Celebrating our ‘Hedgehog Friendly Campus’

We have been awarded a Silver Hedgehog Friendly Campus accreditation – watch this video to learn more.

Hedgehog numbers are declining fast across the UK. We decided to act, making a commitment to complete seven actions, and protect hedgehogs on our Colchester Campus.

How we are protecting hedgehogs on campus

1. We created a Moodle page which explains what a hedgehog friendly campus is.
2. A Students’ Union Officer sits on our working group.
3. Local residents have been informed of the campaign and encouraged to help.
4. Our accommodation teams discussed garden improvements with private landlords.
5. University grounds teams now leave log piles for hedgehogs where it’s safe to do so.
6. Dedicated areas on campus have been left to grow as ‘wild corners’ and our landscape policy has been revised.
7. A hedgehog survey has been performed on campus and the results have been logged on the Big Hedgehog map. Sadly, we have not yet found hedgehog prints on campus.

Want to help create a safer environment for hedgehogs?

• Collect old dead wood from your garden or ask the local park for permission to take some from their supply and pile it up in a quiet undisturbed corner of your garden.
• Think of your garden as part of a local network. Understand that no garden is large enough for a hedgehog population; one garden cannot offer everything they need.
• Be careful when tidying leaf piles – they are a potential nesting site and there may be a hedgehog in residence.
• Let a ‘wild corner’ grow in your garden which hedgehogs can enjoy.
• Create a hole in your fence to create a hedgehog highway.
• If you have a pond, make sure there is something for a hedgehog to climb onto if it finds itself in the water.

Find out more and join our hedgehog committee

Please email our Sustainability team to join our Hedgehog Friendly Campus team and sign up to take part in our ‘How to help hedgehogs’ talk on Wednesday 17 March.