A RESCUE charity in Yate held a successful open day over the weekend in order to educate the public about hedgehogs.

Hedgehog Rescue is a voluntary organisation run from a shed in the back garden of its founder, Yvonne Cox, who cares for the garden animals when they are found sick, orphaned or injured.

The charity is run entirely by volunteers and has taken in over 2,500 hedgehog since it opened almost 18 years ago.

At an open day on Saturday (May 13), Yvonne spoke about the difficulties facing hedgehogs in the UK and raised over £130 for the organisation through a cake sale, tombola and sweets in a jar competition.

She said: “The open day went really well and we had around 40 people come and visit us.

“It’s really important to raise awareness about hedgehogs because their population has declined by around 90 per cent in the past 50 years.

"We need to do all we can to protect them."

Putting out bird food and making a CD sized hole in garden fences are just two of the ways that people can encourage hedgehogs to thrive, according to Yvonne.

She also urges people to leave a section of their garden to grow wild, and is a firm supporter of the Blue Heart Campaign – a biodiversity initiative that encourages anyone with access to green space to give a piece of it “back to nature”.

Yvonne said: “Hedgehogs are such lovely little animals, and there are lots of things that people can do to help them.

“It’s really important to not feed them milk, bread or fish, but you can leave out other protein based food as well as water.

"Hedgehogs also can get trapped in sports nets, so clear them away once you're done using them."

To report a sighting of a sick or injured hedgehog, or to make a donation to the organisation, call Yvonne on 07971 663009 or email hedgehogrescue@live.com.