Back in July, my daughter announced one morning that there was a hedgehog in the garden. Off she trotted to check it out, but she came back inside a little confused that there was nothing there. I didn’t expect her to find a hedgehog out during the day, so wasn’t surprised she was mistaken.

Half an hour later though, she looked out again and said “I’m sure it’s a hedgehog. It’s small and has four legs and prickles.” This seemed pretty definitive, so we went to have a look and, sure enough, there it was.

Snouting about in the flower bed

I sat up on the climbing frame out of the way and had a lovely time watching the hedgehog shuffling to and fro in an overgrown corner of the garden. It was snouting about in the flower bed, quite vigorously pulling up clumps of long grass and dragging it through a hole under the shed before reappearing a few minutes later for more.

I’m told that this nest-building behaviour, which does often happen in the daytime, is usually done by females. We hoped we might even get some hoglets!

We’ve not seen her for a while now but I hope she’s still around. Apart from enjoying having a small spiny mammal living in the garden, hedgehogs act as excellent slug control!

At this time of year they will be looking for somewhere to hunker down for the winter months. In gardens they will look for a sheltered spot, which could be a purpose-built hedgehog house, a tucked-away leaf or log pile, or, in my case, under the shed.

Sadly, hedgehogs are under threat. According to Hedgehog Street, a great campaign with a website full of facts and resources, hedgehogs have declined by a third in urban areas since the millennium, and by a half in the countryside.

There are lots of things we can do to be as hedgehog-friendly as possible – the most helpful being linking your garden. A 13cm by 13cm hole in the fence is all a hedgehog needs for access, and a ‘hedgehog highway’ of linked gardens will keep them safely off the roads.

Check overgrown spaces before strimming

It’s also important to keep garden netting tidied away, check overgrown spaces before strimming, make sure ponds have a way for hedgehogs to climb out, and stop using lawn treatments and pesticides which reduce hedgehog prey. To encourage them to nest, buy or make a hedgehog house, or make a log pile.

Like permanent log piles, bonfire piles at this time of year are very attractive to hedgehogs. Build your bonfire night woodpile on the day, or move it before lighting to check there are no stowaways. After six months of providing us with free garden pest control, hedgehogs deserve a peaceful rest over the winter!