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Release sites
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The EHF release garden scheme
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Every year, we look for a few release gardens, where young hedgehogs who have grown up in our rescue receive some extra support. The released hedgehogs are free to come and go, but are offered some food, water and lodging for a while. They may or may not take us up on that offer - some disappear on the first night, some visit the release garden on a regular basis and some even nest there.
This scheme covers our youngsters. Adult hedgehogs are usually released where they were found, as they have a mental map of where to find food, water, and shelter in the area where they grew up. If this is not possible, for example because of habitat destruction or an aggressive dog in the garden, we aim to find a release site as close as possible to where they were found. Please read the criteria and FAQ below, and if you would like to offer your garden as a release site, fill in our questionnaire. We will organise a garden visit by our trained volunteers, and add your garden to our list if suitable. We cannot guarantee a hedgehog release, as in some years we don't have many youngsters, and we need to spread them out a bit. However, we hope that the conversation with our release garden team about hedgehog risks and opportunities in your garden will add value to you anyway. |
Important: If you hope that a hedgehog in your garden might eat your slugs, this won't work - slugs are a minor part of their diet, and not particularly good for them. More info about hedgehog diet
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Criteria for release gardens
- You live in Ealing (some bordering areas are also accepted).
- Other hedgehogs are already present in your garden or your neighbourhood (ask your neighbours whether they have seen any, look for hedgehog poo, and search on the hedgehog map). Hedgehog poo is 1.5-5cm long (fox poo is larger, 5-15cm), sausage like, squidgy, often tapered on one end, black and shiny, may have insect parts in it - picture see below).
- There is no busy road going by your garden.
- Your garden offers some suitable cover and hiding places for a hedgehog (such as low bushes, long grass).
- The ground can serve as an adequate food source (no concrete floor or artificial grass).
- If there is a pond, it needs to have a shallow sloping side or a ramp/stepping stones, so that the hedgehog can climb out
- No chain link fences in the garden (hedgehogs get their heads stuck in these and cannot reverse out).
- No dog in the garden, besides very friendly ones with no interest in wildlife. Cats are OK.
- If you have seen badgers in your neighbourhood, or if a badger set is close by, we prefer not to release there, as badgers frequently eat hedgehogs and can open them up with their claws. The presence of foxes is OK; even though they may occasionally injure a hedgehog, they don't usually bother with a rolled up hedgehog, and hedgehog is not on their menu. However, we do not release into gardens where foxes are fed.
- The garden needs to have several exit/entrance points, so that hedgehogs can come and go freely.
Note: We are also looking for a few large, wild large gardens, that might serve hedgehogs during longer recovery or observation periods. However, this requires much more work from the garden owners (daily feeding, monitoring), and they would need to allow access to our volunteers for medical care.
Your roleAs a garden owner who releases hedgehogs for Ealing Hedgehog Friends (EHF), you commit to:
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How to applyIf you think your garden fulfils the criteria above, your next step is to fill in our questionnaire. You can download it, request a version from our admin team, or fill it in online below.
Once we received your answers and find your garden has good potential as a release site, we will organise a garden visit from our trained volunteers. After that, we just have to wait - as mentioned, we cannot guarantee that we have a hedgehog for you. Download the questionnaire here:
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Frequently asked questions
The EHF volunteer who visits your garden will be able to give you advice on how to make your garden hedgehog friendly. The volunteer will also answer any more questions about feeding, hedgehog houses, and more.
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I already have two hedgehogs who come to my garden on a regular basis. Would one more be too much? Will they fight for territory?
Gardens that already have hedgehog visitors are ideal! Hedgehogs are not territorial, so they won’t fight for territory. However, if they all visit your food source at the same time, they may fight for the food. The number of hedgehogs that can be in your garden depends on the garden size, and how accessible neighbouring gardens are. We usually won’t release more than 2-3 hedgehogs in the same garden/area. So, if you have two visiting, a third one will be fine. And if you have a huge garden, even more. But you might want to place the food sources in different corners of the garden. Will the hedgehog stay in my garden? It may – or may not. It is a wild animal, and it will know best where it wants to live. Hedgehogs often have several nests during summer, close to several food sources. They may come to feed in your garden in the middle of the night and sleep a bit in their nest. But then they may take off and spend the day sleeping somewhere else. Do I need to get a hedgehog house? You will need to provide some shelter for the first few nights, which can be a hedgehog house, a wood pile, or something improvised, possibly made of bricks and boards. You find information on how to build a shelter on our Supporting Hedgehogs page, and our volunteers can give you some advice when they visit your garden. Do I need to buy a night camera to monitor the hedgehog? A night camera is not needed, and whether you would like to buy one is up to you. Other ways of monitoring the hedgehog is checking whether the food is eaten, searching for hedgehog poop, or just sitting quietly in your garden after dark; you may hear the hedgehogs snuffling and digging in dry leaves. |
If I release a hedgehog in my garden, how do I feed it?
Our volunteers will give you instructions if your garden is selected. In the meantime, you can learn more about feeding hedgehogs on our dedicated page. How long do I have to feed the hedgehog? It depends – if the weather is ideal and the hedgehog is quite big and strong, maybe just a week. With most hedgehogs, we suggest 2-3 weeks. After this, you can start reducing the food, and take some breaks (don’t feed for a day, then feed again). If the weather is extremely hot and dry, you may need to keep feeding for longer. The same applies for winter releases. So, after 2-3 weeks, I should not feed hedgehogs anymore? This is up to you. Hedgehogs may appreciate a continuous food source, but you should not make them dependent on your feeding; do not put too much food out, and occasionally, leave a few days out. What if the hedgehog does not eat the food I put out? Keep feeding for a few more days, in smaller amounts. If the food is being eaten, that might indicate that the hedgehog is back. After release, many hedgehogs go exploring their unfamiliar environment for a while. They may come back to your garden at some point, as they remember that there was a good food source and lodging there. Or they may have found a different territory. What if I agreed to release a specific hedgehog, but I then decide to go on holidays – could we postpone the release for a week? If the hedgehog is ready, we need to release it ASAP, hence, we would find a different garden for this specific hedgehog. Hedgehogs that are ready to go but are kept in captivity for too long can get ill based on stress and parasite overload. |
Will I attract rats if I put food out for hedgehogs?
Rats are part of our suburban reality, and they may already visit your garden at night without your even knowing (going for bird food, your compost heap, or even just the water in your pond). We have found that wet cat and dog food is not very attractive to rats. Do not put dry food nibbles out if you are worried about rats. Will the hedgehog bring fleas to my garden? Will they harm my cat or dog? EHF hedgehogs are parasite-free upon release. Over the months, like all other wildlife, they may pick up parasites such as fleas or ticks. However, hedgehogs with fleas are much less common than most people think. Hedgehog fleas are host specific. They cannot feed on your cat or dog – or you. And they usually won’t leave the hedgehog anyway. If the odd hedgehog flea finds its way onto your cat, for example if the hedgehog sleeps in your garden shed where your cat sleeps as well, you may see the odd hedgehog flea on your cat, but they cannot survive on the cat and will leave. Ticks stay on the host until they are full, so it is very unlikely that a hedgehog will shed a tick while in your garden (and all other wildlife, including birds, can have ticks as well). How does the release work? An EHF volunteer will get in touch with you and agree a time to come to your garden in the evening, with the hedgehog in a box with straw. This box is quietly placed in a bushy area of your garden, and the hedgehog is then allowed to come out at its own speed. What if I need help? You will have a contact number of the EHF volunteer who helped with the release. This person can give you information before and after the release. |
Hedgehogs visiting your garden? You may find poo as an indicator.
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Hedgehog poo is 1.5-5cm long (fox poo is 5-15cm)
Sausage like, squidgy, often tapered on one end Black and shiny, may have insect parts in it 
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