Bonfire Night and hedgehogs: how to check your bonfire

Do hedgehogs hide in bonfires?

They do, and early November is the worst possible time. Hedgehogs are looking for somewhere to spend the winter, and Shropshire Wildlife Trust says big piles of loose sticks and wood make attractive places for a hedgehog to huddle up or even make a winter nest. A bonfire pile that has stood in the garden for a week or two is exactly that.

Most hedgehogs hibernate from November or December, so a pile built in late October can already have someone asleep at the bottom of it by the 5th.

How to check your bonfire: the checklist

Shropshire Wildlife Trust and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) give the same advice in slightly different words:

1. Build it on the day you light it. The BHPS says bonfires shouldn't be built until the day they're lit. The longer a pile stands, the more likely it is that a hedgehog will wander in.
2. Choose clear ground. Never build on top of a pile of leaves, as there could be a hedgehog underneath. If your wood has been stacked outside, move it to a different patch of ground before you build.
3. Fence it if you build early. Shropshire Wildlife Trust suggests chicken wire, one metre high and angled outwards, all the way round the bottom of the pile.
4. Check the whole pile before you light it. Hedgehogs tend to crawl into the middle and the bottom two feet, so look there hardest, but the Trust says to check the entire bonfire.
5. Lift it, don't stab it. Lift the pile section by section with a pole or broom. Never use a fork, spade or rake: the BHPS warns they can cause terrible injuries.
6. Use your ears and a torch. Shine a torch inside and listen for hissing, the sound a disturbed or distressed hedgehog makes.
7. Light it from one side. Light from one corner rather than the middle, so that anything still inside has a way out.

The two sources differ only on emphasis: the Trust singles out the bottom two feet, and the BHPS simply says to check before lighting if the pile has been left unattended. Doing the whole pile covers both.

What to do if you find a hedgehog

Stay calm and move slowly. Shropshire Wildlife Trust's advice:

• Put on gardening gloves and pick the hedgehog up with the leaves or nesting material it was sitting in.
• Put it in a cardboard box lined with newspaper.
• Take the box somewhere well away from any fires, or keep it safe until the bonfire is over.
• Once the fire is out, soak the site with water, then release the hedgehog under a bush or a log pile.

If it's injured, or out and about in daylight, it may need help. The RSPCA says a hedgehog seen in the day may be sick or injured. The BHPS asks people who are worried about a hedgehog to use its first aid page or call it on 01584 890 801. Don't give it milk: the RSPCA points out that hedgehogs are lactose intolerant.

Do you need a bonfire at all?

The BHPS asks people to think about it first. In its words, "the fewer bonfires there are, the fewer wildlife casualties there will be." A public display is the easy way to have fireworks without a pile in your own garden. If you do have one, go through the checklist above before you light it.

Why every hedgehog counts

Hedgehogs are in trouble. The 2020 Red List for Britain's Mammals, produced by the Mammal Society for the government's nature agencies, lists the hedgehog as Vulnerable. Gardens are now one of their strongholds, which is why what happens in yours on Bonfire Night matters.

There's more on helping them through the winter in when do hedgehogs hibernate?, and on what else is about this month in the November wildlife calendar.