As the warmer weather encourages us out into our gardens, spare a thought for the hedgehogs who are waking from hibernation looking for food. Already at risk from extinction, this is a really challenging time for these adorable creatures, as local teenage Hedgehog Champion Dylan explains.

“When hedgehogs wake from hibernation, they urgently need food and water, ideally from natural sources, but this is harder than it sounds.

They need gaps in fences to be able to travel through gardens to locate food, and even then, they may not be able to find the insects such as beetles that they need as those have also declined in number.”

Dylan has worked tirelessly since the age of 13 to raise awareness of the drastic decline in numbers of hedgehogs in both rural and urban areas, including trying to reduce the number of gardening injuries to hedgehogs with his ‘Be Hedgehog Aware’ campaign featured on the BBC One Show last year.

Now, thanks to funding from the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Development Fund (SDF) in partnership with the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Unit, and support from the GAVO (Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations) Cash4U fund, he can spread the word further, and get more people involved in helping these vulnerable creatures.

“I’ve already been able to buy resources and equipment to help with my presentations to community groups, and I’m now looking at putting together rescue kits for people who want to help with rescuing of poorly or injured hedgehogs in the area, linking them to rescue centres.”

Dylan is working on the Wye Hedgehogs project being run by the Wye Valley AONB, who were delighted to support his important work saying:

“Dylan joined our Wye Hedgehogs campaign in May 2022, agreeing to be our ‘Hedgehog Hero’ for the Wye Valley AONB, and his contributions to our project have been inspiring and invaluable. ”

Anyone interested in learning more about how to help hedgehogs can attend Dylan’s ‘Let’s Talk Hedgehogs’ event taking place at The Priory, St Mary’s Church in Monmouth on Saturday March 25 from 2:30pm-4pm.

There will be activities for children, refreshments, and Dylan will give a short presentation full of information and top tips.