Hedgehog Friendly Campus Blog

‘A litter bit of an issue’

Hello everyone – we hope you are all safe and well despite numerous lockdowns still in place! Since our last blog post we have held a step-count fundraiser (the Hogathon) to raise awareness of hedgehogs, whilst supporting the Hedgehog Preservation Society with their efforts in protecting hedgehogs. We managed to raise £180 (which succeeded two of our previous targets!) – we would like to say a massive thank you to all of you who donated and joined in with our Hogathon!

This blog post is all about litter, and the damage it can do to our native hedgehog population. Hedgehogs are regularly in contact with discarded waste and many individuals are found with netting, plastic six pack rings and elastic bands wrapped around them, often leading to very unfortunate consequences. British hedgehogs have now been officially classified as vulnerable to extinction on the Red List for British Mammals. The recognition of the vulnerable status of the hedgehog is, however, an opportunity. We have the ability to reverse this change. Why not start with litter?

Once blown by the wind, litter has a tendency to accumulate in hedgerows which can be a potential spot for an individual to hibernate or to seek shelter.
What you can do to help:

1. A litter pick in your local area – this is such an easy way to make your area more environmentally friendly for hedgehogs
2. Make sure that you deposit litter in public litter bins – if a public litter bin is full however, you can use your bins at home
3. Don’t leave bin bags on the ground – hedgehogs have been found nesting in bin bags, so place your bin bags on top of your household waste bin and make sure it is tightly sealed too!
4. Reduce your plastic waste –

• Supermarket trips - avoid using single-use plastics by using reusable bags and fabric bags (for fruit and vegetables) for supermarket trips instead
• In your house - use reusable containers for storing those leftover meals and fruit/veg. Use foil instead of clingfilm for keeping food fresh (unlike clingfilm, foil is recyclable). Cut up elastic bands and plastic beer can rings before disposing of them – cutting these significantly reduces the chance that hedgehogs would get tangled in them.
• On the go – for those tea-drinkers and coffee-lovers out there use reusable travel cups. There are many to choose from online!
  

Due to the recent and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic there has been an increase in the use of disposable facemasks. To avoid hedgehogs and other wildlife becoming caught in them you can cut the strap of the mask off before disposing of it. To prevent this further, you could purchase a reusable facemask – with many found online, you are bound to find one that’s right for you!

If you do find a hedgehog trapped in plastic waste or general litter, it is vital to seek advice from a hedgehog rescue in the local area. If the hedgehog has deep wounds or injuries from its entanglement in plastic the individual may need treatment. The hedgehog you have found may have been trapped in plastic/general litter for several days, and it is likely to be dehydrated and starving.

If the hedgehog you have found is in the Bangor/Anglesey area, the local rescue centres are:

• Hedgehuggles rescue, Bangor – only 6 minutes away by car from the centre of Bangor (07736 280787)
• Hedgehuggles rescue, Holyhead – only 28 minutes away by car from the centre of Bangor (07887 425109)
  

Lastly, we would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us and followed us since we started back in June 2020! We have been overwhelmed with all your support and generosity, especially in such difficult times. Don’t forget to follow our Instagram and Facebook pages for more updates and events coming up!

Keep safe,
Bangor University Hedgehog Friendly Campus team

‘The Gardener’s Friend’

Hello everyone and welcome to the first ever blog for Bangor University’s Hedgehog Friendly Campus! Bangor University has now joined many other universities across the UK to become a Hedgehog Friendly Campus, making the campus and surrounding area a safer place where hedgehogs can thrive.

Since joining the campaign we have had 2 team meetings, joined an online session to learn more about the project and given tips by fellow universities, created an Instagram and Facebook page (the link to these pages can be found below) and will be joining an online survey workshop session hosted by Hedgehog Friendly Campus. We have many ideas planned for the University, and we hope many staff, students and local residents of Bangor will join us in this campaign.

Most of us are at home right now, and what better time is there than for us to help hedgehogs in our own gardens this summer? Hedgehogs need all the help that they can get – particularly because their numbers in the UK have HALVED in rural areas (and by 30% in urban areas) since 2000, and that right now we are in the middle of hedgehog breeding season!

Hedgehogs reach sexual maturity in their second year of life, and after this can breed every year until death. They reproduce between April and September, but the period of greatest activity, ‘the rut’, occurs in May and June in Britain. Hedgehogs do not pair bond and the female raises her young unaided by the male. Litters of young, called hoglets, are born from May onwards to as late as September and average about 2–6 in number. When the hoglets are about 5–6 weeks old they leave the nest and wander off on their own – they weigh around 250g (8oz) at this stage.

Many of you who are lucky enough to have gardens or areas of land have the perfect opportunity to make their area a hedgehog haven, and we’ve got a few tips for you to make your gardens hedgehog-friendly:

1. Strimming – please check for hedgehogs before you strim. When hogs sense fear their instinctive reaction is to curl up into a ball, shielding themselves from danger with their 5,000/7,000 spines – so if you haven’t checked the area carefully, you could do serious damage to a hedgehog! It’s better to strim more frequently with only a few inches cut than a more intense strim – this means you can spot any creatures more easily lurking in the undergrowth.
2. Try not to use slug pellets, toxic pesticides and herbicides wherever possible – hedgehogs love to snack on slugs (but not when they contain poisons!). If absolutely necessary, pellets should be placed in a pipe or under a slate, inaccessible to hedgehogs. Dead slugs must be removed daily. Use SAS slug repellent or slug and snail tape as an alternative. Toxic pesticides and herbicides are deadly to hedgehogs – most of the widely used chemicals affect more than just the intended garden pest too, and one of these species that could also be affected could be hedgehogs. Herbicides can decrease the number of earthworms in an area, resulting in fewer food resources for hogs, therefore leading to a reduced population.
3. Why not make a feeding station to tempt your garden guests? – You can put water (NOT milk) and wet cat/dog food next to the station to tempt these noisy eaters. Do NOT feed hedgehogs bread, mealworms or milk. The link on how to make a feeding station can be found here -.....
4. Make or buy a hedgehog home – this could be used as a hibernation site in winter or as a nesting box for a mother and her hoglets in the warmer months.The link on how to make a hedgehog home can be found here -...
5. Creating a wildlife corner in your garden creates shelter, protection and natural food and nesting opportunities for hedgehogs and other wildlife – hedgehogs are less fussy about the architectural design of your wildlife corner, so make it as messy as possible! You can fill your wildlife corner with leaves, straw, garden rubbish, brushwood etc.
6. Keep pond and pool water levels topped up – and provide gently sloping edges, if possible, into the water around the pond/pool, or place half submerged rocks in the water as an escape for hedgehogs. Do remember that hoglets will need a large ramp to help them out of the water.
7. Take care when taking compost from the heap – always check first for hedgehogs as they love to hide under vegetation, and make their nests in dense areas with logs and leaves.
8. Cover drains and holes and provide a ramp out of cattle grids
9. Always bin rubbish and make sure the lid is firmly on – hedgehogs are very inquisitive, but sometimes this trait gets them into a lot of trouble. Having been attracted by the remaining contents, hedgehogs have been found with their heads stuck in tins, yoghurt pots and plastic cups. Always cut the plastic rings of “4 and 6 pack” holders. To prevent such unnecessary deaths, litter should be disposed of in a proper manner.
10. Keep shed, garage and greenhouse doors closed
11. Always check the area first before you start a bonfire – ideally build on the day or re-site before lighting
12. Netting – hedgehogs can become entangled in tennis nets and other nets, causing death by starvation. Roll up the net well above the ground when not in use. Keep pea netting 22–30cm off the ground, or any other garden netting a foot above the ground – this allows your hedgehog visitors to walk through the area easily without getting caught in the netting
13. Create a 13cm square gap in the bottom of your fence or wall – hedgehogs travel around a mile a night, so providing them with a hedgehog highway is the perfect way for them to get their step count in for the day! Additionally, hedgehogs tend to ‘do the rounds’ and visit several gardens within an area – so your ‘one hedgehog’ that seems to visit your garden frequently may actually be a number of different individuals – it seems that your hedgehog may spread the news to its friends about the delicious food you leave out! Please encourage your neighbours to do this too!

Even if you don’t have a garden yourself you could still donate what you make (a feeding station or hedgehog home etc.) to a friend’s or relative’s garden and make sure you send a picture to us, we would love to see them! The link to our Instagram and Facebook page can be found below this blog.

We have many upcoming event ideas that we would love to hold at Bangor University such as building hedgehog homes and feeding stations workshops, as well as making hedgehog tunnels and checking them occasionally for hedgehog footprints, and fundraising events for the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. If you are interested in any of the building workshops and fundraising events or just have a genuine interest in hedgehogs, please make sure you follow our Instagram and/or Facebook pages that will have upcoming events listed and general information about hedgehogs.
In the meantime, please send us your pictures of any hedgehog-related activities this summer! This could be baking, crafts, drawing, painting, constructing a hedgehog feeding station, building a hedgehog home or purchasing one, creating a wildlife corner or making gaps in your fences/walls to create a hedgehog highway – whatever you’re doing we would love to see them. Please send your pictures to our Facebook or Instagram page (you can find the link below).

We hope you all have a great summer!

Megan (Bangor University Hedgehog Friendly Campus team member)