With shorter days and falling temperatures, hedgehogs are building fat reserves for winter, and BBC Gardeners' World has shared advice on how gardeners can help them survive the colder months.
According to the magazine, anyone with outdoor space can assist the small mammals by putting out food and water, or creating a safe spot for them to hibernate.
What to feed hedgehogs
The guidance urges gardeners to leave out chicken-flavoured cat or dog food, or specially made high-calorie, vitamin-enriched crunchy biscuits designed for hedgehogs. A regular serving of pet food can be left out overnight, and this should continue until the food is no longer being eaten later in the season, indicating the hedgehogs have entered hibernation. Along with food, a shallow dish of water should be placed out.
Later in the year, when it is freezing outside and most creatures have hibernated, gardeners should watch for stray hedgehogs that may be seriously unwell or too underweight to survive the winter, and contact a local hedgehog rescue.
Building a hedgehog house
For those seeking an autumnal project, constructing a hedgehog house can provide a more permanent way to safeguard garden visitors. A simple, predator-proof house can be built using untreated wood, a plastic storage box, or stacked bricks. An internal baffle or tunnel keeps cats and dogs at bay while blocking cold draughts.
To build a proper house, untreated FSC plywood (at least 1.5-2 cm thick) or scrap pallet wood, screws or nails, and metal hinges for a lift-off or hinged roof are needed. Dry leaves, straw, or meadow hay, along with a plastic sheet or bag, can weatherproof the roof.
Alternatively, a simple "Lego-style" shelter can be assembled in under 10 minutes using spare bricks and a paving slab. On a flat patch of sheltered ground, arrange roughly 20 to 30 loose house bricks in an "e"-shaped layout, creating a main nesting chamber and an entrance hallway. Stack the bricks 2 or 3 layers high, add dry leaves for bedding, and place a heavy paving slab or large piece of slate on top as a roof.
An even easier option is to transform an upside-down plastic storage container into a waterproof shelter by cutting a 13 cm x 13 cm entrance hole, lining the cut edge with heavy duct tape or electrical tape, and making small air holes near the top rim for ventilation.
