Shane & Tim's Garden

For my birthday, Tim got me a hedgehog habitat. It’s very well made and I’m sure will do great for any passers by or spikey friends who are looking to settle down.

I expect this isn’t a great time of the year to put a hedgehog hotel down. They’re probably all already hibernating. On the other hand, I also read that they wake up sometimes, if they get too cold, and look for somewhere else.

British Februaries are not much warmer than Januaries, so hibernation might not be ending just yet. For any brave hogs who are out and about, they’ll be happy to come across this bit of safety. Apparently, the hole is smaller than cats and foxes are willing to go into (I find this dubious, but who am I to argue).

Finding a spot for it was a little difficult, and I think we went with the best of the worst positions at the moment.

At the back of our garden is a place where I throw the grass to dry out before composting or throwing it in the garden bin (or forgetting about it and leaving it there for six months – I’ve not experienced the mouldy smell others said might happen in this case). I cut a whole into the dirt so it can sit just underneath the surface level, where other dirt mounds up against it. My hope is that this’ll keep it a little warmer.

It is facing away from the north wind, as suggested. It’s right next to our pergola though, so we may end up distrubing it more than they’d like. Once I’ve cleared out more bramble bushes (I’ve filled my entire garden bin with one plant so far), there might be a better place for it to go.

Right next to it is a hole someone dug out – a dog, or a fox maybe? The garden it leads onto do not have a dog, so I’m not too worried about it. I’ve never been pro-fence anywhere, as it stops all sorts of wildlife from getting around. Including frogs, foxes, and hedgehogs of course. So, for the meanwhile, I’m fine with the hole.