Helping Hedgehogs
Despite the dramatic decline in Hedgehog numbers over the
last half century, Hedgehogs remain a Schedule 6 species under the Wildlife
& Countryside Act 1981 and whilst this prevents Hedgehogs being caught or
killed, it doesn’t actually deal with the root causes of Hedgehog decline such
as agricultural intensification and road deaths. It was always anticipated that
campus east could be a potential release site for rescue Hedgehogs, but interest
and awareness amongst both staff and students in the plight of Hedgehogs has
led to the founding of a Hedgehog Society and a drive to achieve Hedgehog
Friendly Campus status.
Making the campus Hedgehog friendly is the same principle as
making one’s garden Hedgehog friendly, only on a larger scale. So, providing
food, water, nesting and hibernation opportunities and a big enough foraging
range are fundamental. On campus a range of habitats such as deciduous
woodland, wildflower meadows and hedgerows should all be beneficial to
Hedgehogs.
It is known that Hedgehogs can travel up to 2Km a night in
search of food. As the campus is roughly 200 Ha in size it can provide foraging
opportunities for quite a few Hedgehogs. The campus also borders other large
areas of potential habitat, such as Walmgate Stray, so the campus can connect
to an even wider habitat without any busy roads in-between. The many hedgerows
on and across campus can be used like corridors by Hedgehogs to move between
different areas of habitat.
Having so much water on campus means there is lots of
available water for Hedgehogs. Dehydration can be a big problem for Hedgehogs
during the summer months when they are active and although they are good
swimmers, if they find themselves in water, they have to be able to climb out.
It would be impractical to make the entire shoreline of all our water bodies
easily accessible, but we can in certain locations provide stone causeways into
and out of the water for Hedgehogs to use. Fortuitously, the lake on campus
east which is our largest body of water has got shallow and gently sloping
margins because of the way it was designed and this means it is largely
Hedgehog friendly already.
Rather than putting food down for Hedgehogs, we can
encourage an abundance of natural food sources in several ways:
·
Grow a wide variety of plants – the greater the
variety, the more insects will be attracted to campus in turn increasing the
amount of available food
·
Mulching shrub beds with a thick layer of
organic material will encourage worms and insects such a ground beetles
·
Building bug hotels – providing harbourage for
more bugs will also provide more food
·
Building log and brash piles not only provides
nesting and hibernating opportunities, it is also a perfect habitat for beetles
and woodlice
Shelter and hibernating opportunities can be provided by
having numerous log and brash piles, particularly in woodland areas, but
purpose built Hedgehog boxes can also be placed out around campus as well. On a
campus this size that already has so many woodland areas, it isn’t entirely
necessary to do this, but one specific advantage to doing this is that in
spring following emergence from hibernation, the boxes can be checked for signs
of use, which in turn will indicate how extensive activity and numbers are on
campus.
Another practical way of helping Hedgehogs is to keep the
campus clear of litter. Entanglement in items of discarded rubbish such as
plastic can holders, elastic bands or any items with apertures is a significant
cause of Hedgehog injury. As such the simple act of daily litter picking, which
grounds section staff carry out as a part of everyday maintenance routines is
an effective way of keeping the campus environment beneficial for hedgehogs.
Finally, in terms of Hedgehog awareness amongst grounds
staff, all staff have attended a presentation on Hedgehog awareness, in
particular, checking areas prior to strimming or grass cutting, so as not to
cause inadvertent or unnecessary injury to Hedgehogs. Along with road deaths,
this is another primary cause of Hedgehog mortality. With this in mind,
stickers were obtained from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society which
have been applied to all our strimmers to remind staff to be on the lookout for
Hedgehogs. Another important way in which staff help to create a Hedgehog friendly
environment is by keeping the campus clear of litter, as all too often,
Hedgehogs can get caught up in discarded rubbish such as plastic can holders.http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/
