These prickly creatures are fast becoming an endangered species in 21st century Britain. But all is not lost and as Hedgehog Awareness Week approaches, Tiffany Francis has ways that you can help them flourish again.
AS spring settles in and we start to relax in balmy pub gardens, the humble hedgehog is gearing up for its busiest time of the year. Once they have matured at two years old, May is the month for hedgehogs to woo a prickly mate and produce a litter of hoglets, a process that begins with a fascinating ritual of snorting, circling and chasing off unfriendly rivals. The act of mating is made easier by the female flattening her spines, and by June or July she will give birth to a litter of four or five tiny hoglets, who will be ready to leave the nest within a month.
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