Welcome to WiggleWorms Daily Missions! Today we are launching our Irish Wildlife Watch series to shine a spotlight on one of Ireland's favourite nocturnal garden visitors: the European Hedgehog!
Hedgehogs are secret nighttime explorers. While we are fast asleep in bed, they are wandering around our gardens and school grounds hunting for a midnight snack.
🕵️♀️ The Detective's Spiky Rule
An adult hedgehog has around 5,000 to 7,000 stiff, pointy spines on its back! When a hedgehog feels scared, it uses special muscles to roll into a tight spiky ball.
What Makes Hedgehogs Special?
- Gardener's Best Friend: Hedgehogs love to munch on garden pests like slugs, snails, beetles, and caterpillars, helping keep your veggies safe naturally.
- Night Owls: They are nocturnal creatures, which means they sleep all day tucked away safely in piles of logs or leaves and wake up at dusk.
- The Hedgehog Highway: Because gardens are often fenced off, hedgehogs need tiny CD-case-sized gaps at the bottom of fences to travel between gardens safely.
Wiggle Challenge: Create a Wildlife Corner
- Take a walk around your garden or school grounds and look for a quiet, undisturbed corner under a bush or hedge.
- Work with an adult to gather fallen twigs, dry leaves, and small logs to build a safe shelter pile where a hedgehog could rest.
- Ask an adult if you can leave a small shallow dish of fresh water nearby (never give hedgehogs milk, as it makes them sick!).
- Open your nature journal and draw what a cozy hedgehog house looks like!
🧠 Fun Fact
Hedgehogs are fantastic swimmers! They can paddle across ponds and streams if they need to explore new parts of the Irish countryside.
