Hartford Hedgehog Rescue - Cambridgeshire, UK

06/09/2026

Good morning everyone

This morning Celine has gone in a hutch in preparation for release in couple of days.

Just 55g on arrival having been away from mum for over 5 days she was very weak. Now 552g she's looking forward to new adventures 😊.

27/08/2026

Hi everyone

How much of a relief is all this lovely rain? A relief for us but more importantly a relief for all the wildlife.

A couple of nights ago we gave 2 of our lovely hedgehogs their freedom.

Steven and Dereka were found weighing just 65g and 75g a few days apart in a garden in Godmanchester.

They went to Rhiannon in the team who did an amazing job with them. They also spent some time in the hospital and some time with Ellisa in the team.

As they couldn't go back to their original garden they were released into a fabulous hedgehog friendly garden in Woodhurst - thank you Steve for being such a wonderful friend to the hedgehogs. As I said on release - it makes saying goodbye much easier when they go to such a fabulous environment.

We have lost a couple of very young hedgehogs in the last couple of weeks - Bartholomew and Tyler. Losing a life is hard - especially when that life has barely started. We do all we can and can only take comfort in knowing they passed away peacefully in a comfortable and caring environment.

We remain closed as can only manage a few hedgehogs at a time at the moment. We have just 4 in our care currently.

16/08/2026

I've seen a few posts lately on local groups about poorly hedgehogs being left in case it's a mother who has babies.

If you see a hedgehog out during the day who is clearly unwell - not moving, laying down, walking very slowly - they must be brought indoors and a rescue contacted immediately. Even if it's a mother with babies she is no good to them if she's sick. A mother out looking for food will be walking with purpose.

The post I saw yesterday was a hedgehog laying on it's side with flies buzzing round him or her. This was critical needing immediate care.

Please share

15/08/2026

Morning everyone

Cabin floor is finally fixed, new flooring laid and new worktop installed as old one was starting to absorb fluids. Massive thank you to Richard for his kind donation towards this - without his generosity this would not have been possible.

We remain closed until mid September but have taken on a few poorly little ones as I can't yet manage a full hospital. We have 6 in our care at present.

Please spread the word about putting out food and water for the wildlife. It may be a little cooler now but with this drought the ground is very hard making it impossible to dig for food and the only water available is the water provided by us.

13/08/2026

Brilliant post from Wild About Huntingdon. Our wildlife needs our help more than ever right now. 5 minutes a day to put out food and water WILL save lives.

PLEASE HELP!
I'm sure by now you will have seen the devastating fire at Holme Fen Nature Reserve. This is absolutely tragic. Please stay away from the area and let the firefighters do their work. I hope they stay safe, we are all so grateful to them.
And my thoughts are with the The Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs & Northants who must be distraught. WAH will do our best to support them at this difficult time and during the recovery process.

I'm also hearing from people who are finding lots of dead shrews, voles and other small mammals out in the open countryside, moles travelling above ground (which is unheard of), and rescue centres having to close because they're already full of dehydrated and very poorly animals.
The ponds and other natural water supplies have dried up. Plants they live on have died. The ground is too hard to dig. Their homes are on fire.
And, of course, this is on top of continued loss of habitat and all the other issues our wildlife are already facing.

What can we do?
PUT OUT SHALLOW BOWLS OF FRESH WATER EVERYWHERE YOU CAN!
Please ask for permission if it's not your land, but if we can regularly place fresh, shallow water for drinking and bathing in hundreds of areas across Huntingdonshire, we will definitely save lives.

Take your litter home and pick up and dispose of any you see lying around - especially glass which can start fires.

If you're able to do more, then please put out some meaty kitten biscuits for hedgehogs, blackbirds and other worm-eating creatures.
Leave seed heads for finches to feed on. Blackcaps, thrushes and blackbirds will enjoy halved apples, and a little grated cheese will be appreciated by robins an wrens. Current RSPB advice is to put out small amounts of mealworms, fatballs or suet but please keep these out of the reach of hedgehogs.

But the natural way will always be best. If you're able to safely leave a shady area with longer grass and unswept leaves, it will create a cooler spot where insects and amphibians can shelter, which will then provide a foraging place for mammals and birds.

Thank you for helping to look after our wildlife. It needs you now probably more than ever before.

07/08/2026

Following on from our earlier post today regarding incorrect information being given on "This Morning"

Well done everyone! There's power in numbers and they listened to us 😊.

See video below.

07/08/2026

**Edit**
This has now been rectified by "This Morning" - see our recent post - so there is no need to email them now. Thanks to everyone who got involved 👏👏👏

Good Morning everyone.

This Morning on ITV have just promoted leaving a saucer of milk out for hedgehogs. The vet they had on today's show said "man after my own heart" when the presenter stated this is what he does.

I rang immediately. Told the lady on the phone this needs rectifying immediately. She said "he's a vet though". I said he's absolutely wrong and we work so hard across the country to get the right information out there and giving out incorrect info on national tv is so unhelpful.

Please feel free to email them on [email protected]. My hope is that if they receive enough emails they will rectify it.

Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant. Milk can cause diarrhoea increasing dehydration which is currently a huge issue during the hot dry weather.

The vet on the show today loves hedgehogs and this is obviously a genuine misconception so please keep emails friendly and factual 😊

02/08/2026

For those of you with young children this is a great way to teach them about wildlife while being creative

🦔🎨 CALLING ALL YOUNG HEDGEHOG FANS! 🎨🦔

This summer we want YOU to help us celebrate Britain's favourite garden visitor — the hedgehog!

Our Summer Art Competition is now open. You could create an image of a hedgehog out & about on a warm summer's night: foraging, slurping from a water dish, exploring the garden, or snuggled up with its hoglets.

✏️ Any medium welcome — pencil, paint, crayon or collage.
🏆 Three age categories: 4–8, 9–12, and 13–17.
🎁 Winners get a hedgehoggy prize & have their artwork featured on our socials.

Details 👉 https://buff.ly/ts7NTcD
Deadline: 31st Aug 2026
Get creating! 🖍️🦔


📷 Julian Cartwright

02/08/2026

Good morning everyone

I type this while listening to the birds (about 200 of them!) enjoying the food and water I put out for them this morning.

Our wildlife is desperate for food and water during this prolonged dry period. Please put out dishes of water and cat/kitten kibble for the hedgehogs every evening- they can't manage without our help.

Here is Celine who is finally eating for herself. 55g on arrival - underweight and dehydrated - she's now 137g and going from strength to strength. Her 2 siblings are 360g and 270g which shows how much she has struggled.

In other news, we are having work done on the cabin this week as now is the perfect opportunity having been closed for a while due to my mother's care needs.

It's most unusual to have an almost empty hospital and it's a big job. The cabin has sunk in one corner which has compromised the structure and created a hill in the middle of the floor causing the flooring to also be effected. It's a big job - cabin to be emptied, flooring all has to come up then cabin to be levelled.

I was recently contacted by a lovely man called Richard who offered funding for any projects I needed doing - without this we wouldn't have been able to do it. What perfect timing and it always humbles me just how kind people are.

We are now planning to reopen mid September once work complete and my mother's care package in place as I can no longer do 24 hour care - it's too much for one person.

Thank you for continuing to support us and I'm truly sorry we have been unable to take in hedgehogs for this long. It's incredibly hard saying no but family and my own health has had to come first these last few months.

25/07/2026

Good advice here from Peterborough Hedgehog Hotel