Hedgehog Street

This page contains information on how to help hedgehogs in your garden and neighbourhood

We are looking for neighbours to get together and create Hedgehog Streets in our local areas of Keynsham & Saltford.
A Hedgehog Street is a connected street where hedgehogs can easily move from one garden to another, and where residents take care to protect the hedgehogs that visit them.

Why do we need to help hedgehogs?

Well, over half of hedgehogs have been lost from our countryside since 2000 and hedgehogs have disappeared from a third of sites in towns and cities. Counting hedgehogs is difficult so there is a lot of uncertainty about the precise number but the most recent estimate in England, Scotland and Wales, from 2018, puts the figure at 879,000, with about a quarter of these in urban areas.
The good news is that numbers are beginning to recover in towns and cities. Most of us have no control over rural areas, but If you have a garden which can connect to other properties in your street, this is where YOU come in! We can help you to help our prickly friends.

How can you tell if hedgehogs visit your garden at night?

Well, the easiest way is to check for their poo. Yes, that might sound disgusting but actually it's a very useful tool. Hedgehogs produce poo that is long and thin and pointy on both ends, generally up to 5cm in length. It tends to be a bit crumbly with lots of insect remains inside, but droppings can vary depending on the diet of the hedgehog.

For more ways check out this useful webpage HERE

Keynsham Group are happy to help set up a Hedgehog Street with you, providing design for advertising handouts and posters, plus "Slow Down" signs for the road. See samples below.

Hedgehog Street was set up by the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) 2011 and there are now over 100,000 Hedgehog Champions registered!
Becoming a Hedgehog Street Champion is the first step to creating your street, someone needs to take the lead after all!
For more information on how to do this, visit their website https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/

We then suggest you contact us by e-mail! keynshamawt@gmail.com
We can help design you an initial leaflet to be dropped through your neighbours' letterboxes.
Ideally it is good to ask local children to draw a hedgehog and this can then be used on your design to make it personal to your street (see Charlie & Stanley's designs above). Alternatively use one of our existing designs.

One of the most important ways to help hedgehogs is to provide a passage through your garden and into your neighbours, and so on down the road. Hedgehogs can travel up to 3km in one night so need to move around your neighbourhood with ease.

A Hedgehog Highway is a 5 inch gap in a fence or wall allowing access for hedgehogs.

This gap allows hedgehogs to:

* Forage for food

* Meet mates to breed

* Access nesting sites

Why you should get a Hedgehog Highway Surround?

1. Hedgehog Highway Signs look super cute!

2. They raise awareness to hedgehogs' struggle for survival

3. They create a talking point, encouraging others to create a highway of their own and take part in the project

And Keynsham Group in conjunction with Keynsham Town Council are giving away free surrounds to local residents. Contact us today!

For lots more information on how you can help hedgehogs visit https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/

Check out a
handy leaflet for all things HEDGEHOG

How to make a Deluxe Hedgehog House

Important:
If you find a hedgehog out during the day (as this little fella was) then it is probably sick. The British Hedgehog Preservation Society can offer advice and help you find a rescue centre close by: www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk Tel: 01584 890 801