What Is Project HEDGE?

Across the UK, hedgehogs are struggling. While rescues like Prickly Pigs can save and release hundreds each year, there’s still a missing piece: what happens after release?

Project HEDGE (Hedgehog Electronic Data Gathering & Evaluation) was born from that question - and from a few late-night snuffles of curiosity. Based in Otley, West Yorkshire, and developed by Prickly Pigs Hedgehog Rescue with support from the University of Leeds, the project aims to build affordable, low-maintenance monitoring stations that quietly record the lives of hedgehogs long after they’ve left care.

fig. 1 Proposed distribution of tracking stations in Otley, Leeds LS21

Each hedgehog we release carries a tiny microchip, the same type used by vets. Our clever little tracking stations automatically read those chips when a hedgehog visits, recording the time and location and even taking a photo. Built from off-the-shelf parts, 3D-printed housings, and soon, solar power, the system is practical, repairable, and designed to be shared with other rescues and researchers across the country.

What makes Project HEDGE truly unique is that it’s been dreamed up, designed, and built in-house. Every circuit board, 3D model, and line of code has been created by our own team of determined, slightly sleep-deprived hedgehog nerds. We’re not reliant on outside manufacturers or specialists, which means we can keep improving, adapting, and fixing the technology ourselves. That independence makes the system resilient, affordable, and truly sustainable - or as we like to say, prickleproof.

fig 2 One of our many earlier prototypes

Traditional hedgehog surveys rely on people watching, weighing, or tagging animals by hand. Project HEDGE takes a different approach: passive monitoring that works day and night without disturbing wildlife. This means we can follow individual hedgehogs’ journeys for months or even years, learning how they move, survive, and adapt in a changing landscape.

Beyond the science, Project HEDGE is about community and collaboration. Volunteers help build and maintain the stations, researchers analyse the data, and local families host them in their gardens. Together, we’re building a real-time picture of hedgehog life - and a model that could support nationwide conservation.

fig 3 We've developed 14 major iterations of the tracker, and still making changes weekly

Our dream is simple but ambitious: to create a self-sustaining national network of hedgehog monitoring stations that any rescue, researcher, or citizen scientist can access. A system that lets people focus on learning about hedgehogs, not wiring circuits.

Project HEDGE isn’t just about technology - it’s about connection: between people, places, and the hedgehogs that share our world. It’s conservation powered by huffs, guided by curiosity, and fuelled by the snuffles of those we care for most.

Please support the Prickly Pigs and Project HEDGE by supporting our fundraiser:

Prickly Pigs Hedgehog Rescue - Building Fund - a Community crowdfunding project in Otley by Andrew Cook

See the fundraiser for how you can be part of the Monitoring project.