Barnes Hedgehogs

Barnes resident Michel Birkenwald was motivated to set up a campaign to protect hedgehogs when he discovered that he had a small, spikey friend living in his garden. The more he researched about the hedgehog, the more he become interested in helping the species to survive. Over the last few years Michel has been responsible for little holes appearing in Barnes hedges and garden walls as part of the Barnes Hedgehog Superhighway.

Michel’s ambition is to build the largest hedgehog superhighway in the country enabling Barnes’ healthy population of hedgehogs to move freely in search of food and shelter. The move to securing home with fences and walls makes life very hard for hedgehogs so the little holes that are provided by Barnes Hedgehogs can make a massive difference to their survival rates.

Barnes Town Centre Manager Emma Robinson has teamed up with Barnes Hedgehogs to help them spread the word about the Barnes Hedgehog Superhighway as part of the Town Team’s destination management project. Together Emma and Michel have organised a hedgehog awareness-raising art exhibition and are planning other joint-projects.

If you want to be part of the Hedgehog Superhighway contact Barnes Common hedgehogs@barnescommon.org.uk. He provides a hole cutting service for free but will ask for a donation to his project.

The Barnes Hedgehog campaign also provides an emergency rescue service. If you find a wounded hedgehog you can take it to Medivet on Church Road and it will be transported to Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Aylesbury.

Michel’s campaign has helped to put Barnes on the conservation map and his work has been featured on TV including BBC Country File Diaries and Sky TV. In 2018 he received a he Local Conservation award from IFAW.

Learn more about Barnes hedgehogs: https://barnescommon.org.uk/hedgehogs