You don't need a large garden, an expensive hedgehog house or a perfectly wild patch of land to offer one of Britain's most familiar garden visitors a safe place to shelter. Sometimes the best thing you can do is leave a quiet corner alone.
October is a good time to think about hedgehogs. As the nights grow colder, they're feeding up for winter and looking for somewhere sheltered to spend the months ahead.
And while it's tempting to rush out and buy a purpose-built hedgehog house, there's a rather pleasing alternative: you may already have everything you need.
A pile of leaves, some fallen branches and an undisturbed corner of the garden can be surprisingly useful.
What does a hedgehog actually want?
Not luxury accommodation, certainly.
A hedgehog needs somewhere dry, sheltered from wind and rain, reasonably well insulated and safe from regular disturbance. It also needs to be able to get in and out without being trapped.
In the wild, hedgehogs make nests beneath hedges, among dense vegetation, under logs and in other protected spaces. They use dry leaves, grass and other plant material to create a nest around themselves.
Gardens can provide similar conditions, provided we don't tidy away every possible hiding place.
That slightly untidy patch behind the shed? Potentially useful. The heap of leaves collecting beneath a hedge? Worth leaving. The pile of branches you've been meaning to take to the tip? Perhaps it can wait.
Make a simple hedgehog shelter
You don't need to be particularly handy.
Choose a quiet, sheltered part of the garden, ideally beneath a hedge or alongside a boundary where there's some protection from the weather.
Place a few sturdy logs or branches to create a sheltered space underneath, making sure nothing can collapse onto an animal. Add dry leaves around and above the structure, with some twiggy branches to stop everything blowing away.
Keep the entrance accessible and avoid low-lying ground that regularly becomes waterlogged.
You don't need to put a hedgehog inside, and you certainly shouldn't move one into your newly created shelter. If the spot is suitable, a hedgehog may investigate it in its own time.
There is no guarantee that your shelter will be occupied. That's wildlife for you. You can provide the accommodation, but you don't get to choose the tenant.
Is a hedgehog house worth buying?
A proper hedgehog house can be useful, particularly in smaller or tidier gardens where natural shelter is limited.
Look for a sturdy, weather-resistant design with a protected entrance, a dry floor and enough space for nesting material. A tunnel-style entrance can help discourage larger animals from getting inside.
Position it somewhere quiet, away from direct winter rain and frequent human activity. Dry leaves nearby will give a visiting hedgehog material to arrange for itself.
But don't assume a purchased house is automatically better than a well-protected natural nest.
The location, dryness and lack of disturbance matter enormously.
The most important thing is knowing when to leave it alone
Once you've made a potential nesting place, resist the urge to keep checking it.
Hedgehogs may wake and move between nests during winter, but disturbing a hibernating animal unnecessarily can use up valuable energy reserves.
Avoid lifting occupied shelters, rummaging through established leaf piles or dismantling log heaps during the colder months.
If you must move a pile of garden material, check it carefully first. Never plunge a garden fork straight into a heap of leaves or cut through dense vegetation without checking for wildlife.
And if you find a sleeping hedgehog in an intact nest, don't bring it indoors simply because it's cold outside. Hibernation is a natural process. An animal that appears injured, underweight, weak or otherwise in trouble needs advice from a wildlife rescue organisation.
A hedgehog curled up in the open should not be assumed to be safely hibernating. Contact a hedgehog rescue or the British Hedgehog Preservation Society promptly for advice.
Don't forget the way in
A lovely shelter is of little use if hedgehogs can't reach your garden.
Hedgehogs travel between gardens looking for food, mates and nesting sites. Solid fences and walls can prevent them moving through otherwise suitable habitat.
Where safe and practical, a gap approximately 13cm by 13cm at the bottom of a boundary fence can allow hedgehogs to pass through. Check what's on the other side first, particularly if it leads towards a road, dangerous drop or other hazard. Agree any changes to shared boundaries with your neighbour or the owner first.
Connecting neighbouring gardens can be more valuable than any single hedgehog house.
A little less tidying, a little more wildlife
There are plenty of sensible reasons to keep parts of a garden tidy. Paths need clearing, drains need protecting and nobody wants a heap of rotting vegetation pressed against the house.
But not every fallen leaf needs collecting.
Leaving some leaves beneath shrubs, keeping a few logs in a quiet corner and allowing a patch of vegetation to remain undisturbed can provide shelter for insects and other small creatures as well as hedgehogs.
And those insects are part of what makes a garden useful to a hungry hedgehog in the first place.
You may never actually see the animal that uses your shelter. Hedgehogs are mostly nocturnal, and a successful winter nesting spot is unlikely to provide much entertainment.
That's rather the point.
Give a hedgehog somewhere safe to sleep, then leave it in peace.
For more practical advice, visit the British Hedgehog Preservation Society’s hedgehog homes guide and Hedgehog Street’s garden access guide.
Explore our Garden and Seasonal Gardening departments, or see what to do in the garden this October.