#59 Hedgehog by Phil Marshall
Meet Phil Marshall, volunteer at National Trust Nostell!
Phil is passionate about nature and has supported and volunteered for a number of conservation charities over many years. He currently volunteers with the National Trust at Nostell, and has led parkland, butterfly and dawn chorus walks there. A number of his sightings have been ‘firsts’ for the property, including the Purple Hairstreak butterfly and Buff-tip moth. He records data for several organisations including the British Trust for Ornithology and People’s Trust for Endangered Species, and he carries out hedgehog releases for two local rescues. He is a former Volunteer of the Year with the Woodland Trust, recognition of his previous work for them and their sister organisation, the Ancient Tree Forum.
Phil’s chosen species is the European Hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus. His passion for the Hedgehog came because, he says, they adopted him. He moved to a new build house, found signs of a Hedgehog in his newly created back garden, installed a wildlife camera, and discovered there wasn’t just one but several Hedgehogs visiting. He provided suitable food and before long, his feeding station was being used every hour throughout the night during the summer. He soon became involved with two local Hedgehog rescues providing a ‘supported garden’ release site for rehabilitated Hedgehogs; and he linked up with another two local rescues for animals found out in the day at National Trust Nostell.
Three Hedgehogs at Phil’s feeding station.
The Hedgehog is a truly iconic part of UK wildlife; a cute-looking, spiny mammal which snuffles its way under hedgerows, along woodland edges, through grassy meadows and fallen leaves, and into our gardens, looking for invertebrates to eat and places to shelter. They are crepuscular, meaning they are active between dusk and dawn – one seen during the day usually indicates an unwell animal. As you might expect for an animal mostly active at night, their eyesight very poor, but they make up for this with an excellent sense of smell and hearing. Surprisingly, Hedgehogs are also able to climb and swim using surprisingly long legs. Whilst they are solitary animals, with only mothers and babies living as a group, it isn’t unusual to see multiple individuals using the same garden or feeding station.
Our much-loved Hedgehog has regularly featured in children’s stories, films, and cartoons, often depicted as being sleepy because they’re one of the few British mammals which typically (but not always) hibernate during the winter. One of their main defence mechanisms, curling up into a tight ball of prickles – between 5,000 and 7,000 of them! - adds to their loveable persona. It’s perhaps not surprising that the Hedgehog has been voted the UK’s favourite native wild animal on several occasions. However, its very existence here is under threat. It is now classified as being vulnerable to extinction (on the Red List for British mammals), and in some parts of the UK it seems to have already disappeared.
Our Hedgehog lives not only in the UK but also across much of the continent. This includes the mediterranean south and the colder countries to the east, as well as parts of Scandinavia to the north. It was also introduced into countries much further afield, such as New Zealand.
Across the world it is thought there are 18 different species of Hedgehog, and ours is by far the largest at 20-26cm long and weighing up to 1.4kg (for a large mature adult).
In the 1950s it was estimated that there were tens of millions of Hedgehogs in the UK. However, the population rapidly declined through the next few decades; and it’s thought that there may be little over one million today.
It seems that there’s no single factor responsible for this decline. The causes are likely to include habitat loss (for example their favoured hedgerows), scarcer food sources (for example fewer invertebrates due to pesticides) and new development in countryside areas (for example new roads). Predation is not believed to be a major factor, as the Hedgehog does not feature strongly in the diet of any of our wild mammals or birds of prey, unlike in parts of Europe where they are favoured by, for example, Eagle Owls.
There is some good news. Whilst the challenges Hedgehogs face in the UK’s countryside seem to be continuing, populations in urban and suburban areas appear to be stabilising. By creating Hedgehog highways so that they can easily access gardens, and by providing suitable supplementary food in those gardens, people are helping to support their local populations. Additionally, a network of dedicated local rescues are caring for ill, injured and orphaned animals before releasing them safely back into the wild. [PM1] You can find a directory of wildlife rescues here should you need one.
A rescued Hedgehog.
Hedgehogs mainly eat invertebrates - primarily earthworms, beetles, earwigs, and caterpillars, but they will take carrion and predate frogs, some ground-nesting birds, and birds’ eggs. Gardeners welcome them as they are said to eat many pests, though studies have shown that they don’t actually eat many slugs!
Unfortunately, Hedgehogs are not discerning when it comes to food, and they frequently eat things that are bad for them. People used to put bread and milk out for Hedgehogs, but this is absolutely the wrong thing to do, as they are lactose intolerant! Similarly, they cannot digest high-protein bird foods like peanuts, sunflower seeds, calci-worms and mealworms. In fact, scientists have shown a link between metabolic bone disease in Hedgehogs and their eating mealworms.
The good news is that they enjoy eating meaty cat and dog food - either wet food or dry biscuits (kibble). A cheap and easy way to support your local Hedgehog population is to put out a shallow dish of water, together with a dish of chicken-flavoured kitten biscuits. They are a perfect support food for Hedgehogs – nutritious, good for their teeth and much less likely to attract flies than wet pet food. Hedgehogs are vulnerable to flystrike as well as parasitic infections like roundworm, ringworm, and lungworm.
Another way to support your local population is by making a CD sized hole (13cm square) at the bottom of your garden fence or gate, which will help Hedgehogs to travel easily into and out of your garden. On any given night a Hedgehog can travel two kilometres as they look for food, a mate, or shelter and they do follow established routes, so making this easy for them is important.
Recording and monitoring
To help monitor this most iconic of UK wild animals, please log your hedgehog sightings (both alive and deceased) onto the BIG Hedgehog Map, part of a joint initiative by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species.
Further information and acknowledgements
NEYEDC would like to thank Phil for his time and expertise in helping to create this blog.