European hedgehog: The garden's own pest-control team

The European hedgehog is one of the most common and best-loved wild animals in the garden: covered in spines, it waddles along and comes out in the evening to help "tidy up" our gardens. Let's meet this little pest-controller.

Its body

A hedgehog's spines are actually modified hairs — hollow, springy, and about five thousand strong. When danger nears, it first tenses a layer of muscle beneath the skin and rolls into a tight, prickly ball that leaves a fox nowhere to bite. Its small nose is sharp, and it uses smell to find food at night; its eyesight is only average, but its hearing and smell serve it well.

Where it lives and what it eats

The hedgehog is an omnivore, feeding mainly on beetles, earthworms and snails, plus the occasional berry. In one night it can eat dozens of grams of pests, making it a genuine "natural pest-control team" in the garden. It rests by day among shrubs and leaf litter and becomes active towards evening.

How it spends the winter

Late in autumn, the hedgehog eats non-stop, fattening itself up, then builds a warm nest of leaves and dry grass and hibernates. It lives through the winter on the fat stored in its body. When it wakes in spring, the first thing it does is hurry to eat a big meal.

A note for grown-ups

If there is a hedgehog in your garden, you and your child could leave it a patch of leaf litter and shrubs — its natural hiding place and nest. Doing something hands-on for an animal teaches a child to care for nature far better than any lecture.