Gardeners told cut holes in your fence to help your garden

Gardeners are being encouraged to drill holes in their fences before the end of summer. This is due to a significant decrease in hedgehog numbers in the UK in recent years, another species severely affected by environmental changes and modern gardening, household, and lifestyle choices about how we manage our homes and gardens.

But it could help your garden too as hedgehogs are excellent pest exterminators. Hedgehogs have a fondness for slugs and snails - two molluscs that gardeners constantly struggle to keep under control and away from our precious fruit and vegetable crops, as well as our prized flowers and floral displays.

They are most commonly seen in late summer and early autumn, so now is the best time to make your garden hedgehog-friendly. However, hedgehog numbers have significantly decreased in recent years, and one reason suggested for this decline is the construction of solid walls and fences around houses, reports the Express.

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As stated by Wildlife shop NHBS: "Research suggests that this is partly because it is becoming harder for hedgehogs to move freely due to an increase in the number of solid walls and fences being erected around gardens. This reduces the available foraging area and so restricts the amount of food that they can eat as well as reducing the possibility of meeting a mate. Creating a hole in a garden wall or fence will allow your local hedgehogs to pass through from garden to garden safely."

You can do this by simply cutting a small, roughly hedgehog-sized hole in the bottom of the fence, or you could raise the entire panel by a few inches so that a hedgehog can squeeze underneath (but not so large that a person could). Alternatively, simply cut a few inches of wood off the bottom of the fence so that hedgehogs can slip under.

You might think this makes it easier for cats, but they can leap over even six-foot fences, so it won't increase feline visitors.

If you want to do it properly, NHBS sells a hedgehog hole fence plate which will add a sturdy metal-enforced gap to the bottom of your fence.

NHBS adds: "A hole measuring 13cm by 13cm is the right size for a hedgehog to pass through but too small for most pets. Once you have made your hole in the fence or wall, you can fix the Eco Hedgehog Hole Plate to the fence, ensuring that the hole does not get blocked or stretched. The plate has six screw holes, three along each side, which can be used to fix the plate to your fence or wall. Additional holes can be made in the plastic if required."