The summer holidays are here once more and if you’re looking for an activity to occupy yourself, your children or your grandchildren, we have just the thing! After reading about how much trouble our hedgehogs are in; last year I decided to run a couple of Hedgehog House Workshops. They were so popular that we have decided to do the same again this year with the first workshop being on the 8^th July and the second on the 6^th August.

I’ve written quite a bit about hedgehogs over the past year but that is because they really do need our help. Hedgehog numbers have fallen by 30 percent in just over 10 years. They are disappearing from our countryside as fast as tigers are worldwide. These are shocking yet true statements. So providing nesting sites whether natural or man-made is really important. Log and leaf piles, wilderness areas and purpose-built hedgehog homes make great places for hedgehogs to nest and hibernate. Fallen leaves also make the perfect nesting material.

Can hedgehogs get into your garden? Making sure you have hedgehog highways allows them to move freely between gardens. It’s easy to forget, but wildlife doesn’t see individual gardens like we do. They see one big habitat but they have to be able to get to them. It’s also good to be able to provide a water source, like a shallow sided pond. But you might not have space or the inclination to dig a big hole in your lawn and that’s ok because someone else on your street will have a pond. As long as we all do our bit, our wildlife will be able to find everything they need. If you’d like to book onto one of our Hedgehog House Workshops visit – www.scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/events.

Laura Preston, Falls of Clyde Ranger
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