A LOCAL Hedgehog Rehabber is urging gardeners to check before they commence work to avoid damage to hedgehogs or their nests.

Helen Fines, who has been working with hedgehogs for over four years, has seen a huge increase in hedgehogs being bought into rescues due to gardens not being thoroughly checked before gardening work starting.

The wildlife rehabber said: “Checking before you do any work is essential and can avoid hedgehogs unnecessarily coming into rescues. Over the years, I have had hedgehogs come to me with legs missing due to them being cut off by grass strimmers, hoglets whose nests have been disturbed resulting in their mum abandoning them.”

Last week, Helen received a mother hedgehog and two young babies from Osbaldwick who had been raked out of their nest by a professional gardening company. The mother hog had sustained an injury and now she and her young are staying with Helen at her home until they have recovered.

Helen said: “It’s heartbreaking that all of this could have easily been avoided if the gardens had been checked beforehand.”

Helen works with her local vet to ensure York’s hedgehogs remain in the city of years to come.

She went on to say: “Hedgehog numbers have declined dramatically over the years and I am concerned that if we do not do something now, that hedgehogs will disappear from our gardens, I cannot even bear to think about that.

“Hedgehogs don’t run away from loud noises, instead they curl up to scare the predators away, but that doesn’t work with a strimmer. They haven’t adapted for modern human life so we need to help them.”

The rehabber said that the best way to check for hedgehogs in a garden is to use a broom handle and gently move the foliage checking each section at a bit at a time. Helen suggests that if you come across a hedgehog then it should be left alone and worked around.

Helen said: “I have been trying to get hedgehogs to stay in my garden for years, but they only visit me for the hedgehog biscuits and fresh bowl of water that I put out for them every night.”

Anyone concerned about a hedgehog or keen to find out how they can help hedgehogs in their garden should contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society on 01584 890801, who will put them in touch with their local rescue.