Late litters, born in September, seldom survive their first winter. Blind until they are two weeks old, the young are suckled by the mother until they are able to hunt entirely for themselves. After about four weeks she takes them on their first foraging trip out of the nest and some ten days later, the family separates. The hedgehog is a solitary animal, normally active only at night. During the day it sleeps in a temporary nest from which it emerges as darkness falls.
Favourite places are woodstacks, compost heaps and haystacks.
By remaining inactive during the coldest months, the hedgehog can live off it's body fat. On warm days, it may wake up to forage, but returns to it's nest as soon as it gets cold again. Gamekeepers used to kill all the hedgehogs they found, because the animals were known to eat bird's eggs. Today, hedgehogs die in their thousands on the road. Some settle down to hibernate in bonfire stacks, and so perish during celebrations on Guy Fawkes Day.