A UK-wide campaign is encouraging people to take concrete steps to protect one of Britain’s beloved garden animals.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society is leading Hedgehog Awareness Week from May 3 to May 9, with this year’s initiative focused on a Hedgehog Pledge containing seven simple actions members of the public can take to help hedgehog populations.

BHPS chief executive Fay Vass said the week celebrates all aspects of hedgehogs while also highlighting the difficulties these creatures face across Britain, which is why they created The Hedgehog Pledge offering seven practical choices to encourage people to think about hedgehogs in their everyday lives.

The suggestions include creating hedgehog highways, which are gaps of 13 centimetres by 13 centimetres in fences or walls that allow safe passage between gardens, as well as protecting natural habitats.

Further recommendations involve checking for hedgehogs before using garden machinery, switching to organic gardening methods, raising netting off the ground to prevent animals becoming tangled, and signing up as a volunteer observer for the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme.

Vass continued that committing to the Hedgehog Pledge during Hedgehog Week and beyond can genuinely make a difference. More than 100 people have already shared their pledges, and the organisation is keen to see how many more individuals are willing to take the Pledge.