A hedgehog is spotted by ear and on the ground long before you ever see one. The clearest signs are chewing, grunting and snuffling sounds after dark, small holes scratched into the lawn or flower beds, droppings on the grass, and worn paths under a hedge or a fence. To be sure, two tools are enough: a footprint tunnel or a trail camera. And once its presence is confirmed, the rule is simple: it's a wild, protected animal — you help it, but you never keep it.

Why you so rarely see one

The European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is mostly active at night. It comes out looking for food at dusk and spends the day hidden in a nest. It can also cover a fair distance in a single night, from one garden to another: the one you hear one evening isn't necessarily there the next.

On top of that, there's hibernation. From autumn to spring, depending on temperatures and region, it sleeps in a nest of leaves and becomes practically invisible. So it makes most sense to look for signs of its presence from spring to autumn, on mild nights.

The sounds of the night

This is often the first clue, and the most surprising one. For such a small animal, the hedgehog is noisy. When it eats, it chews loudly, grunts, huffs, rummages through dead leaves and snuffles hard. When it scratches at the ground, it can throw earth quite a distance.

Outside these feeding sounds, its repertoire is limited. You can sometimes hear it chattering in moments of great excitement, and young hedgehogs looking for their mother let out a small whistle.

To listen for it, go out at dusk on a calm evening, stay still and quiet near a hedge or a flower bed, and let your eyes adjust to the dark. If you want to use light, do it briefly and never shine it directly on the animal.

Droppings

Droppings are one of the most reliable signs that a hedgehog is visiting the garden. You'll find them on the lawn, along borders, or near feeding spots. They're dark and elongated, and since the hedgehog feeds mainly on invertebrates (earthworms, caterpillars, beetles, slugs, spiders), you can often make out insect fragments in them.

Be careful, though: other small mammals also leave droppings in the garden. A single dropping proves nothing; it's the pattern of clues together that counts. Never handle them with bare hands.

Ground traces and pathways

Small scratched holes

The hedgehog searches for prey by moving slowly, nose to the ground. It digs small holes, lifts up bark and rummages under leaves. Lawns or beds that look slightly turned over in the morning, with no molehill or piled-up earth, could be its work.

Runs and holes under a fence

An animal that passes the same spot every night ends up marking the ground: flattened grass along a hedge, a small worn track under a bush, packed earth at the foot of a fence. A hole at ground level under a fence, which reappears when you fill it in, is a classic sign of a regular route.

The emptied bowl

A cat or dog bowl left outside and emptied overnight can also give it away. It's still best not to make a habit of it, though: the LPO advises against feeding a hedgehog permanently, since it needs to keep hunting its own prey. Bring bowls in at night.

Its shelter: where it hides during the day

The hedgehog rests in piles of plant matter: dead leaves, branches, brambles, dry grass. These heaps are where it rests, gives birth, raises its young and hibernates. You'll find them in hedges, bramble patches, at the foot of tree stumps, but also under a tarpaulin, a sheet of metal, or in a crawl space.

If you think you've found a shelter, leave it alone and don't lift the leaves to check. In spring and summer, it may house a female and her young; in winter, a hibernating hedgehog. Either way, disturbance costs it dearly.

Confirming its presence without disturbing it

The footprint tunnel

This is the method used by Mission Hérisson, a citizen science survey run by the LPO with Mosaic, the skills centre of the French National Museum of Natural History. The idea: a tunnel placed on the ground, with bait in the middle, a strip of ink on each side and sheets of paper at the ends. An animal that passes through overnight leaves its footprints on the paper.

The survey protocol calls for placing the tunnel five nights running in the same spot, ideally along a hedge, a fence or a wall, and checking the sheets first thing in the morning. Even if you don't take part in the survey, it's a simple, entirely contact-free way to find out who's passing through the garden. And if you do sign up, your records, including nights with no footprints, help scientists track how populations change.

The trail camera

An infrared trail camera triggers as the animal passes, with no visible flash: it doesn't disturb the hedgehog, and it shows you what it's up to into the bargain. Set it near a suspected route, at the foot of a hedge or facing a water dish, at hedgehog height. All the settings are covered in our guide Trail camera in the garden: placement and settings.

The kit

Once its presence is confirmed, you can make its comings and goings easier. An opening at the foot of the fence links your garden to your neighbours'; a shelter placed in a quiet corner tops up the piles of leaves and wood.

Shelters, passages and observation equipment are all gathered in our Hedgehogs section.

A hedgehog lives in your garden: what to do

• Open up the garden. Create an opening of about 13 × 13 cm at ground level in fences — big enough for any hedgehog, too small for most dogs — and suggest the idea to your neighbours: one garden alone isn't enough to feed it.
• Keep a quiet corner. Leave a pile of leaves or branches, a hedge that isn't cut too close, some tall grass.
• Offer water in dry spells, in a shallow dish, never milk.
• Remove hazards. No slug pellets or pesticides, a rough plank to climb out of a pond, a check of tall grass before mowing or strimming, and never burn a pile of branches without moving it first.

All these steps are covered in detail in our guide The hedgehog in the garden: welcoming it without disturbing it, and fit within a garden that's good for biodiversity.

What not to do: it's a protected species

In France, the European hedgehog is fully protected under article L411-1 of the environmental code, by the order of 23 April 2007. It is forbidden to kill, capture, remove or disturb it in its habitat. Keeping, transporting and trading it are all forbidden, even with the best of intentions. The LPO points out that any harm to individual hedgehogs or their breeding sites is an offence.

In practice: you don't pick one up to "keep it safe" in the house, you don't move it to another garden, you don't feed it all year round, and you don't open up its shelter.

A hedgehog in difficulty: when to step in

Seeing a hedgehog out in broad daylight isn't always a sign of a problem. You should act, however, if it has a wound, blood, a fracture, a large number of flies or parasites, if it seems lethargic, or if it's a tiny one, pink with its eyes still closed, found outside the nest.

In that case:

1. Call a wildlife rescue centre before doing anything else. The LPO runs several centres and, elsewhere, points you towards the national network of rescue centres. Always let the centre know before transporting the animal.
2. While you wait for instructions, wearing gloves, place the hedgehog in a ventilated box lined with newspaper and a fleece cloth, somewhere quiet.
3. Don't give it milk or food without the centre's advice.

An injured hedgehog must be taken to an approved rescue centre. Keeping it at home to treat it, however well-meaning, remains forbidden: that amounts to keeping a protected animal.

Sources

• Statut juridique du Hérisson — LPO
• Aider le hérisson d'Europe — LPO Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
• Le hérisson, un auxiliaire du jardinier — LPO Champagne-Ardenne
• Mission Hérisson — LPO
• Centres de soins — LPO
• Link your garden — Hedgehog Street