Enjoying a hedgehog-friendly garden
At Husqvarna, we believe the garden should be a beautiful space for you to enjoy. But we also believe that it should cater to the creatures that call your garden home - and ones who just occasionally stop by, especially at night! We understand that the garden plays an important part in supporting your local biodiversity and continue to add features to our robotic lawn mowers. In 2026,we launched AI vision technology in some of our robotic lawn mowers, which enables the mowers equipped with a camera, to detect and avoid objects on the lawn.
10 steps to a hedgehog-friendly garden
One of our Garden MVPs (Most Valued Player) is the hedgehog, as it preys on many common garden pests, including snails and snakes. Populations have dwindled in recent years, so with the help of hedgehog researcher Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen, we’ve put together a list of 10 ways you can make your garden more hedgehog friendly:
- Put out water and food (cat food is a good option for hedgehogs) and make sure to keep good hygiene around the feeding station.
- Encourage natural food for your hedgehogs, such as by putting out wildflower seeds or creating insect hotels.
- Build nests for hedgehogs! Create a cosy, wild corner in your garden using garden waste or piles of leaves or logs.
- Be sure to check grass, bushes and hedges carefully before mowing or trimming. The same goes for your compost heap – don’t dig your fork into it until you know it’s hedgehog free!
- Make a hedgehog highway by building tunnels or paths between gardens away from the street.
- Make ponds and pools safe by ensuring there is an easy escape route.
- Cease using pesticides and harmful chemicals.
- Cover deep holes and drains, or ensure there is an easy way out.
- Make sure netting is kept safe and that there is no litter that can harm animals.
- Be careful with bonfires. Move the pile to a new site on the day of burning it.
A study conducted in 2021 from the University of Oxford, noted the difference in safety levels for hedgehogs when it comes to robot lawn mowers. To read more about Dr. Sophie Lund Rasmussen’s research, find her publication here.
In 2026, Husqvarna launched several new mower models equipped with a camera on the front. This camera detects objects and, using advanced AI, identifies the object, then acts according to the type of object it is. In addition to this, the top of the range mowers feature a built-in 5-megapixel camera with a wide field of view, enhanced with infrared illumination, which enables the vision technology to work even in the dark: detecting and avoiding nocturnal animals during nighttime mowing.
To read more about our Garden MVPs, visit our Biodiversity page, click here.