Hedgehog Friendly Twyford
Article by Mrs Diana Loyd
Twyford Together, in association with Twyford in Bloom, are keen to promote Twyford as a hedgehog friendly village.
Hedgehogs are a popular garden mammal, but their numbers are declining significantly, mainly, it is believed, due to loss of habitat. They are nocturnal mammals who feed largely on insects, and they hibernate roughly from December/January until March.
There are some simple actions that many individual residents and community groups can do to help.
Hedgehogs need their own “highways “which simply means ways to travel between our gardens and other open spaces. If we can make a hole in our fences or hedges, about 5 inches by 5 inches, that will enable the animals to pass through as they forage for food and seek resting or hibernation sites.
We can also offer suitable habitats for hedgehogs, either a commercially available hedgehog house or simply a pile of leaves, twigs, logs compost and general garden waste that can be left undisturbed.
Suitable food can be offered as a boost to their diet but note that offering bread and milk is now known to be unsuitable. Many garden centres and pet shops now sell prepared hedgehog food, and tinned dog or cat food can be offered along with an accessible water supply.
A lot more detailed advice is available from Hedgehog Street.org (Home – Hedgehog Street), concerning feeding, habitat creation, what to do if you find an injured hedgehog, or one still active during the usual hibernation months.
Finally, we are keen to try to monitor hedgehog numbers in our area. Please report any sightings, including road casualties, of hedgehogs seen or observed on camera traps, giving dates and your location to [email protected]. The information, will be gathered, mapped and subsequently sent on to the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) who are building a national survey of hedgehog populations. We would also like to receive news of habitat creation or other activities that residents and groups have done to promote hedgehog welfare.
Twyford also already has an active Hedgehog Facebook project, which can also receive sightings and pass them on to the Hedgehog Preservation Society. Twyford Together will work to collate all the data.
We are keen to pool all the interest and enthusiasm within Twyford to help keep track of our hedgehog populations and if possible, to improve them.
Twyford Together plan to run a hedgehog themed stall at the Donkey Derby on June 16th where further information will be available. Any funds raised will be sent to a local hedgehog rescue centre. Anyone able to help on this stall for an hour will be very welcome.