Hi Jens
I always thought the reason they sometimes move might be parasites, but also natural disasters, such as flooding or if their nest was disturbed by other animals or humans. I read that they actually sometimes make new nests during hibernation (rather than moving to another one they had already made) and having seen the how industrious the little hoglet was, that must take up a huge amount of their precious stored up energy.
Hedgehog Street did a survey this year of hedgehog homes, so it will be interesting to hear the results, and that may go some way to answering your question. Otherwise, I read that they like hibernating in bramble and scrub patches which makes sense, bearing in mind their name. It sounds as if the place your are describing is a bit like that, so might be a good site. Are you sure they don’t use it, I imagine a wild nest would be very well camouflaged.
