Hi BLT
That’s lovely that there are lots of hogs there!
I hope you were only joking when you said ‘I might end up relocating them too’. The fact that you have so many hedgehogs around indicates that they are also finding some food somewhere else. They can travel up to 2 miles a night and get to know their ranges very well. So that if they are moved to another location, they would find it very difficult – as well as that area potentially not having sufficient suitable habitat for them, etc. This link particularly refers to rehabilitated hedgehogs but gives the reasons why relocation is not a good idea: https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/BHPS-Guidance-For-relasing-Rehabilitated-Hedgehogs.pdf
As you suggest, what we feed the hogs should be supplementary to other food they can find, but there may also be other people feeding them in an area and potentially they could come to rely on artificial food more than is ideal. That’s why high on hog lovers’ list of priorities needs to be making it easier for hogs to move between suitable habitats by providing hog holes and creating hedgehog highways, as well as creating better habitat for them by making our gardens more wildlife friendly. Ideally that would create more natural food for them, but as things stand, it seems there is not sufficient good habitat available – in many areas, at least – for them to easily flourish without us also offering some supplementary food. So offering them good quality supplementary food seems likely, on balance, to be helpful to them. But ideally at the same time as trying to improve their habitat and encouraging others to do likewise.
Good luck with your move. Fingers crossed your luck holds and there are also hedgehogs in the area to which you are moving.
