The unusual warmer weather is great for gardening enthusiasts to extend their season outside but spare a thought for the confused wildlife in your garden.

At this time of year, the temperature outdoors usually dips which is when our hedgehogs take advantage of the piles of leaves gathering in the corners of the garden to make their winter home.  The hibernation period serves as a vital time for the hedgehog to retain body fat and shore up their reserves to keep them going through a cold winter.   The period of nest building before winter begins allows the hedgehog to collect enough food to see itself through winter.   Warmer weather upsets this cycle and hedgehogs don’t sleep but continue to forage, not always successfully so losing essential body mass.  The current warm spell could have dire effects on our hogs as they follow their instinct to keep going rather than hibernate, only to be caught out at a later date when winter hits quite suddenly.

So how can you help your hedgehogs?  Create your own hedgehog haven to ensure their survival.

Provide a little help to your hedgehogs, either in the form of a ready made home or a some extra food left out to keep them going when times get hard.

Most garden centres sell hedgehog food these days and we have a number of regular customers who buy multiple bags at a time.  Hedgehog food producers are beginning to get the message now and coming up with bigger bags to satisfy our hedgehogs needs whilst saving us all a few pennies at the same time.  Brambles hedgehog food also comes in paper bags so you can avoid adding any unnecessary plastic packaging to the sea-ful that already exists!