Firstly, please could you introduce yourself or group and tell us a little bit about you?  
Hello fellow wildlife enthusiasts! My name is Érin from Crewe and I genuinely cannot get enough of British wildlife. I have a degree in Wildlife Conservation and Ecology which has come in handy, but I have to admit that a lot of what I know has come from a shared passion with my husband, Sam, and a drive to want to help wildlife. We have taught ourselves by doing lots of research, being conscious with how we manage our garden and ensuring there is a little bit of everything to encourage as much biodiversity as possible. We have transformed our garden from an unloved jungle to a thriving place for wildlife over the last three years with a very small budget and with the limitations that renting over owning our home has brought. We can genuinely say that we find so much joy in what we have achieved. Hedgehogs are our star species, and we have created a Facebook Page called ‘Hedgehog Tales’ to share videos of the hedgehogs visiting the garden and to share information on how you can encourage them into your own gardens. It was originally only going to be a small group aimed at our local community, but I am pleased to say that there is currently 383 members from all over the UK! This is way more than we could have ever expected and we hope that this number will continue to climb. Please feel free to have a look and join if it would be of interest to you. 

Why did you start helping wildlife and what prompted it?   
My husband and I have loved animals from such a young age and had a clear empathy for all living things and so it’s quite fitting that we both met at college whilst studying the same animal related course. From this, I went on to university and quickly realized that conserving and enhancing the natural world is something that I had a huge passion for, especially British wildlife. This led me to take part in seasonal surveys and to write my dissertation on the European Adder which is the UK’s only venomous reptile. I found it all fascinating. In our spare time, me and my husband enjoy bird watching and have travelled across the country ticking off as many species as possible including some less encountered species such as Golden Eagle, White-Tailed Eagle, Bittern, Black-Throated Diver, Black Grouse and Nightjar! And if this wasn’t enough, we have also had some amazing encounters with other British species such as Eurasian Otter, Minke Whale, Common Dolphin, Weasel, Stoat and Mountain Hares.  

It was during Covid that our attention turned more to the wildlife in our garden. At the time we were living with my mum and she let us transform her little garden into a wildlife friendly area. We built a pond, a hedgehog hotel, dug out hedgehog highways under the fences into the neighbours’ gardens and built an open compost heap. And of course, due to the circumstances of lockdown we had to do all of this with things we could find in the garden or on our daily walk, which was quite challenging, but we loved every minute of it. Very soon we had at least three hedgehogs visiting on a nightly basis with one of them choosing to sleep in our hedgehog hotel. The pond exploded with life very quickly, and the invertebrates brought a wider range of bird species and before we knew it, we had a little haven that both us and the wildlife could enjoy. So, as much as Covid negatively impacted all of our lives, I like to think that it provided us with the chance to find a deep love and passion which we have built on over the years since. 

Have you done anything to encourage your community to help wildlife? 
So far, our sole focus has been on our own garden, but now that we have so much wildlife coming in, we are eager to get the wider community involved. We seem to have a high number of hedgehogs in the area and our focus has turned to helping them by placing signs around our cul-de-sac, warning people and the council that hedgehogs are present and to please be mindful when mowing and strimming certain areas. We have also placed laminated signs on the alley gates nearby that we got from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, warning people of the impact that litter can have on wildlife as the alleyway can unfortunately become a dumping ground. We are also ready to post several leaflets through our entire street to let people know that we have hedgehogs in the area and ways they can help them, and we have also given our contact number and asked if anyone finds a hedgehog in need of medical care then to please get in touch with us so we can take it to our local wildlife hospital. I have also reached out to our local MP asking if we would be willing to put the word out for volunteers who may be interested in learning more about the wildlife in the area and how they can encourage it into their own gardens, and to possibly created more wild spaces for the community and wildlife to enjoy. I am pleased to say that he has put me in touch with several people who seem very excited to learn more and find out what they can do to help so watch this space for upcoming updates as to what we can create in the wider community. If you live local and want to get involved, then please get in touch! 

What has been the impact? 
We are hoping that doing all of this will mean that more people will become aware of how they can help and we can ensure that the hedgehog population in the area will remain safe and well looked after. We have had a sense of encouragement and satisfaction to know that there are like-minded people out there and sometimes people just need someone to let them know ‘hey here is how you can help’. I’m really hoping that we can get some projects going in the community and encourage even more people to love wildlife and arm people with knowledge on how they can help. I am imagining walking through my community and seeing all these pockets of wild flowers and colour that is bustling with bees, birds and insects. And seeing people equally enjoying the nature and beauty in peace and with respect. 

Have you seen more wildlife make use of your garden since making it better for wildlife?  
The amount of wildlife that we have seen in our garden has exploded over the years. We currently have at least five hedgehogs visiting us at the moment! And this year we saw Cinnabar Moth caterpillars flooding the ragwort we had left to grow in the no mow areas of the garden which was very exciting. We also had Mullein Moth caterpillars on some Water Figwort that appeared randomly, to be honest we had no idea what the plant or caterpillars were, so we used the ‘Seek’ app to help us to identify both, expanding our knowledge again. Last year we had several Elephant Hawk-Moth caterpillars make an appearance which we believe is from allowing the Willow Herb to take over a small patch of the garden. The number of birds we get is incredible, so far we have recorded 37 species! We take part in the British Trust of Ornithology weekly garden bird watch and record our sightings on their website and in 2022 we were in the top 30% of suburban North West gardens for bird diversity! A very proud moment indeed. We see everything from the expected Starling and Blue tits to rarer sights like Goldcrest and Woodcock! We’ve recorded 15 butterfly species including a White-letter Hairstreak! Mint Moths are a regular visitor now which seem to enjoy the flowering herbs. We even had a Badger which our wildlife camera caught climbing on our open compost heap one night. We live in the middle of a town and could not believe what we saw, we have no idea where it came from or how it got in or out of the garden, and we never saw it again. This year a colony of Tree Bumblebees took residence in our open compost heap too! 

Seeing the abundance of wildlife making use of the space we have created for them has given us indescribable joy, a sense of achievement and some inner peace knowing that we have had a positive impact to the natural world. There is never a day where we aren’t excited to take a stroll around the garden and see what new things we can uncover. 

What has been your favourite wildlife sighting or experience in your garden?  
It’s so hard to pick just one! The Badger and Woodcock were a huge surprise, and it is always a joy to see the hedgehogs interacting with each other throughout the year. But all of these are captured on our wildlife cameras which is very exciting to be a part of this secret world, but it can’t compare to seeing a species for the first time in the garden. We had the pleasure of a Hummingbird Hawk-Moth for the first time last year and we’ve had a Song Thrush hammering a snail shell on the fence for her breakfast this year. Hearing the beautiful call of a Chiffchaff or the high pitched call of a Goldcrest and frantically getting out our binoculars to get a view is incredible. Or that moment of shock when you see an unexpected species like a Common Whitethroat sitting innocently on the hedge. Like I say it’s hard to pick one! I think our favourite moments are always when we get to observe natural behaviours occurring in our garden, it is a very pure view of nature at its finest. 

What are your plans for future? 
Wildlife gardening has become our passion, and we will not be stopping or slowing down any time soon. Our garden has proved difficult with heavy flooding in the winter months that seems to swallow up all the hard work we have done in the previous months, so every year we learn something new and try something else to see if it works. This year has been no exception but after several winters we are now starting to see what will work, if certain plants haven’t withstood the flooding, then we try them in a different area of the garden next year. It is a learning curve every year, but this just drives us harder to achieve what we want and teaches us to work with the garden and not against it. We are hoping that we can spread our knowledge into the community in the coming months and hopefully have some projects in place ready for spring next year to bring people and wildlife together in harmony. 

What advice would you give to others wanting to start a project or help wildlife in their community but don't know where to start? 
If you have that small ember burning inside you to start something in your community, then do it! I promise you that you will not regret it and that you will find like-minded people to help you on your journey. We need to be the voice for nature and the more projects we can get going, the more nature will thrive. Contact your local MP like I did or search for local groups on Facebook. Even if you are looking to start in your own garden there is so much information to help you on the Cheshire Wildlife Trust website from plants to choose, building a pond, hedgehog houses and bee hotels. Pick something that you are most interested in and start there. From that I can assure you that you will be back on the website finding out what you can do next. Helping wildlife doesn’t need to be an extravagant or expensive project, even just small changes will help so much, and you will be surprised with how quickly the wildlife comes in. Just have fun and enjoy what you are doing, then sit back and reap the rewards of your hard work. 

If you’re interested in joining Érin’s Facebook group dedicated to helping hedgehogs, click here.