Selco Builders Warehouse has thrown its weight behind the ‘Hedgehog Highways’ campaign after introducing a new product designed to help boost numbers of the small, native mammals.
Hedgehogs can travel up to 2km a night in their search for food, shelter and mates but their journeys are often impeded by buildings, walls and fences. Restrictions in their ability to roam is one of the leading causes of recent hedgehog decline.
Selco Builders Warehouse is playing its part in helping to secure the future of the UK’s hedgehogs by stocking Supreme Pro Hedgehog Hole Gravel Boards across its 75 stores for the first time, and the product is also available online.
The gravel boards act as a barrier between fence panels and damp ground but feature a 13cm access hole to allow hedgehogs to safely pass through and travel freely in and out of neighbouring gardens and green spaces, which is vital for their long-term survival.
Many neighbourhoods across the UK are creating ‘Hedgehog Highways’ to allow the animals to travel from garden-to-garden.
Carine Jessamine, Selco Builders Warehouse marketing director, said: “We are delighted to be offering homeowners around the UK the chance to make their outdoor spaces more wildlife friendly by stocking the hedgehog gravel boards.
“Hedgehogs need large areas of uninterrupted land to thrive and ‘Hedgehog Highways’ allow them that freedom to roam.
“Currently at least 19,000 ‘Hedgehog Highways’ have been created across the UK and it would be fantastic to see that number rise significantly.
“We will certainly be encouraging our customers – the professional tradesperson – to install these products when carrying out garden renovations for their clients.”
Hedgehogs have experienced a dramatic decline in recent years and are thought to have declined by up to 75% in rural areas since 2000 (State of Britain’s Hedgehogs 2022). In 2020 they were listed as vulnerable to extinction on the Red List for Britain’s Mammals.
Grace Johnson, Hedgehog Officer for Hedgehog Street (a nationwide campaign by People’s Trust of Endangered Species and The British Hedgehog Preservation Society), is delighted to see the new addition to Selco’s range.
Grace said: “One of the key threats facing British hedgehogs is habitat fragmentation with buildings, walls and fences limiting their nightly movement and isolating populations.
“Creating Hedgehog Highways and offering hedgehog friendly gravel boards are a fantastic, and easy-to-install solution to this problem, providing the access that hedgehogs so desperately need. We are delighted to see Selco Builders Warehouse acting responsibly and adding these products to their range.
“We hope more retailers will follow suit and we can extend the number of Hedgehog Highways across the UK.”
For more information on Selco visit www.selcobw.com and for more ways to help hedgehogs, visit www.hedgehogstreet.org
