This weekend the College’s Hedgehog Friendly Campus team got together to build hedgehog houses and insect hotels which will help to make the college hedgehog and wildlife friendly.
Hedgehogs need safe nests throughout the year but particularly for hibernation. They need somewhere warm and dry in a quiet, shaded area where they will be protected from the worst of the weather. The boundary at the top of the college provides this with lots of trees, shrubs and groundcover.
The hedgehog houses are built from bricks, laid to provide an entrance tunnel for protection from predators and a sleeping chamber which is partially filled with dried leaf litter. A wooden roof keeps the worst of the rain out and logs placed on top of the roof will keep it weighed down. All the materials used have been collected from around the site.
The insect hotels have been packed with a variety of dried plant material including seed heads, hollow stems and leaves to provide different habitats. Ladybirds, lacewings, earwigs, beetles and spiders are just some of the insects which will use the hotels throughout the year.
We will have to wait and see if any hedgehogs take up residence in our houses so watch this space…
There are a few more projects for the Hedgehog Friendly Campus team to complete before the end of the year when we will submit evidence of our efforts towards the bronze award. If you would like any more information or to join in our Hedgehog Friendly Campus campaign, please email Nicola.Meidlinger@chu.cam.ac.uk
