A good Healthy environment for Hedgehogs

A month ago two very young hedgehogs were found – they were thought to be abandoned – on the Chestergate Allotments in Bisley. They were taken to the Stroud Hedgehog Hospital founded by the Annie Parfitt http://helpahedgehog.org .On Saturday 15th August at our annual allotment ‘get together’ (everyone social distancing!) Annie told allotment holders how allotments – and of course gardens – can easily become healthy environments for hedgehogs. She brought the two abandoned hedgehogs back, now big and healthy, and we were entranced as she released them, in the allotment hedge. She had previously checked that we don’t have badgers on the allotments. One plot holder Peter Benn has volunteered to be our Hedgehog Warden and has built hedgehog houses with old pallets and leaves, created a small pond, and keeps water bowls near the allotment water tanks filled with clean water for hedgehogs.

Annie left us with specific guidance to keep our allotment & gardens healthy for these endangered mammals:

• No slug pellets, rat or other pest poisons
• Make sure all gardening mesh is not left loose on the ground- it can be fatal as hedgehogs are curious creatures and get tangled (as can many wild animals – a couple of years ago an allotment holder found a huge dead grass snake in some mesh she had left on the ground – it had got completely entangled and couldn’t get out. )(Makes me think of all those miles of fishing netting left in the sea and the fate of many fish & marine animals)
• Make gaps in hedgerows and fences between houses
• Be a bit untidy – leave piles of wood, leaves and brash, especially in hedges

This all sounds like organic gardening!!