A prickly visitor

We’ve had so much tidying to do in the garden over the last couple of months that it has been way beyond the capacity of our brown recycling bins and home composting. So just before Christmas we put a dozen or so black bags full of cut branches, bits of bushes and general garden stuff in the garage.

I thought it was my imagination but each time I’ve been in there recently I couldn’t help thinking that bits had moved with leaves all over the floor. I put it down to the gale force winds blowing under the garage doors.

That was until the other evening when I was sitting in my office, which has a door leading into the garage, and heard an amazingly noisy scratching at the bottom of the door. On opening the door I was surprised to see the garden bags all over the place, literally, but nothing else.

Can’t be mice for that much mess? Could be a rat!! Wouldn’t be a cat. Just as I was turning the light off, all became clear as I saw the little prickly chap you can see me holding in the picture. He’d obviously got in there when one of the doors had been left open before or after putting a car away.

Anyway, we have a bit of an expert near by when it comes to hedgehogs and I’d got no idea whether to just put him outside or if this was their time for hibernation. Enter Mary Jones who lives in Shenstone and runs an incredible hedgehog rescue centre, supposedly in her spare time. That said, the number she is looking after, either injured or just cold, hungry and in difficulty is amazing and looks more like a full time job at this time of year.

She’s doing great work for the little creatures who have just been voted England and Wales’ most iconic reminder of our environment. Millbrook, as we’ve named him, was very very hungry but apart from that seemed quite well. Mary has taken him home to the rescue centre and he’ll be bottle fed until he gains enough weight before settling down until the spring in his hedgehog hotel room.

It’s a wonderful thing that’s being done and costs a surprising amount of money, particularly as the numbers of spiky residents are growing in number as people learn about what Mary does in Shenstone.

If you find a hedgehog that needs help and can get him or her to Shenstone then contact here and we’ll put you in touch with Mary. By the way, it really is a great cause which is becoming very expensive to maintain…..if you wanted to donate a few pounds to help Mary with her growing number of winter residents let me know.

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