Record-breaking heatwaves and the driest July on record for England and Wales have left hedgehog populations starving and dehydrated. Gardeners are being urged to take one simple action to help.
Hedgehogs Struggle to Find Food
Hard, dry ground makes it difficult for hedgehogs to dig up insects, their main food source. As a result, rescue centres are seeing an influx of starving and dehydrated hedgehogs, including many babies.
Lisa Steward, who runs Thorne Hedgehog Rescue in Pluckley, Kent, is encouraging people with gardens to create "hedgehog highways". These involve leaving natural areas with wildflowers, log piles, and gaps in fences so hedgehogs can move freely to find food, water, and nesting materials.
Simple Steps to Help
Ms Steward also advises leaving shallow dishes of water in gardens overnight. She told the BBC: "The long hot dry spell has meant that mums are struggling to find food so their milk is of poor quality or it's drying up. We're inundated with hoglets, more than we've ever had before."
Alice Serras-Carroll, manager of Wildlife Aid in Leatherhead, added: "It is unusual for this country to be this hot, so that is why animals are not really used to it."
Hedgehogs in Decline
Hedgehogs are listed as "vulnerable" on the UK's red list of mammals, according to the Wildlife Trust. Rural populations have fallen by up to 75% since 2000, while urban numbers have stabilized thanks to garden conservation efforts.
