one from a road once, it was just curling up into a ball when  cars got close. I had to take my hoodie off, wrap it around the hedgehog and carefully carry it to a nearby treeline far away enough from the road, where I let it go. 

I also had a friend at uni who had one as a pet. It was so, so cute.

Strawberry1

I love hedgehogs . They are lovely. 

Hannah_Alumni

@Tori_Scope First Pablo now Houdini, will be sending Gwen to you for a holiday soon