A teacher who runs a hedgehog hostel from her home says record demand means they need new premises.

Heather Johnson, 49, set up the rescue service 10 years ago in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, and it is now a registered charity with 45 volunteers. She is currently caring for 25 prickly patients but with capacity at 12, helpers are having to foster a further 20 hedgehogs.

Hedgehogs are officially classed as vulnerable to extinction in the UK and were added to the red list of under-threat mammals in 2020. Ms Johnson said a bumper breeding season and unpredictable weather had made life difficult for hoglets in the wild. Wet conditions had caused a shortage of natural food - and mild weather meant they were not hibernating properly.

"The temperature needs to be below three degrees for five consecutive days to trigger their hibernation, but as we know the weather is all over the place these days," she said. "Development is also eroding their habitat, hedgerow is being lost, it is a terrible situation for these much-loved animals."

Her mid-terraced home on Chatteris High Street look like any other property, but inside is a 2.5m (just over 8ft) square sun room filled with plastic crates containing hedgehogs. She said if the hostel did not exist, many hogs would not survive. "They need so much help, and if we don't help, we won't have any," she said. "Many [people] think that in the next 20 years we might not have them any more in our back gardens, they are in decline so much in Britain."

Hedgehog Homelessness

Volunteers for the charity have been scoping out new premises, but they will cost tens of thousands of pounds to rent. Lucy Hubbard, 57, is a trustee, and recently put out an appeal for someone to let them use a shed or garage. "Since then we have found an empty shop unit on the high street [but] the only problem is the cost, about £95,000," she said. "We are really hoping we can generate the money to fund it, it would be a great asset as we could involve more of the community. We already go out and give talks about hedgehogs and people are fascinated by them."

Why Are Hedgehogs Declining?

A report by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society found that rural hedgehog populations had declined by between 30% and 75% in parts of the countryside between 2000 and 2022, but that urban populations appeared to be stabilising. A spokesperson for the society said: "We hope that the public are becoming increasingly aware of the plight hedgehogs face and how important it is that we act now. Hedgehogs are an important indicator species – they don’t need a lot to survive, and if the environment is so depleted that basic food, connected habitat and shelter is in short supply for hedgehogs, it has serious implications for other species, including us humans."

Helping Hedgehogs in Your Garden

Autumn marks many changes for our gardens - with more rain, colder weather, fallen leaves, and hibernating plants to contend with. And while considering your list of outdoor maintenance jobs, green-fingered Brits shouldn't overlook the importance of a handy wild animal.

Gardening experts at Dino Decking have revealed that the hedgehog is nature's best garden helpers. Teaming up with The British Hedgehog Preservation Society, they have shared six tips to support your local hedgehogs and benefit from their presence in your garden. And it's not too late to start now.

Since hedgehogs are nocturnal animals, you may not be aware of their presence in your garden, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Living in gardens and greenspaces right across the UK, these spiky animals are still foraging in October, travelling an impressive mile every night to search for food and mates.

To ensure hedgehogs can safely pass through your garden - clearing plant-eating grubs in their wake - you should create a hedgehog highway to link it with surrounding gardens and greenspaces. Simply place 13cm by 13cm square gaps in your fence, these can be hidden near the back, to allow hedgehogs safe passage in and out of your garden.

Hedgehogs eat a variety of insects, worms and grubs, including pests that destroy the fruit, vegetables, blooms and greenery that you have painstakingly grown. To entice these critter-eating creatures into your garden and ensure they have enough food, integrate some wildlife-friendly features into your space. If you have not got one already, try setting up a compost heap. This will improve your soil quality and reduce pollution while creating a habitat for hedgehogs to enjoy. And now is the perfect time to start your compost, ready for your post-Halloween pumpkins.

Once hedgehogs have gorged on your garden's bug buffet, they need hydrating too. But fresh, ground-level water is often scarce, especially when the temperature drops and the ground is frozen. Placing clean bowls of water in your garden will support the survival of foraging hedgehogs and keep them coming back into your space.

Creating a Hedgehog Haven

For many, their garden is the pride and joy, with much time taken to keep it looking pristine. But a wild corner with unmown grass, unpruned leaves and logs is perfect for hedgehogs. Unkempt space provides foraging, shelter and nesting opportunities for hedgehogs to hibernate as winter draws in. Beyond the colder months, a wild corner is perfect for keeping hedgehogs well-fed throughout the year.

Due to increasing manicured gardens plus fences and walls in urban areas, hedgehog numbers have seen a worrying decline. Hedgehogs were classed as vulnerable to extinction in 2020, with the difficulty of finding suitable places to live and enough food a leading cause.

But, all hope is not lost. A simple and easy way that you can help hedgehogs this autumn is to leave fallen leaves in your garden. Leaving fallen leaves, rather than getting rid of them, will not only provide materials for hedgehogs to build their hibernation nests, but play host to a bug feast of prey as well. Are you scared to invite hedgehogs into your garden in case they give your pets fleas? Don’t be. It is a common misconception that all hedgehogs carry fleas. Many don’t, and hedgehog fleas are host-specific , meaning that while they may jump onto a cat or dog, they won’t infest them.

A Hedgehog Haven: Beyond Your Garden

This prickly creature is Britain’s favourite mammal, according to a Royal Society of Biology poll in 2016. Yet native hedgehog numbers have declined in rural areas by between 30% and 75% nationally since 2000, according to a State of Britain’s Hedgehogs 2022 report, published by wildlife charities People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS).

By contrast, the report says urban hedgehog populations appear to have stabilised and might even be starting to recover, after previously falling – but they still need our help.

Hedgehog Street (a joint initiative by PTES and BHPS) says one of the best starting points for those with a garden is to create 13cm x 13cm square holes in or under garden fences – known as hedgehog highways – to connect neighbouring gardens. This is crucial as it allows hedgehogs, which are nocturnal, to move between green spaces searching for food, shelter and mates.

With that ability to move freely, we can provide further help to hedgehogs as they prepare to hibernate over winter by creating leaf piles and compost heaps which can make the perfect nest. Alternatively, a hedgehog house filled with leaves, twigs and natural materials can be provided as a nest option. Log piles will encourage natural insect food for our prickly friends. Always check for hedgehogs before strimming, mowing and lighting a bonfire.

Hedgehogs will be grateful for food and water, but remember that they should be getting getting most of their nourishment from beetles, caterpillars, worms and slugs. The food you provide is only supplementary. Don’t offer them bread and milk: bread is low in energy, and they are lactose intolerant so should not be offered cow’s milk. Hedgehogs love meat-based dog or cat foods, wet or dry, as these are high in the protein they need. To prevent it being eaten by foxes and pets, you could make a feeding station that is difficult for anything larger than a hedgehog to access: see www.hedgehogstreet.org for ideas.

Those without a garden can help hedgehogs by raising awareness of the urgent need to help them. This is highlighted in the first National Hedgehog Conservation Strategy, written jointly by BHPS and PTES and aimed at conservation non-governmental organisations (NGOs), local councils, farmers, land managers and the Government.

Fay Vass, CEO of BHPS, said: “This strategy is a real moment for hedgehog conservation as together we can make real change. We hope it will strengthen existing and ongoing conservation efforts, that industries such as transport, housing development and farming scale-up their conservation work with hedgehogs in mind, and that more people are inspired to help in their own gardens and green spaces.”

We can all help hedgehogs by contacting local councils and developers to highlight the importance of managing public green spaces for hedgehogs and ask that new-build sites are hedgehog friendly. We can also discuss the ways to help hedgehogs with friends, family, neighbours and colleagues. Becoming a volunteer “spotter” for the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme, which can be done from your own home, is another way to help: for details visit www.hedgehogstreet.org/nhmp

For more advice and ways to help hedgehogs wherever you live, visit www.hedgehogstreet.org. To read the full National Hedgehog Conservation Strategy, visit www.hedgehogstreet.org/conservation-strategy.