[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]By Janel Fone - Chief Executive of Cheshire Wildlife Trust
The Hedgehog is such a charismatic animal and one that I've had the pleasure to encounter on many occasions - including one curled up inside my son's training shoe in our porch. We evicted him to an overgrown corner of the garden (the hedgehog, not my son), but he turned up again so we put an old training shoe in "the hedgehog patch" and that seemed to do the trick!
I admire the hedgehogs' simply approach to defence: any hint of danger and they curl up into a prickly ball until the danger has passed. This served them well for many years, but the last 50 years have seen a massive fall in numbers: from an estimated 30 million in the 1950s to around one million today. Hedgehogs, like much of our wildlife, have been hit by the loss of habitat such as hedgerows and grassland, more intensive agriculture and the use of pesticides. Our gardens are becoming increasingly important for hedgehogs and we can all do our bit by leaving rough, untidy patches to give them a ready supply of insects for food as well as shelter - old training shoes are optional!
Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:46 am
