Vale Hedgehog Street

Not in the Pilot Area?

Don’t live in this area and wish to get involved and launch your own hedgehog street in your neighbourhood?

Contact LNP Co-ordinator Emily Shaw:

• eshaw@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk

How you can help Hedgehogs

If you want to help encourage hegdehogs into your garden, there are a few things you can do:

• Linking your garden to create ‘Hedgehog Highways’
  Hedgehogs roam between 1-2 miles each night during the active season and therefore it is very important they have access to a wide range of gardens. Cutting 13 x 13cm holes (a CD is a good template) in walls or fences will let hedgehogs through but will be too small for most pets.

• Avoid using slug pellets and other chemicals
  Using pesticides, insecticides and slug pellets severely reduces the amount of food available in your garden. These are toxic and can kill hedgehogs if they ingest slugs or snails that have died from slug pellets.

• Leave a wild patch
  Let an area of your garden to grow ‘wild’ and don’t cut it back during winter as hedgehogs may nest there. A wild area will also provide habitat for lots of insects and bugs perfect for a hedgehog feast.

• Provide a safe home
  Place your hedgehog box somewhere where it is sheltered and quiet so not to cause disturbance. You can place dried leaves or straw inside the box as suitable bedding material.

• Monitor your hedgehogs
  Use hedgehog tunnels or camera traps to keep a track on prickly visitors to your garden.

• Make your pond safe
  Hedgehogs are adept swimmers but ensure that ponds have shallow sloping sides, with plenty of suitable exit points such as stones, logs or chicken wire to be used to climb out.

• Check long grass and log piles
  Take care when mowing long grass and tidying wild patches as they are ideal nesting sites. Check log piles thoroughly for wildlife before lighting any bonfires.

• Put out food and water
  NOT bread and milk. Cat or dog food is best with fresh water provided.

Hog Monitoring

We are encouraging all residents in the Vale to record their hedgehog sightings.

Please submit your records using either of the three options below:

1. Go to SEWBReC, the Local Environmental Record Centre.
2. Download the LERCWales App (see instructions).
3. Download a hedgehog survey sheet from this page.

Share your hedgehog encounters with us by emailing the survey sheet to eshaw@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk or on twitter using the hashtag #ValeNature and tag us:

• @Vale_LNP

Our Nature Neighbours

The Vale Nature Partnership has been awarded grant funding through Welsh Governments Local Places for Nature Scheme to work with local communities to create more biodiverse habitats and increase people’s connection to nature on their doorstep.

As part of Our Nature Neighbours project, we are offering local organisations and groups the opportunity to apply for a biodiversity starter package to start you off on your nature recovery journey.

This supports the creation of key habitats such as meadow and orchard and supporting key species such as Hedgehog, Bats and Swifts.

More Information

Contact Vale LNP

• valelnp@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk