Campaigns

THE NEW 'BE HEDGEHOG AWARE' WONDER WALL IS NOW LIVE!
Take a look at the wonederful businesses and organisations getting involved and helping spread the word about being hedgehog aware!

Be Hedgehog Aware Campaign My 'Be Hedgehog Aware' Campaign

My 'Be Hedgehog Aware' campaign aims to reduce the number hedgehog injuries sustained through garden strimming or mowing.
I have been in contact with a wide range of garden strimmer and mower manufacturers, asking them to place a 'Be Hedgehog Aware' sticker on their machinery. This means that every time the equipment is about to be used, the gardener is reminded to check for hedgehogs first, which will give hedgehogs a better chance of survival.

I'm pleased to say that in Hyundai Power Products were the first company to sign-up, and have 100,000 strimmers and mowers coming off the production line with these stickers on! They also include information in their equipment manuals, and have donated the first 10,000 stickers to me so I can send these out to anyone who wants to put one on their machine at home, or within communities, regardless of the brand of machine. If you would like to receive a pack of stickers, please visit the SHOP page. European Manufacturer STIGA have also recently come on board with the campaign distributing information and promotional packs to their dealerships across the UK, and putting their special yellow 'Be Hedgehog Aware' stickers on their machines. Take a look at the WonderWall to see who is supporting the campaign or visit the Manufacturer page.

If you are a gardening equipment retail outlet and would like to support me with the 'Be Hedgehog Aware' please email dylan@hedgehogaware.org.uk

There are 4 simple things everyone can do to help reduce the number of injuries to hedgehogs in the garden:

- - Check long grassy areas for hedgehogs (and other wildlife) before strimming or mowing
  - Make sure any pond in the garden has an escape route for hedgehogs such as a sloping ramp - they are good swimmers, but can’t climb out of ponds without help
  - Keep netting to a minimum in the garden, always keep it tidied, with no loose ends, and ideally at least one foot from the ground to stop hedgehogs becoming tangled up in it
  - Stop using pesticides and slug pellets in the garden -these can be fatal for hedgehog

Hedgehog Street have launched their 'Hedgehog Friendly Fencing' campaign, calling on fencing manufacturers to pledge to offer a range of hedgehog friendly fencing panels and gravel boards. They have a template letter which can be downloaded, as well as contact details for companies - find out more here. I was so pleased to play a key part in getting Jewson on board with this, who will be launching their hedgehog friendly product range across UK stores very soon.

There are also several petitions that can be signed to help hedgehogs in the UK:

Make hedgehog surveys & mitigation measures compulsory for all new developments

Help Save British Hedgehogs with hedgehog ‘highways’ – a petition launched by ecologist and author Hugh Warwick to make sure new housing developments include ‘hedgehog highways’.

Call for UK ban on toxic metaldehyde slug pellets

Also Move UK hedgehogs to schedule 5 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 to allow them greater protection, as debated in July 2021, after receiving over 100,000 signatures (petition now closed).