Hugh’s views #160 Hedgehogs
One afternoon in June I heard a blackbird alarm calling in our garden. A quick stroll around the garden revealed nothing unusual at first but movement among a clump of anemones allowed a glimpse of a portly, spiny visitor as it turned away to shelter under nearby shrubs.
Finding a hedgehog here was quite a shock as the garden can only be accessed by a gateway at the side of the house leading onto quite a busy access road and beyond that the dreaded Percy Drive, deadly enough for humans never mind hedgehogs.
At the time the garden was quite dry but at least the shrubs provided plentiful shade so a dish of water was placed on the patio but what about food.
I was equally surprised to discover that proper hedgehog food could be purchased at Morrisons. How did they know?
Some on-line research has revealed almost twenty reports of hedgehogs throughout Amble on the BIG hedgehog map, a project recording the nation-wide population of hedgehogs organised by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species.
The sightings are scattered throughout Amble. How many more could there be?
The map also records road-kills and hedgehog highways of which there are very few in Amble according to the map.
Just how viable the population is must be questionable given the scattered and isolated nature of those recorded so far as well as the continuing loss of suitable habitat and occasional deaths.
Our visitor, a mature male, has continued to show up mostly in the early hours and usually takes refreshments.
Recently, a second slightly smaller individual, gender unknown, has also started to visit the garden but their daytime abodes remain unknown.
Hugh Tindle
