Hedgehog Project

Hedgehog Project 

04/06/23

(R) West European hedgehog 

Click link above for more info about Hedgehogs.


Hedgehog Conservation status

Protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. 
Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework.
IUCN Red List for British Mammals - vulnerable to extinction.

We recently spotted a Hedgehog in our woodland, which has created a Natural home in the Leaf litter under some Brambles in our Woodland.

Now that we know they Hedgehogs are Present in our woodland we can now look at protecting & Monitoring Hedgehogs.

 08/09/23 Update

We have ordered two Hedgehog Houses and waiting for them to arrive. Once they have arrived Tracey & I will be painting them with wildlife friendly paint to protect them from the elements. We will then put them together as they arrive flat packed and in stall them in strategic locations around the wood where we think hedgehogs my prefer the shelter. 

It is hoped that providing better protective homes for the Hedgehogs will not only protect them from predators like Badgers & Foxes but will also give them warmth when hibernating in winter. 

More News on the Hedgehogs as we progress with the project soon!

An interesting book about Hedgehogs produced by the RSPB is worth a read if you would like to know more about these Small UK Mammals.

ISBN 978-1-4729-5008-6

16/06/23 Update

We have Just finished Assembling 2 Hedgehog houses & Painting them with pet safe paint that will protect the wood from the weather. Both houses have two rooms the entrance area and a bed room for the Hedgehogs to Hibernate over winter.



We have added some Hinges to help keep the roof in place and make easy access for cleaning out! 
Tomorrow we will be putting bedding straw in the boxes & installing them in the wood.
We will also be placing out Cameras to monitor the Boxes to see if the Local woodland Hedgehogs find  them and make a home in our New Boxes.


17/06/23 Update
Our new project to protect Hedgehogs is now underway at our Woodland.
The New Hedgehog boxes are now installed on site with trail cams to monitor them.


first one slightly more open in a leafy area of the wood. 


 second under cover of some brambles to see which works best for the Hedgehogs.

The Trail cams have also been setup to capture on film any investigating Hedgehogs.

 February 2024 Update!

Unfortunately we have had to bring in the two Hedgehog boxes as found the Bark lids are not very good and started to deteriorate ! We have took them home and will see if we can modify the design of the boxes before putting the back out at the woods. Also the local Hedgehogs have currently not been using the boxes as there are plenty of Natural spots for them to hibernate. 

project on hold till 2025



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Forest Labs

Image
  We at Narrows Wood have been selected as Stewardship Scientists in a New Collaborative research project, with Forest Scientists in the UK from Forest Research & The Sylva foundation!  These projects are to Study the Effects of Climate Change & how to  improve Species suitability for Narrows Wood as part of our Management Program. Project 1 - Ecological Site Classification. Project 2 - Growth 04/06/23  6 Girth bands now installed on site to monitor the Sessile Oak Tree Growth at our woodland. The installation of the Girth bands will allow us to monitor the Growth and health of our wood collecting Data to relay back to Forest Research Scientists at Forest Lab. 
Read more

2023 Autumn Tree Planting

Image
 2023 Autumn Tree Planting Tree Planting Season is here! This October we are Planing to Plant 255 new trees at our Woodland. 180 Trees to improve our Trackside Hedgerows & to replace the Beech trees that failed to grow along our woodland edge. We will be planting 30 blackthorn, 20 dog rose, 30 crab apple, 30 goat willow, 30 rowan & 40 Hawthorn. This will hopefully help improve the biodiversity of our woodland, creating corridors for wildlife between the farmland and the woodland. As well as the new Hedgerow planting we have also planed to install new coppice planting within our woodland giving Us a crop of new Hazel coppice & Sweet Chestnut Coppice. Last year we experimented with the planting of 5 Sweet Chestnut trees and 3 have survived giving Us confidence in expanding our Experimental crop of Sweet Chestnut planting. This year we plan to plant another 15 within our woodland. Sweet Chestnut take a long time before they will produce nuts, around 25 years before they start
Read more

Bat Roost Project

Image
 Bat Roost Project We will be installing 3 Bat Boxes on some of our Sessile Oak trees to provide some additional roosting spots around our Woodland. There are currently many old oak trees around our wood with cracks, holes & crevice's that may provide roost spots for bats. By providing additional man made boxes it is hoped that we can add additional places to the Natural environment for roosting bats. Once we have installed the boxes they will be permanently in stalled and not touched as Bats are legally protected by law. We will be able to monitor our boxes via Non-invasive means by watching with night vision binoculars bats coming in and out of the roost. By using bat detectors & also via Trail cams placed on Opposite trees. All these methods are Non intrusive and valuable way of monitoring bats. Please return for project Updates. 30/06/23 Added 2 extra holes in the bottom board for extra security for fitting to trees.  For more information on Bats visit    https://www.ba
Read more