Hedgehog Awareness Week (1-7 May) sees Wrexham Glyndwr University win a Silver Hedgehog Friendly Campus award.

This shows the university’s progress after it achieved the Bronze certificate last year. It continues its journey to raise awareness about hedgehogs through a number of student-led hedgehog surveys on-campus and looking after wild areas of campus.

Litter picks are also held, hedgehog highways have been created on campus and there are visits too from Henry the hedgehog sniffer dog.

READ MORE: Wrexham dog Henry wins national award for unique ability to sniff out hedgehogs

Research shows that Hedgehogs have seen a rapid decline in number in the last 20 years and the recent State of British Hedgehog Report 2022, produced jointly by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and People Trust for Endangered Species, found that while numbers in urban areas are starting to stabilise, rural hedgehog populations have declined by between a third and three quarters in the last 20 years.

READ MORE: 'Wildlife corridor' and wellbeing garden created at college site by students

Jenny Thomas, Glyndwr University safety, health and environment manager said: “There are plenty of simple things that you can do to help hedgehogs in your local area.

“They include making sure there is easy access to your garden by making a hole in your boundary fence about the size of a CD case, keeping a wild corner in your garden to provide food and shelter to hedgehogs, checking the garden before mowing or strimming – lots of hedgehogs get injured by strimmer’s every year - and reducing your use of pesticides.

“Recently, toxic metaldeyhyde slug pellets have been banned from sale – these can poison hedgehogs - and reducing pesticide use in your garden or finding a non-chemical alternative is a great way to help hedgehogs and if you are lucky enough to encourage hedgehogs into your garden they are good natural pest control as they love to eat slugs and snails.”

The Leader: A hedgehogA hedgehog

Jenny added: “If you don’t have a garden you can still help hedgehogs by litter picking to prevent hedgehogs getting injured or trapped in litter or by signing up to Hedgehog Street where you can learn more about hedgehogs and log your sightings on their website https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/”

In 2022 Glyndwr University will be working on their Gold award and students on the Animal Behaviour Welfare and Conservation Science Degree will be getting involved in learning more about hedgehog ecology and undertaking hedgehog surveys this year.

READ MORE: North Wales authorities introduce fireworks measures to help protect animals

Hedgehog Friendly Campus is a UK wide project which is open to universities, colleges and primary schools to get involved with completing activities to protect hedgehogs from hazards, enhance their habitat and raise awareness about hedgehog decline.

If you’d like your school or college to get involved you can email info@hedgehogfriendlycampus.co.uk or contact energy&sustainability@glyndwr.ac.uk if you want to learn how Glyndwr University have worked on the project.