Are Hedgehogs Doomed In The UK?

Posted September 21, 2018

I was considering a post about hedgehogs as one of Zuri’s favourite foods in 2200BC, but events overtook me. In our garage a few days ago a number of Christmas baubles were on the floor. I looked at them and then got on with what I was doing. The next day Ann saw them and we both pondered; neither of us had moved anything. I pulled the box off the shelf and carefully folded back a pile of glitter. The photograph shows what was inside. I touched the spines and they moved. If they are this resourceful, the question ‘are hedgehogs doomed’ seems irrelevant.

Dining on Dried Mealworms

The night before I fed the hog before dark. He, or she, turned up at 9pm as usual and snuffled the dried mealworms I put out every night. The garage door was shut so now we have at least two hedgehogs. I also put some mealworms on the garage floor but they remained uneaten. It looked as if our resourceful animal had hibernated really early.

How Did It Get There?

The garage back door is often open in the day, but closed at night. It has a high sill so the hog had to climb over this, and hide in the garage during the day. It then scratted away a plastic bag and had to climb onto a foot high cardboard box and force it open. A pile of soft glitter might then have seemed like leaves, so it turfed out half a dozen glass baubles and snuggled down.

Paleo Food

I am glad My Pagan Ancestor Zuri is not with us for Christmas. I might have asked her to place the baubles and glitter on the tree. Imagine her surprise; inside the box she would assume that it was her present, a gift of fresh meat. As it is, he or she is safe – for now. I was preparing to build a hoghouse for it, the wood all ready. I will now need to research whether to transfer the sleeping hog out into the garden. Otherwise, a new breed of garage hogs will develop and hibernate in my wellies!

Latest News

As our hog threw out the Christmas decorations a friend suggested we call him ‘Humbug’. Latest news – I wanted a better photograph but Humbug has now disapeared. If you see a hedgehog covered in tinsel, it’s ours!

Ken West

After 45 years in bereavement services, I retired in 2006. Subsequently, I wrote 'A Guide to Natural Burial' in 2010 and 'R.I.P. Off! or: The British Way of Death' in 2012'. I moved to Christchurch, Dorset in 2012 to join the oldest population in the UK. My book 'My Pagan Ancestor Zuri - A Parallel Journey: Christchurch to Stonehenge' was published in July 2019. My vision is to show the relevance of history, in this case pre-history, in the way we live today and in the future, through disseminating knowledge and understanding. The book highlights how a small area of Dorset and Wiltshire played a significant role in the creation of Stonehenge and the first common culture or civilisation in Britain, then fell into agrarian decline only to re-emerge as a retirement hotspot; Avonlands became picturesque for the affluent pensioner. However, the Covid lockdown reminded Ann and I of our love for the Peak District. In December 2020 we moved to Taddington, near Bakewell. Life is now trail running, walking, wildflowers and sheer joy. A Neolithic chamber and stone circle still watch over us.