Do you have Hedgehogs visit your garden? On Thursday 4th. February the Garden Club had a visit from the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust who said how fortunate you must be to have visits from our spiny friends .
Eleanor Dodson from the Trust came to tell us, via zoom, how rare the hedgehog is becoming. The numbers have dropped 46% in the last 13 years The Wildlife Trust has a project in Wiltshire to improve the countryside for nature by joining wild places by linking hedgerows to enable wild creatures to travel. This project also helps by working with young people and those with mental health problems. Did you know Hedgehogs can travel 10-20 hectares and there are 14 different species around the world, as for our British hogs, we must protect them.
Hedgehogs are wonderful for our gardens, eating slugs and snails so please do not use slug pellets. They hibernate from November to February, depending on the weather, so before lighting that bonfire please check that there are no little creatures fast asleep inside, this also includes checking compost heaps as so many are injured with garden forks etc. If you have a pond, please add a ramp so any creatures that fall in have a means to get out but to allow Hedgehogs to get into your garden in the first place they need access, maybe via a hole in the fence at least 13cm. square. To encourage them leave a dish of water and some food, dog or cat food is good but do not feed them with bread, milk or mealworms. Finally how about making a Hedgehog house for them to reside in over winter although the baby Hoglets will not survive unless they weigh 60g.
There were 16 club members on this Zoom presentation, all said they had not seen a Hedgehog in our area for years so let us see if we can change that situation. At this meeting we welcomed a new member Margaret from Bratton and it was good to see Edward Callaway join us.
Our next meeting will be via Zoom with our own Stephen Henning speaking on pond life. The weekend of March 13-14ththe club are promoting “ Put Spring on Your Step” see the attached poster. The aim is to help us look forward to better times by leaving pots of flowers around our doorsteps. Spring is on the way.
Best Wishes from Edington and District Garden Club