H .......... is for Hedgehog

Especially cute if viewed large.

After a good long walk with the dogs this morning - and yet more retrievals from rabbit holes! - I went to visit a friend of mine who I knew looked after sick and orphaned hedgehogs during the spring and summer. I was obviously thinking of my H for the alphabet challenge, but wasn't sure if I would be in luck as it was not yet the time for baby hedgehogs to be in need of rescue.

It turned out that she had four which she had looked after since the autumn, because they were born too late last year to be able to gain enough weight (700 grams) by October to hibernate successfully in the wild, although they were neither injured or sick. Different people had found them wandering alone and taken them to the local vet, who then passed them to my friend. Now, apparently, one of these was just coming out of hibernation, undoubtedly as a result of the milder weather, and had been seen rootling about in the box. It had taken a little food and so there was a chance that it would be awake enough for me to see it. Two big boxes were pulled carefully from the shed and all I could see was a mass of straw. Then very slowly a big, dark, round ball covered in straw was gently lifted out and I could see a slight movement as it breathed. My friend started to stroke its spiny coat very slowly and little by little it started to uncurl in her hands until I saw this cute wee face with its beady eyes blinking in the strong sunlight. Down went my finger on the shutter - one hedgehog successfully blipped! We didn't want to wake it too much so put it safely back into its warm straw bed.

The other three spiny balls were very tightly curled in their beds of straw, still deeply in hibernation mode, so I was very lucky that this wee chap (as chap it was!) was awake enough for me to see him. ... and be blipped.

I don't know how many rescue homes like this there are for hedgehogs but during the season many orphans and sick or injured hedgehogs regularly find a loving home and sick bay here in our town. Apart from road kill one of the major problems is that now sheep are no longer dipped, these little animals can be so covered in sheep ticks that they are literally bled to death. So, if they are found in time, they are cleaned of all their ticks and nursed until they are big enough and healthy enough so that once natural food becomes available they can be released back into the garden to gradually learn how to fend for themselves in the wild.

As hedgehogs are nocturnal, if you find any of them out and about in daylight they are apparently either sick, if they are adult sized, or babies separated from their mothers for some reason. The best thing to do is to get them into a box and off to a vet, remembering not to touch them without gloves or a cloth as they may be covered with ticks and/or fleas. Not a nice thought - but they will need your help.