Shaftesbury Hedgehog Group
Shaftesbury is now a Hedgehog Friendly Town - one of over 30 towns and villages that have achieved this status in Dorset as part of the Dorset Mammal Group project to reverse the decline of hedgehog populations in Dorset.
Shaftesbury Hedgehog Group is working to help support our community to do as much as we can to make Shaftesbury into a hedgehog friendly habitat.
We do this by working with Dorset Mammal Group, Shaftesbury Homegrown to organise events, raising awareness and work with individuals and organisations to identify simple opportunities to make things a bit safer and more attractive to hedgehogs.
There's also an opportunity to help rescue and rehabilitation of injured or underweight hogs.
To find out more and keep up to date with hedgehog news, email shaftesburyhedgehogs@gmail.com.
Shaftesbury Hedgehog Friendly Garden Competition
Hibernation season is coming up and to help our hedgehogs get the best possible chance this winter we are launching a competition for the best hedgehog friendly garden in Shaftesbury!
*Win a deluxe hedgehog house for your garden*
We want to know what you have done to make your garden hedgehog friendly
Extra marks awarded for imagination, practicality and collaboration!
Things you could include:
A wild area
Log piles, stick piles, leaf piles
A hedgehog house
Hedgehog gaps in fence lines
Working with hedgehog friendly neighbours
Not using slug pellets or other pesticides
A pond or other water source (make sure the pond has an escape route!)
A hedgehog feeding station (make sure you are only using appropriate foods, feeding the wrong things can be very harmful! – see https://bit.ly/3oGu2Mo)
Gardening to attract lots of hedgehog food (insects, grubs and worms!)
Free to enter
Deadline for entries Friday 29th October
Download an entry form here:
Paper forms will also be available in town soon - keep an eye on the Planet Shaftesbury website for updates.
Useful links
Dorset Mammal Group hedgehog section website - https://dorsetmammalgroup.wordpress.com/hedgehogs-2/
What to feed and what not to feed hedgehogs - https://www.green-feathers.co.uk/blogs/news/what-should-you-feed-hedgehogs
Things to do in your garden - link to Wild about gardens leaflet
Hedgehog Street website: How to help hedgehogs - https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/
People’s Trust For Endangered Species website - https://ptes.org/campaigns/hedgehogs/
Sign a petition to make Hedgehog Highways a requirement for new developments:
https://www.change.org/p/help-save-britain-s-hedgehogs-with-hedgehog-highways