40th year for Hedgehog Society...

IN THE run up to Hedgehog Awareness Week (May 1 to

7), a charity that helps the creatures is to celebrate its 40th birthday.

Major Adrian Coles MBE, who became nationally known as Major Hedgehog, founded the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) in 1982 and was instrumental in giving the hedgehog the high profile that it now enjoys.

The charity continues to work tirelessly to improve awareness of the plight of the hedgehog.

It all began when Adrian found a hedgehog in a cattle grid on his land; he rescued it using a saucepan and then realised that if there hadn’t been a Major on hand with kitchenalia, the hedgehog would not have survived!

He used his position as a County Councillor at the time to get Shropshire Council to install escape ramps in all its grids. The resulting publicity was so vast that he realised there was a great appetite to help the humble hedgehog in the UK; and so, the society was founded.

In their 40 th year, the charity is asking people to grant some hedgehoggy birthday wishes including!

Make Hedgehog Highways in fences - 5” x 5” (13 x

13cm) square gaps in the bottom of fences or walls should do it! Once created you can log these on the

BIG Hedgehog Map at www. bighedgehogmap.org

Create an undisturbed log pile that will offer shelter and food.

Buy or build a Hedgehog Home (see plans at www. britishhedgehogs.org.uk/ hedgehog-homes or contact BHPS for a paper copy).

Offer water and meaty cat or dog food for hedgehogs – you can even build a feeding station to help keep the food safe (see plans on BHPS website or contact them for a paper copy)

Check areas carefully before mowing or strimming.

Ditch pesticides and poisons.

Create a wild corner – leave a corner or edge to go wild, supplying shelter and natural food for hedgehogs in the form of bugs and grubs!

Hedgehog Awareness Week runs from 1 st – 7 th May 2022, it is organised by the BHPS and takes place every year. It aims to highlight the problems hedgehogs face and how you can help them, find out more about #hedgehogweek on the BHPS website or follow them on social media.