In this blog post, we learnt all about Hedgehog Friendly Campuses, directly from the University of Birmingham who have recently been awarded their Bronze award.
What is a Hedgehog Friendly Campus?
The Hedgehog Friendly Campus project is an initiative funded by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. They encourage staff and students to join together to ensure:
- The campus is litter-free.
- There are suitable habitats that are accessible.
- and that Food and Drink is available.
32 UK universities have signed up to the scheme launched in April 2019 with the support of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. University staff and students work together towards accreditation by completing ‘hedgehog friendly’ actions.
Why do we need Hedgehog Friendly Campuses?
Since the 1950's the population of Hedgehogs has fallen by 97% due to loss of hedgerows in favour of impermeable walls and fencing, the greater usage of pesticides, more litter, and busier roads causing mortalities.
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham was recently accredited their bronze award within the scheme for tasks they'd done for hedgehog conservation. We wanted to hear about all the great work they'd been up to for our prickly friends.
During the past campaign year, the team have conducted regular monthly litter picks, engaged in fundraising and have attended outreach events.
They organised a Hedgehog footprint tunnel survey workshop in June, run by a staff member from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. It was attended by 20 people, mixture of staff and students as well as two members of the local community. They made 10 survey tunnels- all placed out around campus. Results from the two hedgehog surveys showed two resident hedgehogs on campus.
The list was astounding, awe-inspiring and endless.
Hedgehog Rescue
But it's not all bake sales and litter picking for these hedgie heroes! They took part in an emergency rescue too!
"On 25th July 2019 (the hottest day of the year!) four hoglets were found out in the sun.
We had received reports of a dead hedgehog on the road a week prior to the hoglet rescue so we believe that these were her litter of babies, and when the temperature had become incredibly hot, they came out of the nest searching for her as they were very dehydrated and needed urgent care. They were taken to a veterinary centre recommended by BHPS.
A month later, the orphaned hoglets were doing well and the vet continued to rehabilitate them until their release in September. As a thank you for their help, we collected tins of cat/dog food as well as dry biscuits to donate to the vets.
On 12th September 2019 we released back into the wild our four orphaned hoglets; Branston, Pickle, Sheldon and Michelle. We were very happy to have Moseley MP Martin Straker join us, and it was great to find out how much he loved hedgehogs and wildlife! I hope we can continue a great partnership for this campaign."
We hope you enjoyed learning about these hedgie heroes and the Hedgehog Friendly Campus project as much as we did. Is your university involved? We hope it's inspired you to be a hedgie hero yourself!
If you want to set up a habitat in your garden and watch the hedgehogs live then check out our camera kits.
