Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) are small mammals which weigh about about 500g to 1.3kg. They measure 22-30cm in length, with a 2-5cm tail and a pointed nose. They have a spiny, brown and white striped, protective coat which is made up of around 16000 spines (modified hairs).

Cities are attractive to hedgehogs as they lose a lot of heat through the high surface area of all those spines. Unfortunately roads radiate heat and are a major killer. Many gardeners are fond of slug pellets but hedgehogs eat quantities of the poisoned slugs and are poisoned too. Hedgehogs eat 300 invertebrates a night so poisoned insects and other garden pests will be eaten. Ironically, gardeners are poisoning this natural predator.

Hedgehogs may become locked in sheds or get stuck in food cans, the plastic rings from cans of alcohol, and fruit and sports netting. Although they can swim, they become exhausted trying to get out of steep-sided ponds (especially slippery plastic ones) and paddling pools.

Feeding bread and milk gives hedgehogs stomach upsets. Burning pampas grass and building bonfires in advance of lighting lead to many an avoidable cremation. Power tools such as strimmers can do harm and forking over a compost heap in colder months is risky.

Provide shelter and hibernation quarters such as a hedgehog hibernaculum. Put out foods (see feeding). Avoid feeding by torchlight as they may come to associate car headlights with food. Planting hedges and mini woodlands will provide a habitat for hedgehogs as well as lots of other wildlife. Use environmentally friendly wood preservatives as hedgehogs sometimes lick treated surfaces. Young hedgehogs should be left if they appear abandoned - the mother is usally not far away. Avoid disturbing a hibernating hedgehog - the energy required to kick-start it's heart and metabolism could deplete its energy reserves and it might not make it through to spring.

Aim for a garden which provides a natural diet of slugs, snails, caterpillars, insects including beetles, millipedes, earthworms, berries and fruit. Occasionally bird eggs, nestlings, frogs, lizards, snakes and rodents are eaten.

Supplementary food includes tinned cat or dog food, chopped raw liver or mince, sultanas, sunflower seeds with the husk removed, bananas, baked beans, scrambled egg, cooked potato and other vegetables, rice, pasta, cake, biscuits, pastry, fish fingers, pilchards, unsweetened cereals, or mealworms. Hedgehogs also like crunchy cat biscuits which are good for their teeth. Unfortunately, cats might eat some of these foods.

Hedgehogs need water so a garden pond with gently sloping edges or a saucer of water is ideal.

The mating season lasts from April to August. Males are aggressive towards each other though injuries are rarely serious. 4-6 weeks after mating 4-6 blind, deaf, soft-spined babies are born and looked after in a nest of grass, leaves and moss. Their ears and eyes will open at around 14 days. You might see a 'caravan' of hedgehogs following their mother as they leave the nest after 3-4 weeks of suckling. 1 or 2 litters are produced a year. The hedgehogs will reach maturity the following year.

Relatively warm, dry places include hedges, and in, and under, outbuildings.

Hedgehogs hibernate in nests from October to April. These are made in undisturbed and dry areas such as hedges, under raised sheds, bramble thickets and overgrown areas using leaves and moss. A third of all hedgehogs die during hibernation. The lucky ones emerge in March or April as the weather warms.

Their protective spines and ability to curl up into a tight ball protect them well but badgers and foxes may prize them open.

Common and widespread.

The common name ‘hedgehog’ derives from a combination of a favourite habitat and their grunts, snorts, and occasionally, their squeals, which sound like hogs (pigs). A hedgehog may live 10 years.

Hedgehogs can also run very fast when necessary, clamber over high walls and fences and even swim short distances.

Putting out foods should eventually tempt them and installing a light triggered by passive infra red will alert you although it will often be a cat instead! Sometimes their five-toed footprints and their thin, elongated, tapering droppings are evidence of their presence. Wild animals should not be handled unless absolutely necessary. Apart from the prickly spines, hedgehogs are also covered in fleas.