Prickles and Paws hits 800 hedgehogs weeks ahead of last year

A shallow dish of water, put out tonight and topped up tomorrow, costs nothing and takes about a minute. For a hedgehog crossing a Cornish garden in the middle of a long dry spell, it can be the thing that decides how the night goes. The rescue making that request has just logged its 800th admission of the year, and it is still only August.

The 800th hedgehog of 2026

Wednesday brought five new arrivals through the doors at Prickles and Paws Hedgehog Rescue, and one of them was the 800th hedgehog admitted this year.

Last year the same number was not reached until 29 September. So the rescue has hit its 800 mark the best part of seven weeks earlier in the calendar, with the busiest end of the hedgehog year still ahead of it.

What the dry weather is doing

Prickles and Paws puts the rise down to the prolonged dry weather, which it says is having a huge impact on Cornwall’s wildlife.

Two patterns are showing up in the admissions. Adult hedgehogs are arriving in poorer condition than the rescue would expect to see at this point in the year. And there are increasing numbers of emaciated and dehydrated hoglets, animals that have been abandoned or have left the nest too soon.

📷Credit: Prickles and Paws Hedgehog Rescue

What to put out, and how often

The ask is deliberately small. Put out a shallow dish of fresh water, and refresh it every day. That is it.

Daily matters as much as the dish itself. Water left standing in a hot garden goes warm, dirty and stale quickly, and a dish that was filled last week is not much use to anything. A minute at the outside tap keeps it worth drinking.

It applies to more than hedgehogs. Birds, insects and everything else moving through a garden in a dry spell are looking for the same thing, and a low dish at ground level is reachable for most of them.

Last year’s 800th hedgehog arrived on 29 September. This year’s arrived on Wednesday, with five others behind it, and there are more than four months of the year still to run.

📷Credit: Prickles and Paws Hedgehog Rescue