Saving Mrs Tiggy-Winkle

The secret life of a much-loved British mammal and simple steps we can take at home to stop its extinction

- Frieda Rummenhohl

As evening falls, a gentle snuffling and rustling can be heard from a hedgerow or undergrowth – one of Britain’s best beloved mammals is venturing out. Hedgehogs live alongside us. Their habitats span suburban gardens, parks and cemeteries as well as woodlands and grasslands, providing potentially easy wildlife encounters provided you’re up for a late night. These mostly nocturnal animals are natural explorers and can travel more than a mile each night and their range can be as big as 50 acres. Not only can hedgehogs roam far, but they can also do it at speed. Despite their small size, they can run up to four miles-per-hour – faster than our walking pace.

Hedgehogs are great garden helpers, happily hoovering up pesky slugs. Also on the menu are beetles, caterpillars and earthworms that make up the majority of their diet. Their help to gardeners and prickly look (the up to 7,000 spines are actually modified hairs) may be a contributing factor to their popularity. The European hedgehog is the only hedgehog species in Britain, of 14 worldwide, rendering identification skills unnecessary in the UK.