This festive season Sustaining Dunbar’s Pledgehog Project are reaching out to anyone who has been lucky enough to come across a hedgehog in 2024 and is asking them to log their hog before the end of the year.
The Big Hedgehog Map is run by ‘Hedgehog Street’, a joint initiative between the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and People’s Trust for Endangered Species.
Jen Walker, Sustaining Dunbar’s Pledgehog Officer said “It’s a fantastic tool to try and build up a picture of where these elusive rare mammals have been seen. This vital information then feeds in to help with hedgehog conservation. If you regularly have one visiting your garden, or outdoor space, then try and remember to add it before the end of each year to show it’s still there. This means maps can be compared annually for changes in local distribution”.
Hedgehogs travel around a mile each night to find food, water, shelter and a mate. During the colder months when there is less insect food around, most hedgehogs will go into hibernation, so you are less likely to come across one. However, Jen points out that “some hedgehogs will ‘wake up’ and move to different locations and have more than one hibernation nest, so it’s still possible to come across one. Please do try to avoid clearing up piles of leaves or branches as you might disturb one sleeping beneath”.
Sustaining Dunbar’s Pledgehog Project has been funded throughout 2024 by Viridor, SafeDeposits Scotland and Belhaven Brewery. There is now additional funding to run in 2025 until April from the Hugh Fraser Foundation. Earlier in the year it featured on BBC Landward earlier in the year which can be watched again on BBCiplayer (episode 3). To find out more about the Dunbar Pledgehog Project and how to make your own garden or outdoor space good for hedgehogs see: www.sustainingdunbar.org/projects/thepledgehog-project.