The hedgehog in the Netherlands is struggling. Its sharp spines allow it to defend itself against cats and martens, but it’s powerless in traffic. Unfortunately, modern gardens are shrinking the hedgehog’s habitat, and 135,000 hedgehogs die in traffic every year. Over the past ten years, the number of hedgehogs in the Netherlands has halved. By cleverly designing your own garden, you can make a difference and ensure the animal doesn’t have to search far for food to survive. Below are some tips to help the hedgehog!

Make a corner with leaves

By creating a corner with a pile of raked leaves, you make it easier for the hedgehog to find food. The insects attracted to the leaves provide the hedgehog with a tasty morsel to eat.  

Make a hedgehog house

If possible, create a cluttered area in your garden where hedgehogs can hide and make their den undisturbed. If you’d like to provide your hedgehog with more luxury, we recommend installing a hedgehog house. You can buy one ready-made, but it’s also easy to make yourself .

Make tunnels and steps

Another way to expand the hedgehog’s habitat is to create a connection to the green space next to your house or your neighbor’s garden. A small opening of 13 by 13 centimeters or a small stepladder is often enough to ensure they can move quickly and safely from place to place.

Relief

As we wrote in one of our previous news items , lighting your garden at night disrupts the rhythm of bats, birds, and moths. This also applies to nocturnal animals like hedgehogs. So use lights that activate when motion is detected and turn off any “permanent” lighting in your garden.

No milk

We advise against leaving a bowl of milk for hedgehogs, as this will give them diarrhea. If you’d like to provide your hedgehog with some extra food, try providing some hedgehog food, cat or dog food, or some mealworms.
Of course, it’s important to leave your hedgehog alone as much as possible.

Dutch Game

You can contribute to nature not only in your garden, but also outside.
Hollands Wild offers delicious and natural meat from our own Dutch countryside. We value the balance of our natural environment and want to make the most of nature’s harvest. Our products are made from game caught in the Netherlands to maintain the local balance. The meat from these animals is often wasted, which is a shame. With Hollands Wild, you can enjoy delicious, sustainable products from the wild Dutch countryside while simultaneously contributing to a better world.
Source: Natuurmonumenten.nl