Hedgehog-Friendly Gardens: Practical Steps for a Declining Species

Gardens cover more land area in the UK than all national nature reserves combined, making them critical habitat for hedgehogs — and garden management choices have significant welfare impacts.

Key Facts

Over 67,000 km squared of private garden exists in the UK — more than all national nature reserves combined
Hedgehogs can travel up to 2km per night foraging; solid garden boundaries prevent essential movement
Slug pellets containing metaldehyde or methiocarb are toxic to hedgehogs and banned in the UK from 2022
Bonfires, compost heaps and strimmers kill thousands of hedgehogs annually through preventable accidents
Garden ponds without escape ramps drown hedgehogs attempting to drink — a simple structural fix saves lives

Welfare Considerations

The private garden represents one of the most direct leverage points for hedgehog welfare that individual citizens have. Cutting holes in fences, removing slug pellets, checking bonfires, and fitting pond escape ramps are simple actions that address the primary sources of hedgehog mortality and distress in suburban environments. The decline of hedgehogs — below 1 million from 30+ million in the 1950s — is driven in aggregate by the accumulation of individual land management choices across millions of properties. Reversing that decline requires those choices to be reversed at the same scale.

What You Can Do

Cut a 13cm by 13cm hole in every garden fence or wall to enable hedgehog movement between properties
Convince your neighbours to create the same fence gaps — a corridor of connected gardens has far more value than a single garden
Never use slug pellets; use alternatives including wildlife-safe ferric phosphate pellets if absolutely necessary
Check bonfires, compost heaps and long grass before disturbing them during hedgehog active season
Add a rough-edged ramp to any garden pond to allow hedgehogs to escape if they fall in