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Fact Sheets

Looking for free, helpful leaflets? Click HERE

Rescuing a Hedgehog? Need instant advice? Click HERE

Select one of the following British Species to view a factsheet

REMEMBER : Although our Fact Sheets aim to provide you with essential information about a British Wildlife species, it may be best to contact us directly if you are concerned about a wild animal in need of help.

If you're in doubt, don't leave it out, and give us a call!

What can YOU do to help wildlife?

There are a great number of things that we, as human beings, can do to reduce the effects that we have upon wildlife.

The smallest things in life can have the greatest impacts, and in some cases, can mean the difference between life or death of a wild animal.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Well, here is a list of easy-to-follow steps that we can use in our everyday lives to reduce the impacts on wildlife.

• SLOW DOWN!  A huge number of wildlife casualties are the result of RTAs (Road Traffic Accidents) where drivers have not, although always NOT possible, slowed down when they have seen an animal in the road. Sometimes, yes, an RTA is unavoidable if traveling at high speed, or in low-light conditions. But when possible, if we take the time to stop or slow down, the effects of our actions as human beings can be greatly reduced.
  

• SLUG PELLETS - Slug Pellets are severely harmful to hedgehogs, as each pellet contains a deadly poison that affects all small mammals once ingested. Slug Pellets, realistically, should NOT be used in gardens, if not, certainly avoided! There are other alternate measures you can take against slugs and snails in your garden. Some garden centres offer traps which are safe for garden wildlife, and also control your slugs and snails. If you are a gardener, you can create a garden which is friendly for wildlife, not costly to wildlife, just by not applying slug pellets.
  

• PLASTIC RINGS - Plastic rings from sets of Beer cans (usually 4, 6 or 12) can severely harm a hedgehog. If a young hedgehog was to become trapped in a plastic ring, then it would be permanently stuck. As the hedgehog gains weight, then can ring would tighten around the hedgehogs body, leading to a slow death of the animal. Always try to ensure that when disposing of these items, that the rings are individually cut up. If each ring is broken, then there is NO chance of a small animal becoming stuck.
  

• MCFLURRY POTS - A recent campaign by the BHPS (British Hedgehog Preservation Society) against fast-food giant McDonalds has seen the reduction of the hole on the McFlurry pot. This is to prevent any small hedgehogs from becoming stuck in the pot. The new McFlurry pot hole has been manufactured smaller than the previous lid. 
  

Litter should ALWAYS be picked up, to prevent hedgehogs and other small mammals from becoming trapped. This applies to rubbish that has been dropped by other people, as some people are not as responsible as we are! 

• BONFIRES - It is vitally important that checks for hedgehogs and other small mammals are made BEFORE lighting a bonfire. In the time between constructing and lighting a bonfire, a hedgehog may have crawled into the pile in search of an early winter home. Therefore, it is essential that the bonfire pile is checked before being lit.
  

•  OPEN DRAINS - Open drains are a serious threat to hedgehogs, particularly some road drains, and domestic garden drains, as these are not only left OPEN, but they are also the perfect size to allow a hedgehog to fall down into them. To combat this problem, and prevent any hedgehog accidents in your garden, you can buy easy to fit drain covers from the following retailers:

By fitting a drain cover, you are preventing a hedgehog from falling into, becoming trapped, and most probably dying in a drain.

• SHEDS/GARAGES/GREENHOUSES - Sheds, garages and greenhouses, of course, are not a direct threat to the well-being of a hedgehog who comes to visit your garden. However, these places can quickly become a place where an unsuspecting hedgehog can become injured and even die. This is because of the hazards that lie in sheds, garages and greenhouses. Sheds can be home to industrial garden machinery, hazardous substances, especially as most sheds are locked or kept shut regularly, allowing a hedgehog to easily become trapped inside with no access to food or water. You can prevent this from happening by ensuring that all sheds, garages and greenhouses are kept SHUT. This way, no animal will be able to enter and fall into one of the circumstances mentioned above.

• GARDEN PONDS - Garden ponds are a particularly hazardous feature of any home garden to a hedgehog. Indeed, hedgehogs DO have a swimming ability, but like any other mammal on this earth, a hedgehog can quickly become tired and easily DROWN if it cannot escape from the water. So by providing a simple means of escape, you as a garden owner can prevent a hedgehog from drowning in your pond by installing a small ramp. This will allow the hedgehog to easily exit from the water and return to dry land.

• GARDEN NETTING - Garden netting can cause many problems with hedgehogs which live in your garden. The problem being that if the hedgehog were to get stuck or entangled in the netting, there would certainly be no means of escape. Even with human intervention, the task of removing garden netting from a hedgehog is a very risky and laborious task. If a hedgehog were to get entangled in garden netting, the result would certainly be FATAL. As the small hedgehog tries to escape, it would become further entangled, eventually leading to constriction of limbs and/or suffocation. To prevent this happening, simply place all garden netting at least 1 foot off the ground, to allow for hedgehogs to easily pass underneath. Alternatively, you can purchase much stronger and resistant zinc wire netting.

Would you like to do MORE for wildlife?Thanks to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, we offer a variety of leaflets, primarily based on Hedgehogs and how you can help them.These leaflets are distributed FREE OF CHARGE. The list of available leaflets is shown below :

Helping Hedgehogs

Hedgehog Homes

How well do you know your hedgehog?

The Basic Facts

Gardening With Hedgehogs

• Creating a Wildlife Garden

We also have a selection of RSPCA leaflets relating to Wildlife. These leaflets are also distributed FREE OF CHARGE. The list of available leaflets is shown below:

• Hedgehogs & You
• Frogs & Toads
• Feeding Wild Birds In Your Garden

If you would like a copy of ANY of the above leaflets, you can send an email to: leaflets@blythwildliferescue.co.ukIf you would like to download a printable 'Hedgehog Bonfire Poster' to display in your local supermarkets, click HERE.

The original design was produced by the BHPS, and edited by BWR.

Thankyou for your support

If you would like more information on the above topics, you can contact us by sending an email to:

john@blythwildliferescue.co.uk