Hedgehog First Response Unit, Monmouth including The Prickly Patch

01/11/2026

An important reminder about the danger of bonfires, not just to hedgehogs but so many other wildlife too... 🦔🐾🐸🦎

Planning a this year? 🦔 🚫 🔥
Only build it on the day it's to be lit, and always check for children, pets, hedgehogs & other wildlife, before lighting.
❗ Please share to help save lives

26/10/2026

If you could spare a moment to vote for us on the original Brambles Pet and Wildlife wildlife rescue giveaway post, that would be amazing. Thank you so much 🤞🦔🐾💚

Special Brambles Hibernation-Fest Giveaway 🍂🦔

At Brambles Pet and Wildlife, we craft specially formulated food for wild hedgehogs - perfect for helping them build vital winter fat reserves.

Wildlife rescues are currently overwhelmed caring for juveniles and sick or underweight hedgehogs that need extra support to make it through the cold months.

To help, we're running Hibernation-Fest with an extra-special edition of our monthly giveaway.

🎁 5 wildlife rescues will win a mega care package:

• Brambles Pet and Wildlife Food Bundle
• Home & Roost Kingston Hedgehog House
• SnuggleSafe Microwave Heatpad
• Leucillin Antiseptic Spray
• Water / Food Bowls
• Pet Scales
• Cozy Fleece Blankets
• Hedgehog Highway Sign

Simply nominate a UK wildlife rescue in the comments below, that you think deserves extra support this autumn! ⬇️

Competition closes 02/11/2026 at 23:59. Winners will be announced publicly on our page shortly after. Products may differ slightly from the images shown. Open to UK entrants and rescuers only.

25/10/2026

Halloween and Bonfire Night are nearly here, so we have two small things that can make a big difference to our prickly friends…

🎃 Please don't leave pumpkins out for hedgehogs. It's a kind thought, but hedgehogs are unable to digest these along with other fruit and veg as they lack a cecum. This means they can have tummy upsets leading to loss of weight at a time when they really need to be putting it on ready for Winter.

🔥 Please don't build your bonfire days in advance. A pile of wood can seem like a perfect sleeping space for a hedgehog so we always advise building your bonfire on the day it is going to be lit.

If you are in charge of organising a community bonfire that has been built in advance, please ensure there is solid fencing around it to stop any wildlife getting inside. Hedgehogs don’t have a flight or fight response, which means they will just curl up in a ball if they sense danger and stay where they are. The photos of hedgehogs having been burnt in this way are absolutely heart-breaking 💔😢

A few minutes thought can save lives of our precious and endangered prickly mammals. Please share this with friends, family, neighbours and community leaders. Thank you 💚

25/10/2026

A huge thank you from our volunteers and the hedgehogs for the donations that have come in from our wish list over the last few days Leanne Wakerley Holly Miller Anne Griffiths it's so kind of you 🦔🐾💚

17/10/2026

With a particularly busy week for admissions last week and another 🦔 on on its way to us this afternoon, we're running a bit low on some basics including 10ml syringes, Anigene disinfectant, royal canine starter food, kitten biscuits (Mother & Babycat 1-4 months) and hay.

Our wish list is regularly updated and available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y2PSNYNC6CXW (link is also kept at the top of this page), and can be sorted Priority Highest-Lowest so should then show these items as priority if anyone is able to donate any of the above, that would be really appreciated. Thank you so much 🤞🦔🐾

17/10/2026

The weeks seem to be whizzing past as we’re well into Autumn juvenile season, so keeping us busy with calls, rescues and rehabilitation. In the last week, we also managed to exceed an incredible 400 calls taken on our Volunteer First Response Unit (FRU) line since it opened.

The FRU was set up in early 2024 by Dylan with support from Wye Valley National Landscape, initially as a pilot project to determine if there was a need for the service. Some 30 months on, we couldn’t have imagined how many calls have come in (today we took our 420th).
90% of the calls are from people who have found poorly, injured or orphaned hedgehogs and not sure what to do next. The remaining 10% are from people kindly offering their gardens as release spaces, and others looking for more general advice about how to support hedgehogs.

What every caller has in common is a genuine concern to help our prickly friends, and we are always thankful for this 💚

Over the last week or so we’ve had quite a few admissions into our own Prickly Patch as well as some being transported elsewhere to ensure minimal travelling distance where spaces are available.

Here’s some photographs of the rescues, along with the wonderful 'Abi' who came to us some time ago as a very wobbly juvenile with poor breathing, and now look at her! After a careful treatment plan and daily support from our incredible volunteers, she was finally released back to the wild side last week weighing just over 600g.

Thank you to everyone for your incredible support of both our First Response Unit and The Prickly Patch – we couldn’t run these volunteer services without your kindness and generosity, so a heartfelt thank you from the volunteer team and, of course, the hedgehogs. 💚🦔🐾

10/10/2026

🍂 Hello Autumn... but not so fast! 🦔

That gorgeous seasonal scene? It hides a few hidden dangers for our prickly friends. Here's what to keep in mind as autumn settles in:

🎃 Pumpkins on the ground – those discarded pumpkins look like a feast to a hedgehog, but they can't digest them properly and eating pumpkin can make them really poorly and cause them to lose weight when they need to be building themselves up to get through Winter. Keep carved and old pumpkins off the ground.

🔥 Bonfire safety – please, please, PLEASE never build a bonfire in advance and leave it unattended. A pile of wood and leaves is the perfect cosy nest for a hedgehog looking to shelter or preparing to hibernate. If you have no choice but to build early, always move the entire pile to a new spot just before lighting it.
And remember…hedgehogs won't run away from danger, they curl up into a ball, so moving the pile is the only way to be sure a hedgehog isn’t trapped in there.

🍂 Leave those leaves! Resist the urge to tidy up every last autumn leaf. Those piles are precious nesting material for hedgehogs preparing for the colder months ahead. A messy garden corner could mean the difference between a hedgehog surviving winter or not.

Autumn is beautiful… let's make sure it stays that way for our hedgehogs too 🦔🐾🍂

08/10/2026

That's a win for hedgehogs...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwe8ld517ry3o

The hedgehog, owl, and bumblebee all won the public vote in their specific categories to appear on banknotes next year, with the Atlantic puffin included to celebrate marine life.

Hedgehogs had nearly 260,000 votes with our Erinaceous europaeus the most popular in the Mammals category 🎉🦔🦔🐾🐾

The decision comes after nearly half a million people voted on a shortlist of 18 creatures.

07/10/2026

We're still looking for volunteers to join our small, friendly team to help on the First Response Unit taking calls and going out on rescues. Full training and rescue kit provided. Must have own transport and be able to commit to a minimum of 2 shifts per week (times are flexible between 9am-7pm, Monday-Sunday).

Please complete the online form at https://www.wyevalley-nl.org.uk/caring-for-wye-valley-aonb/voluntering/wye-valley-aonb-volunteer-application-form/

Please share with anyone you think may be interested. Thank you 🦔🐾💚