David Attenborough has shared a simple method to encourage hedgehogs to visit gardens regularly. According to him, all it takes is adding a key item to your fence.
In an Instagram clip previously shared by BBC, he explained how to not only encourage them to stop by but to help them survive too.
What is David's advice?
David admits hedgehogs can be 'rare' these days, and described them as being 'charming' but 'not every social' creatures. He added: 'Nonetheless, urban areas are the one place where their numbers have stabilised and, with a little help from us, there's hope that they might even increase.'
David continued: 'Hedgehogs can eat up to a 100g of food in a night, and that can take quite a lot of collecting. But this one has hit the jackpot.'
'Every evening, the owner of this garden provides a feast for them. Tonight he's searching for a mate, and he'll need all the energy he can find.'
'I think they're lovely things. London has more gardens per square mile than any other capital city but, all too often, there's no way between them.'
'The mission for a mate has hit a dead end, or has it? All across London, garden owners are putting holes in their fences, creating hedgehog highways that allow safe travel from garden to garden.'
How can this help hedgehogs?
Adding these small holes to fences can not only invite them in but help to keep them safe too. By connecting your garden to surrounding green spaces, this allows hedgehogs to discover food sources like slugs, snails and beetles hidden within your flowerbeds.
Some suggest that adding them to your garden can increase the chance of sightings by around 40%. The highways enable easier movement from house to house, which acts as a significant advantage in helping the hedgehog population.
It's pretty simple to create a pathway by removing a brick in a wall or cutting a CD-case-sized gap (around 13cm x 13cm) in the bottom of your wooden fence panels or wire netting. You can even buy little signs too.
However, it's even better if you can encourage your neighbours to get involved too. The more contiguous gardens connected, the larger the territory hedgehogs can traverse to feed and breed.
It's worth trying to put highways on all sides of the garden if you can. This will work to give them much better access, and help to keep them out of harm's way.
