How to make your garden hedgehog and wildlife friendly

This guide focuses on hedgehogs as a flagship example of garden wildlife — but the principles apply broadly to small mammals, frogs, toads, slow worms and other creatures that rely on gardens as habitat. Hedgehogs are native to parts of Europe, Asia and Africa; if they are not present in your region, the same ideas support other ground-level wildlife. Check with a local wildlife organisation for the species relevant to your area.

Why wildlife corridors matter

A garden on its own — however well designed — can only do so much. What makes gardens truly powerful for wildlife is when they are connected. A hedgehog needs to roam a considerable area each night to find enough food, a mate and suitable nesting sites. A frog needs to move between breeding ponds and damp terrestrial habitat. A slow worm needs to forage across a range of microhabitats.

When gardens are separated by solid walls, close-boarded fences and paved boundaries, these animals cannot move freely. They become isolated in small fragments of habitat — which, for wide-ranging species like hedgehogs, can be fatal. Connecting your garden to neighbouring ones, and encouraging neighbours to do the same, creates a network that allows wildlife to move, feed and breed successfully across a neighbourhood or even a whole town.

This is not a new idea — wildlife corridor projects in urban areas have demonstrated convincingly that connecting previously isolated garden patches results in measurable increases in wildlife populations. The individual steps are simple; the collective impact can be significant.

Create access — the wildlife gap

The single most effective thing many gardeners can do for hedgehogs and other ground-level wildlife is to create a small gap in at least one fence or wall — sometimes called a "hedgehog highway." A gap of roughly 13cm square (about the size of a CD case) at the base of a fence panel is sufficient for a hedgehog to pass through, while being too small for most pets to follow.

• Talk to your neighbours about making matching gaps in shared boundaries. A gap in your fence helps only if the neighbouring garden also has an exit point.
• If your boundary includes a solid wall, consider whether a small drainage gap or existing hole can be enlarged slightly, or whether a short tunnel of pipe can be buried beneath it.
• Mark the location of any gaps with a small sign or painted mark so that new residents of either property know to preserve them.
• Check that any shared boundaries with roads or other hazards are kept secure — gaps should only be between gardens, not onto busy roads.
• Hedgehog highway schemes operate in many towns and cities; search for one in your area to connect your efforts with neighbours more broadly.

Provide shelter and nesting spots

Hedgehogs nest in piles of leaves and vegetation, at the base of hedges, under sheds and in other sheltered, undisturbed spots. They need nesting material — dry leaves, grass, stems — and undisturbed corners where they will not be disturbed by humans or pets.

• Log and leaf piles — a heap of logs and fallen leaves in a quiet corner of the garden is among the most valuable habitat features you can create. Hedgehogs use these for day rests and hibernation. Slow worms, toads and beetles also rely on them.
• Wild corners — areas of the garden left deliberately unmaintained: a patch of long grass, tangled ivy, or a dense shrub left to grow naturally. These provide cover that more manicured areas cannot.
• Native hedges — a hedge of mixed native shrubs provides dense, year-round ground-level shelter as well as food (berries and insects). Even a short hedge section along one boundary makes a difference.
• Purpose-built hedgehog houses — wooden hedgehog boxes placed in sheltered, quiet corners (under a hedge or shrub is ideal) can be used for both daytime resting and hibernation. Site them away from direct sun, partly covered with leaves for insulation, with the entrance facing away from prevailing rain. Do not disturb a hedgehog house during hibernation (typically October to March in the northern hemisphere — check locally).
• For amphibians, a damp log pile and a pond with shallow margins are the essential features. See our wildlife pond guide for how to create a safe pond that frogs, toads and newts can access and escape from.

Food and water

The most sustainable food source for hedgehogs and other garden wildlife is the natural one: the insects, earthworms, slugs and other invertebrates they find in a healthy, chemical-free garden. Supporting this natural food web — by avoiding pesticides and growing insect-supporting plants — does far more long-term good than supplementary feeding alone.

That said, supplementary food and fresh water can provide meaningful support, especially in dry periods when earthworms retreat deeper into the soil, or in late autumn when hedgehogs are building up reserves before hibernation.

What to offer

• Fresh water — always appropriate and always welcome. A shallow dish of fresh water placed at ground level and refreshed daily is valuable to hedgehogs, birds, insects and other wildlife alike. This is the single most universally useful thing you can put out.
• Appropriate supplementary food — where you wish to offer food to hedgehogs, meaty cat or dog food (not fish-flavoured) and purpose-made hedgehog food are the most commonly recommended options in many regions. Always check current guidance from a local hedgehog or wildlife rescue organisation, as best practice evolves.

Hazards to remove

Gardens contain a number of hazards that kill and injure wildlife regularly and often unnecessarily. Removing or modifying them costs little and makes an immediate difference.

• Slug pellets and pesticides — metaldehyde-based slug pellets are highly toxic to hedgehogs, birds, pets and other wildlife and have been banned in many countries. Even pellets described as "wildlife safe" have raised concerns. The safest approach is to avoid them entirely and manage slugs by other means. See our natural pest control guide for effective, wildlife-safe alternatives.
• Garden netting — fruit netting, pea netting and other fine mesh left at ground level or draped low catches hedgehogs, birds and other animals, causing entanglement and a slow death. Always raise netting well off the ground, keep it taut so animals cannot push underneath it, and remove it entirely when not needed.
• Ponds without escape routes — hedgehogs swim but tire quickly and drown if they cannot find a way out of a steep-sided pond. Ensure any open water in your garden has a sloping edge, a ramp of stones or a purpose-made escape ramp. See our wildlife pond guide for safe pond design.
• Strimmers and mowers — hedgehogs, frogs, toads and slow worms rest in long grass and are easily injured or killed by strimmer blades. Before using a strimmer or mower in an area of long vegetation, walk through slowly and check carefully, especially in late spring and summer. Use a stick to gently disturb the area ahead of you.
• Bonfires — hedgehogs often choose to nest in bonfire piles. Never light a bonfire without first dismantling it and moving it to a new site immediately before lighting, or checking it thoroughly for animals. The same applies to compost heaps.
• Open drains and steep-sided features — gullies, drains without covers, steep-sided raised beds and other features that animals can fall into but cannot climb out of are a hidden hazard. Cover open drains; ensure any raised features have at least one sloped or textured side.
• Chemicals and lawn treatments — weedkillers, broad-spectrum insecticides and some lawn treatments harm the invertebrate populations that hedgehogs, birds and amphibians depend on. Reducing or eliminating their use is one of the highest-impact things you can do for garden wildlife.

Go chemical-free and a little wild

A garden managed without pesticides and herbicides — even a partially chemical-free garden — supports a fundamentally richer food web. Invertebrates that might otherwise be killed become food for hedgehogs, birds, frogs and other predators. The natural balance of predator and prey that emerges in a chemical-free garden is more resilient than one maintained with repeated chemical inputs.

Going "a little wild" does not mean abandoning the garden. It means making intentional choices about which areas to leave undisturbed, which plants to let self-seed, which leaves to leave on the ground, and which corners to let become naturally dense and sheltered. These deliberate choices create the structural complexity that wildlife needs and that a uniformly tidy garden lacks.

No-dig gardening practices, which build soil health from the top down rather than disturbing the soil ecosystem, are particularly beneficial for earthworms and the many organisms that depend on undisturbed soil. See our no-dig gardening guide for more.

Plant for insects — the foundation of the food web

Hedgehogs eat primarily invertebrates: earthworms, beetles, caterpillars, slugs and other soil and leaf-litter creatures. The same is true of most amphibians. A garden rich in insects and other invertebrates is, therefore, a garden rich in food for these animals.

• Plant a diverse range of native and wildlife-friendly flowering plants to support bees, hoverflies and other pollinators, whose larvae (and the insects they attract) form part of the invertebrate community that hedgehogs forage through.
• Leave patches of leaf litter undisturbed — this is where many invertebrates overwinter and where hedgehogs and frogs find food.
• Build or maintain a compost heap — it is a concentrated source of invertebrate activity, warmth and food.
• Grow some of the lawn or border areas in a way that allows native flowering plants to establish (clover, dandelions, self-heal and others), creating additional insect habitat at ground level.
• See our bee-friendly plants guide for ideas on planting for insects across a long flowering season.

Seasonal care

Wildlife has different needs through the year, and a little awareness of the annual cycle helps you give support at the right times.

• Spring — hedgehogs emerge from hibernation thin and hungry, typically from March onwards in the northern hemisphere (though timing varies with climate). This is a good time to put out fresh water and appropriate supplementary food. Check for nesting females before disturbing log piles or dense vegetation. Frogs and toads are spawning — avoid disturbing pond margins.
• Summer — hedgehogs are most active, foraging each night. Young hedgehogs (hoglets) begin to appear from midsummer. Check for nesting animals before strimming. Keep water topped up during dry spells; earthworms retreat deep into dry soil, making food scarce.
• Autumn — this is the critical season for hedgehogs building up fat reserves for hibernation. Young hedgehogs born late in the season may not be large enough to survive winter; if you find a very small hedgehog out in daylight in October or November, contact a local wildlife rehabilitator for advice. Ensure bonfires are checked before lighting and that hibernation sites (log piles, compost heaps, hedgehog houses) remain undisturbed.
• Winter — hedgehogs hibernate but may wake on warm days to forage. Do not disturb hibernating animals. Keep water available as a resource for other wildlife — birds, foxes and other mammals that remain active.

Create a wildlife-friendly corner

1. Choose a quiet corner of the garden that is sheltered from wind and direct sun — ideally near an existing hedge, wall or fence. This will become a dedicated wildlife refuge that is disturbed as little as possible.
2. Build a log pile. Stack logs, branches and larger pieces of wood loosely — gaps between logs are what matter. Position it directly on bare soil so that creatures can move between the pile and the ground beneath. Top with fallen leaves.
3. Add a leaf heap. Rake fallen leaves into a pile next to or around the log pile. Hedgehogs pull leaves into nesting piles; toads and slow worms hide beneath them; beetles colonise the decomposing layers.
4. Plant a few native shrubs or let existing vegetation grow. Ivy, bramble (in a controlled patch), dog rose or local native shrubs around the edges of your wild corner create structural cover and additional food. Leave these largely unpruned.
5. Place a hedgehog house (or small mammal shelter appropriate to your local wildlife) in the corner, partially covered with leaves and with the entrance facing away from prevailing wind and rain. Leave it completely undisturbed once placed.
6. Create a gap in the nearest fence or wall (roughly 13cm square at the base) so wildlife can enter the garden and reach this corner from neighbouring properties.
7. Place a shallow dish of fresh water nearby, at ground level, refreshed daily. Embed it slightly in the soil so it is accessible without climbing. Put a flat stone nearby as a bathing spot for insects.
8. Leave this corner alone. Resist the urge to tidy, weed or reorganise it. The value of this space is its undisturbed, complex structure — which takes time to fully establish but begins to be used remarkably quickly.

Your wildlife-friendly corner checklist

• Make a gap of roughly 13cm square in at least one fence or wall, and talk to neighbours about matching gaps.
• Build a log pile directly on bare soil in a quiet, sheltered corner.
• Heap fallen leaves nearby for nesting and hibernation material.
• Put out a shallow dish of fresh water at ground level and refresh it daily.
• Stop using slug pellets and pesticides — switch to wildlife-safe alternatives.
• Check for animals before strimming, lighting bonfires or turning compost heaps.
• Remove or raise any netting that reaches the ground.
• Ensure any open water has a ramp or sloped side so animals can escape.