Hedgehog hazards in the garden

Making a garden good for hedgehogs is usually described as adding things: a gap in the fence, a dish of water, a house. This guide is about the other half, the things already in many gardens that can trap, poison or injure a hedgehog. Most of them are fixed with a habit rather than a purchase.

The main source is Hedgehog Street’s page What garden hazards are there for hedgehogs?, opened on 14 November 2026, along with their helpful garden features page. Where a point below is not on those pages, we say so and keep it to common-sense care. There are no figures here for how many hedgehogs are hurt by each hazard, because we are not going to repeat a number we have not checked at its source.

Netting

Netting is a hazard because a hedgehog that pushes into it can become tangled. Hedgehog Street’s advice is to store any unused netting, including sports netting, off the ground, and to make sure pea netting is high enough from the ground for hedgehogs to pass under safely.

In practice:

• Roll up and put away netting you are not using, rather than leaving it in a heap at the end of a bed.
• Raise fruit and vegetable netting so the bottom edge is clear of the ground, rather than pegging it down tight.
• Check sports nets at dusk if they stay up. A goal net left out overnight is the obvious one.

Loose garden twine, plastic sacks and litter are in the same category. Keep them in a bin or a shed.

Ponds and swimming pools

Hedgehogs can swim, but they need a way out. Hedgehog Street says make sure at least one side of a pond slopes gently so a hedgehog can climb out, and their features page suggests using stones or chicken wire to make that escape. For swimming pools, they say make sure they are either securely covered or have an exit ramp. They also say check ponds and pools every day.

A steep-sided pond with a hard liner edge is the risk. A shallow beach at one end, or a ramp of stones, fixes it. If you are building or changing a pond, Pond Setup Guide covers construction on its own site; the hedgehog requirement is simply that one edge lets an animal walk out.

Slug pellets and other garden chemicals

Hedgehog Street calls slug pellets the best-known chemical hazard. They also make two less obvious points:

• Herbicides can lead to fewer earthworms in lawns, which means less food for hedgehogs.
• Insecticides can reduce the other invertebrates hedgehogs eat.

So the effect is not only direct poisoning. Spraying removes the food a hedgehog is coming into your garden for. The natural diet is described in hedgehog house and feeding.

Hedgehog Street also says hedgehogs may lick freshly treated fences, and suggests a water-based, environmentally friendly treatment instead of a harsher wood preserver.

We are not giving a legal status for any particular product here. If you are unsure what is in an old box of pellets in the shed, read the label and dispose of it through your local council’s waste service rather than scattering it.

Bonfires and garden waste piles

A pile of branches, leaves and prunings looks like a nest site to a hedgehog. Hedgehog Street says check any piles of wood or garden refuse for a nesting hedgehog before burning. Building the pile on the day you burn it, rather than weeks earlier, makes that check easier. The same caution applies to a compost heap you are about to fork over; see leaf litter, log piles and compost.

Strimmers and mowers

The Hedgehog Street hazards page we opened does not discuss strimmers or mowers, so this section is common sense rather than a citation. Hedgehog Street’s features page treats untrimmed, undisturbed corners as places hedgehogs nest and hibernate. A strimmer run along the bottom of an overgrown hedge is exactly where one could be lying.

• Walk the area first, and look into long grass and under shrubs before cutting.
• Cut long grass in stages, from the top down, rather than going straight to ground level.
• Avoid cutting at dusk and after dark, when hedgehogs are moving about.

If you use a robotic mower, check what the maker says about wildlife and when it runs. We have not opened a robotic mower page, so we are not naming a setting.

Open drains, holes and steep-sided pits

This is another hazard the Hedgehog Street page we opened does not list, so it is also common-sense advice. A hedgehog that falls into a steep hole may not be able to climb out. Replace drain covers you have lifted, cover inspection pits and trenches, and if a hole must stay open, put a plank or a ramp in it. Check it each morning.

Making these checks a routine

None of this needs a shopping list. A simple routine covers most of it:

1. Before you cut, walk the area.
2. Before you burn or fork, look into the pile.
3. At dusk, check nets are raised and pond or pool exits are clear.
4. Each morning, check open holes and the pond edge.

Hazards in winter overlap with hibernation sites, so read hedgehog hibernation and winter before tidying anything between autumn and spring. The other half of a hedgehog-friendly garden, a way in and out, is in hedgehog highways. How hazards fit into a wider plan is in a wildlife-friendly garden.

If you find a hedgehog that is injured or trapped, the winter guide links Hedgehog Street’s page on sick or injured hedgehogs.

A wildlife pond built with a gentle slope is in ponds and amphibians, and garden chemicals in pesticides, slug pellets and wildlife.

What is the most common hedgehog hazard in a garden?

We have not opened a source that ranks them, so we will not. Hedgehog Street calls slug pellets the best-known chemical hazard, and lists netting, ponds and pools, and bonfires alongside it.

How do I make my pond safe for hedgehogs?

Hedgehog Street says make sure at least one side slopes gently, suggests stones or chicken wire as an escape, and says check ponds every day.

Is it safe to strim under a hedge in autumn?

Only after checking. Untidy, undisturbed corners are where hedgehogs nest. Walk the area and look first, and cut in stages rather than going straight to the ground.