Hedgehog Awareness Week

[Marigold]

It's Hedgehog Awareness Week,starting today - and going on all summer, I hope.
Pam Ayres has written a poem about hedgehogs, and has produced a new book to illustrate it,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Hedgehog-Pam-Ayres/dp/1509881263/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525587758&sr=8-1&keywords=the+last+hedgehog+pam+ayres

The Last Hedgehog.

Farewell, farewell, for all it's worth,
from the final hedgehog left on Earth.
My cousin Henry, young and bright,
went up in flames on Bonfire Night.
And poor old Grandpa, fast asleep,
was stabbed to death in a compost heap.
My uncle, in a playful bound,
fell in a swimming pool, and drowned.
My aunt was old, her eyes had dimmed,
but all the same, she wound up, strimmed.
If in your fence you'd made a space,
we could have moved from place to place.
Have found a gal, paid our respects,
and had some cautious hedgehog sex.
And in a cosy pile of logs,
produced a nest of little hogs.
From now on, when you pull the drapes,
you'll see no round, familiar shapes.
Nevermore, from dusk 'til dawn,
will we eat slugs upon your lawn.
So little gratitude you've shown,
from now on, you can eat your own.

 

[LadyA]

Last Summer, I kept finding hedgehog poo on my small lawn behind the house, although I never saw them. I leave a bowl of fresh water out there, for anything that passes through during the night, so I assume that's where they were heading to. In the Autumn, I cut a lot of hedges, and left the branches in three piles one at the far end of the property, one at the hedge behind the house, and a huge pile in the front driveway. I suspected that the hoggies might be in there, so didn't want to clear them up until I was absolutely sure they were out of hibernation and foraging around. Haven't seen any signs of them, but they must be out by now, so I'll be clearing all the branches in a week or two.