hedgehog highway
phrase

- a path or passage created through gardens or boundaries to allow hedgehogs to travel safely

Collins Dictionary

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PHRASE ORIGIN

"Hedgehog highway" represents a 21st-century conservation innovation born from the urgent need to save one of Britain's most beloved animals...

- 2000s: Hedgehog population decline documented → 30-75% loss in countryside since 2000


- 2010: Red List classification → hedgehogs listed as "vulnerable to extinction"


- 2011: Hedgehog Street campaign launched → joint initiative by People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) with the goal “Connect gardens through hedgehog highways"

- 2022: UK planning laws changed → new housing developments must include hedgehog highways
 - 583,000-signature petition success → legal requirement for wildlife corridors


- 2025: Over 120,000 highways connecting 240,000 gardens across the UK

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GARDENS WITHOUT BORDERS

Did you know that hedgehogs travel 1 to 2 kilometers each night? It’s an impressive distance for such small creatures—especially when searching for food, mates, and nesting sites.

Modern British suburbia, with its increasingly secure fencing, has inadvertently created wildlife prisons, isolating hedgehogs in garden patches too small to meet their complex needs. In the UK alone, hedgehog populations have declined by over 50% in rural areas since 2000, largely due to habitat fragmentation.

In response, conservationists proposed a simple but ingenious solution: small, neighbourly gaps in fences between gardens. These so-called hedgehog highways restore freedom of movement, allowing hedgehogs to forage, find mates, and escape danger.

The movement has also led to unexpected social benefits. Villages now compete to create the longest hedgehog highway networks. Neighbours collaborate on wildlife-friendly projects. Children learn about conservation through hands-on backyard efforts.

And on a language note, a title can make or break a campaign. “Hedgehog Highway” is vivid, alliterative, and intuitive,… immediately painting a mental image and appealing to curiosity.

Great ideas travel much faster when they have the right name!

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

boundary opening, community conservation effort, conservation network, ecological roadway, fence hole for hedgehogs, garden linking project, garden-to-garden passage, HEDGEHOG HIGHWAY, habitat connectivity, species passage, suburban wildlife initiative, wildlife corridor

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THANKS to Sabine for suggesting today’s OWAD.

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation today, say something like:

"The brilliant thing about HEDGEHOG HIGHWAYS is that they require minimal effort from homeowners but create huge impact for hedgehog conservation."