WHIZZ, BANG, CRACKLE! It’s time to light those fireworks again. But as you plan your bonfire night Cumbria Wildlife Trust is calling on everyone to ensure that hedgehogs are not harmed during your bonfire day celebrations and have drawn up a set of guidelines to help.

Bonfire night provides explosive entertainment for us, but is potentially lethal for many creatures, including hedgehogs, looking to settle down for a seasonal snooze. The Trust is encouraging all community bonfire organisers and families with back garden celebrations to include a simple hedgehog check in their routine safety procedures.

Peter Bullard, Director of Cumbria Wildlife Trust, says:

“Hedgehogs start preparing for hibernation in early November when temperatures regularly drop below 16 degrees.  They use twigs, leaves and dry grasses to build a cosy winter nest and may move to a new site at least once during the winter months. To a sleepy hedgehog, a ready made nest such as a compost heap or a pile of timber seems ideal and a newly built bonfire will look like the perfect place to bed down.”

The guidelines call for bonfire enthusiasts to follow a few simple steps to ensure the winter nests of the UK’s only spine covered mammal don’t go up in smoke this year.

These are:

Try and build the bonfire as close to the night as possible to reduce the chance of a hedgehog moving in.

Ideally make your pile of material next to the bonfire site and re-build the stack prior to lighting.

Before lighting, search the bonfire for hibernating creatures using a torch and rake, to gently pull back twigs or vegetation.

Move any hedgehogs found to a ready-made hedgehog box or somewhere dry and safe away from the fire.

If possible, before bonfire night create an alternative hedgehog home by placing some hedgehog boxes in the surrounding area or raking up grass cuttings or autumn leaves into a pile a safe distance from the fire.  Hopefully the hedgehogs will occupy these rather than the bonfire.

PRICKLY PARTICULARS – ALL ABOUT HEDGEHOGS

• The hedgehog is the UK's only spine-covered mammal (up to 7,000 spines), giving it formidable protection when it curls into a ball.
• Alderney has the only breeding population of blonde or Leucistic hedgehogs in the world.
• Hedgehogs or  ‘urchins’ as they are also known, have changed little over the last 15 million years. Their ancestors roamed the earth before mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers.
• Newborn hedgehogs are born with their spines under their skins – they emerge when they are a few hours old.
• The hedgehog is a nocturnal creature, using its strong sense of smell to guide it through the dark, often traveling as far as two miles per night.

FEEDING

• Hedgehogs are insectivores and are related to voles and shrews.
• Feeding on at least 100 invertebrates a night, a hedgehog can weigh up to 1kg on a varied diet that includes beetles, caterpillars, slugs, snails, earthworms, cereals and even pet food.
• They can detect their prey up to 3cm deep under the soil.

HEDGEHOGS IN THE GARDEN

• Hedgehogs are a welcome visitor to any garden and will help rid your flowerbeds and vegetable patches of unwanted pests.
• Hedgehogs are good for your garden, as they love to eat slugs and snails and other pests that gardeners find a nuisance.
• Slug pellets and pesticides entering the food chain can poison hedgehogs.
• In autumn hedgehogs will be feeding voraciously in order to increase the fat reserves that they need to survive during the long winter months.
• Although their usual diet consists of beetles, caterpillars, earthworms and other invertebrates, hedgehogs are quite partial to peanut butter and digestive biscuits, cat or dog food, crushed dog biscuits or muesli plus a small amount of vegetable leftovers. If you have a hedgehog visiting your garden regularly, it may benefit greatly if left some of these in the evenings. But please do not feed hedgehogs bread and/or milk – it’s bad for them and causes diarrhoea.
• However, in order to avoid providing an extra meal for neighbourhood cats and even rats, cover the dish with an upturned box, leaving a 12cm entrance hole just large enough for the hedgehog to access and only leave it out at times when your hedgehog is likely to visit.
• Hedgehogs will also appreciate a supply of fresh, clean, water.

HIBERNATION:

• Hedgehogs are warm-blooded mammals and need to feed regularly to maintain their temperature and energy levels. In winter, food supplies may be scarce, particularly in the coldest weather, so hedgehogs hibernate during these barren times.
• Hibernating between November and early April, the hedgehog slows its body functions down considerably. Their metabolism slows down to a very low level enabling them to survive by expending the minimum amount of energy possible and heartbeats decrease from 190bpm to 20bpm, while body temperature drops from 35 per cent to 10 per cent.
• Hedgehogs make hibernation nests in places such as sheltered compost heaps and under piles of leaves and logs. Never disturb a hedgehog nest or hibernation place at any time of year.

HOW TO HELP:

• Gardeners can help hedgehogs by piling and sweeping autumn leaves and grass cuttings in undisturbed areas providing excellent winter nests. This will also provide excellent habitat for invertebrates, the main food source for hedgehogs.
• Let a few of your bushes overgrow, so they feel sheltered enough for hedgehogs to live under.
• If you do collect and dispose of leaves or cuttings, please check carefully beforehand to make sure there are no hedgehogs nesting underneath.
• Hedgehogs can swim but have difficulty climbing up slippery or vertical banks. Place some chicken wire or a plank of wood on the side of your ponds.
• Once considered a gastronomic delight, the only baking a hedgehog faces nowadays is accidental. So, ‘remember, remember the fifth of November’… and spare a thought for hibernating hedgehogs.