The Lodge Day Nursery has made sure it is hedgehog friendly with the addition of a very special hedgehog house, officially opened by Ali North, Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Hedgehog Officer.
Ali is on a mission to make Ipswich the most hedgehog friendly town in the UK. To achieve this goal Suffolk Wildlife trust is creating a network of hedgehog friendly streets across the town.
Ali said: “We need the help of Ipswich residents to create hedgehog-friendly habitat, like log piles, wild areas, nectar-rich plants and for gardens to be connected by hedgehog-sized fence holes. Ipswich School has already done a great deal of work in this area, with hedgehog houses and natural log piles at the site of the Boarding House, all of which are brilliant nesting and foraging habitat for an array of species, including the hedgehog.
It is great to see this work continued with the addition of the new hedgehog house at The Lodge Day Nursery. I am pleased to be opening such a bijou hedgehog residence in such a grand setting as The Lodge. I am very glad that Ipswich School has continued their great work with the environment and nature.”
Ali gave Hayley List, The Lodge Manager, some valuable tips about ensuring garden access for hedgehogs, providing supplementary food and water and keeping fallen leaves on the ground for nest building.
Ms List said: “The hedgehog house is a miniature version of the Lodge building and will be situated in the outdoor garden, behind a fence with access for the hedgehogs. This will enable children at The Lodge to see the house but not disturb it. In this way our children can learn about nature and we are already planning to borrow a night camera from the Suffolk Wildlife Trust next year to allow the little ones to see if they have had any success with the house, which will be very exciting for them.”
The Lodge Day Nursery is a new nursery by Ipswich School which will be opening in January 2018. The Lodge offers childcare provision for children aged 3 months to 3 years, in the centre of Ipswich. There are three age ranges: Discoverers, Explorers, Adventurers. It will be open all year round with a week’s holiday in August and at Christmas.
The hedgehog house is a miniature version of the Lodge building, the former Adjutant’s House in Ivry Street, Ipswich and was built by Dan Willimott from the Senior School’s DT department.
You can find out more information by visiting www.lodgedaynursery.co.uk
