Home is where the hedgehog is

Prickly, snuffly, and known for making perilous journeys under the cover of darkness, hedgehogs in BS3 are being granted safe passage through the streets, thanks to a new community initiative.

The newly-formed BS3 Hedgehog Project has been set up to address the decline of the species locally, and identify ‘hedgehog hotspots’ in the areas of Southville, Ashton, Bedminster and Windmill Hill.

The group, currently led by members Sophie Clark, Clive Weston and Becky Smith, all have an interest in the local hedgehog population and have been meeting via video call, due to Covid-19 restrictions. They wanted to find a way to share their passion for the creatures, and the project was born.

Hedgehogs can roam as far as two miles in a single night, but Bristol’s busy roads pose extreme danger. The group say hedgehog fatalities are frequently spotted on Raleigh Road in Southville and Smyth Road in Ashton.

One way to combat this is to connect neighbouring gardens: creating a safe ‘hedgehog highway’ diverts the creatures away from busy roads, allowing them to roam more freely to find food and other hedgehogs for mating. Gardens can be connected for hedgehog-friendly access by ensuring that holes are cut or left in fences and walls.

A hedgehog highway can be cut in walls or fences to connect gardens – photo by Sophie Clark

Once a household adapts their garden, they can register to become a ‘Hedgehog Champion’, and encourage their neighbours to do the same. When many gardens have been connected, the entire street becomes a ‘Hedgehog Street’. One of the first Hedgehog Streets is Frobisher Road in Ashton, where Sophie lives.

“I confess to being a hedgehog enthusiast,” Sophie says. She volunteers at Prickles Hedgehog Rescue in Cheddar. “My neighbour said they used to be a common sighting so we decided to connect our two gardens with a hedgehog hole. After posting leaflets to the rest of the street we soon had over 20 gardens connected and quickly began seeing the spiky little visitors.”

So far all the organisation for the project has happened online – photo by Sophie Clark

The project has been supported by BS3 Wildlife, an established group that aims to raise awareness of wildlife in south Bristol. They encourage members to undertake biodiversity surveys and post sightings or photographs of wildlife that has been spotted locally, such as herons and peregrines. Ben Barker from the group explains:

“For several years, members of our group have been reporting hedgehog sightings and we suggested that 2021 should become the ‘year of the hedgehog’, and establish a project group to promote this. We will also be encouraging park and allotment groups to try to find out if they have a hedgehog population. We are currently sure we have hedgehog colonies in Greville Smyth and Victoria parks.”

Ben says the wildlife group is planning to create areas of long grass and log piles, to provide cover for visiting hedgehogs, within more local parks – similar to the adaptations that Hedgehog Champions have implemented in their own gardens.

Street signage is being erected to remind road users that hedgehogs may be crossing – photo by Sophie Clark

Similarly, the BS3 Hedgehog Project also suggest households can support hedgehog visitations and feeding, through strategies such as creating bug hotels – small brick or wood shelters with crevices where insects can thrive – or by leaving out meat-based pet food, along with a bowl of water.

They also discourage the use of slug pellets and pesticides, and suggest households leave aside some garden waste for nest building. Small ramps can also be added to the edges of ponds, as a means of escape for hedgehogs that may have taken a tumble into water features.

Clive Weston from the project has become a Hedgehog Champion for Friezewood Road in Ashton, and hopes to encourage more hedgehogs – and champions – to the street this year.

“I deliberately left a corner of my garden overgrown and left a gap under my gate,” he says. “Last summer it was great to see an adult hedgehog and a hoglet nesting and feeding in my garden. This made me think that it was possible to give our local hedgehog population a helping hand and hopefully help stem the decline nationally.”

The UK hedgehog population has declined by a third in 20 years, and the species needs more help in urban areas. Photo by Sophie Clark

The BS3 Hedgehog Project is part of a national Hedgehog Street campaign between two UK charities, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, to support hedgehog survival in our towns and cities. Hedgehogs have declined by a third in urban areas in the past 20 years, with the population now believed to be around one million in the UK.

To help establish more precise hedgehog population numbers and whereabouts, Hedgehog Champions can add their hedgehog highways and sightings to a national map, to help broaden understanding of hedgehog movement across the country.

The nocturnal creatures can be captured on footage using night cameras – photo by: Sophie Clark

There are currently over 30 registered Hedgehog Champions in BS3. The youngest is Nell from Southville, aged nine, who began by simply making a pile of leaves in her garden, which then evolved into hedgehog highways between her garden and their neighbours’.

“I’m hoping that all the gardens in my area become hedgehog friendly,” Nell told Bristol24/7. “I love hedgehogs and it feels a real honour for me.”

Main image supplied by Sophie Clark

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