Every hedgehog deserves a second chance
We're a small hedgehog rescue at Higher Lowton Farm. Sick, injured and underweight hogs come to us cold and poorly — and leave fat, prickly and ready for the wild.
Britain's hedgehogs are in trouble
Hedgehogs are now listed as Vulnerable to Extinction on the Red List for Britain's Mammals. Gardens like yours are their best hope — and ours.
What we do
Rescue, rehabilitate, release. Then do it all again tomorrow.
1. Rescue
A call comes in — a hog out in daylight, caught in netting, or hit by a strimmer. We collect it or talk you through bringing it in safely.
2. Rehabilitate
Warmth first, always. Then fluids, food, treatment for wounds and parasites, and daily weigh-ins until they're strong enough to go it alone.
3. Release
The best bit. Healthy hogs go back out — wherever possible to the very patch of countryside they came from.
Hoglets are the hardest work
Orphaned babies need feeding round the clock, toileting after every feed, and weeks of care before they can even be weaned. It is exhausting, expensive and completely worth it.
An autumn juvenile that's too small to survive hibernation will stay with us right through the winter — eating, sleeping and getting fat — until spring.
Read our storySomething for the kids 🎨
Ten free printable colouring pages, and a game where you run the Hogspital yourself — weigh the patients, warm them up, feed them and set them free.
Four things you can do this week
Cut a hedgehog highway
A 13cm gap in your fence links your garden to the next. Hogs roam a mile a night.
Put out water
A shallow dish, topped up daily. Never milk — it makes hedgehogs very ill.
Check before you strim
Strimmer injuries are one of the most common — and most awful — things we see.
Leave a wild corner
A log pile and a heap of leaves is a five-star hedgehog hotel and a beetle buffet.
We run on donations and goodwill
Food, vet bills, heat pads, medication, incubators for the tiny ones. Every pound goes straight into the ward.
How to support us