Be a Hedgehog Hero!

Natural Basingstoke (NB) and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC) are teaming up to support the borough’s hedgehogs. Our campaign, which forms part of Hedgehog Awareness Week 2025, aims to:

Raise awareness of the importance of hedgehogs and how you can help support them.
Increase our understanding of hedgehog numbers and distribution locally, via citizen science.

As well as running our own campaign, we are also supporting the ongoing national campaign run by Hedgehog Street.

What’s happened to the UK’s hedgehogs?

Have you noticed fewer hedgehogs lately? Across the UK, their numbers have fallen dramatically since the millennium – 30% in towns and 50% in the countryside. They are now classed as ‘vulnerable’ meaning that they are facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

Causes of this decline include development, in and around our towns, and intensive farming. Not only does this result in (sadly ever present) road casualties, but they also suffer poor health as fragmentation of their habitats leads to inbreeding.

Since 2009, there are around 953 records of hedgehogs within the borough, this is probably an underestimate of the true number of hedgehogs. The map below shows where hedgehogs have been reported, with the green blob being the density – as you can see the majority of the records are in urban areas.

What are we doing about it in Basingstoke?

The threat to hedgehogs has been recognised by the local council within their Biodiversity Strategy, which aims to protect important local habitats and species. Hedgehogs are listed as a priority species within this strategy, meaning that they will be a focus for conservation efforts by the Council and we will be working together to understand how they are faring and see what we can do to help them locally. A popular species, they were chosen as they are currently threatened and (due to their role in the ecosystem) they can provide us important information about habitat quality and connectivity.

To reduce the risk to hedgehogs when development takes place in our area, new developments are required to incorporate hedgehog friendly design within their proposals. This includes having hedgehog highways (gaps at the base of fencing) between all fenced gardens, and hedgehog houses which are used for hibernation during the colder months. Hedgehogs are also a consideration during the construction phase where appropriate safety measures can be put in place as the development is being built. Overall, we are trying to increase the range of hedgehogs and provide them with alternative spaces to hibernate where they are safe from human activity.

Locally we have over 330 ha of green space including ancient woodland, chalk grassland and a variety of parks. BDBC’s Ranger Team and local volunteer groups work together to manage sites for the best interest of wildlife. One of the ways you can help hedgehogs and other wildlife in general, is by joining one of our Member Conservation Groups.

During Green Week this year, on Saturday 7^th June, we will have an area in Festival Place that is dedicated to wildlife. Why not come along and get some ideas for things you can do to protect our prickly friends, including demonstrations of how to create a hedgehog house and highway.

How can you help?

Be a Hedgehog Champion Gardener

Become a champion for hedgehogs and support them within your gardens or local community. There are several ways you can do this including:

building a hedgehog house,
creating a hedgehog highway by making holes in your fence to connect your garden with the neighbours, or a park etc. (https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/link-your-garden/)
Booking a FREE garden survey to help make your garden more wildlife friendly (https://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/garden-survey)
Strimming carefully – check grass and hedges thoroughly for hogs before using strimmers, mowers or hedge trimmers. A hedgehog’s natural defence is to roll into a ball rather than run away but they are no match for a strimmer!
Avoiding pesticides – substitute more environmentally friendly methods to control garden ‘pests’ (https://www.pan-uk.org/gardening-without-pesticides/). Many pesticides contain toxic chemicals that are harmful to hogs, their use also eliminates sources of food for hedgehogs who eat invertebrates such as snails.

Feed hedgehogs the correct food https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/feed-hedgehogs/

Report sick or injured hogs – Call the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) on 01584 890801, they can direct you to local wildlife rescue centres.

Keep an eye out for evidence of hogs:

Report hedgehog sightings (https://bighedgehogmap.org/ )
Put up a webcam if you have one
Identify hedgehog footprints and droppings

Hedgehog scat (look out for evidence of snail shells)

You can Register as an official hedgehog champion via Hedgehog Street, where you can find a whole prickly patch of info on hedgehogs and how to help them.

Hedgehog facts

Did you know…..

Hedgehogs are speedier than you think, they have a top speed of around 5mph, and can travel up to 3km in one night! They can also swim and have been known to cross quite wide rivers.
After all that exertion they need a good rest – they can sleep for up to 18 hours a day.
Hedgehogs are born without spines but begin growing them within hours of birth. Adult hogs typically have between 5,000 and 7,000!
Baby hedgehogs are called hoglets – litters are generally made up of four or five hoglets, but can be between one and seven
A group of hedgehogs is called an array

Hedgehogs generally live 2-3 years but have been known to live up to 7

There are at least 17 known species of hedgehogs across the world, but we only have one in the UK, the Western-European Hedgehog.

Project updates

Watch this space for updates on the Hedgehog Campaign, including events, activities and how you can help this wonderful species.