A walk on the wildside

THE HUMBLE HEDGEHOG

There are many people who have never seen a hedgehog, apart from the unfortunate ones who get squashed on our roads every night, hedgehogs have the capability to protect themselves against almost everything, but not against speeding cars.

Beatrix Potter created the fictional hedgehog, the lovable Mrs. Tiggywinkle, but to most people they are just spiky, flea-ridden creatures, noted for their snuffling and grunting sounds, I know a man whose garden is full of them, and he swears that he can hear them snoring at night. They are one of our few mammals that hibernate, and their winter home is called a hibemaculm. Hedgehogs are believed to have been introduced into Ireland in the 17th century, in some rural areas they were thought to have a connection with witches.

The 19th century Irish writer and naturalist, G . H. Kinahan records that in parts of County Wexford they are called granogues and he tells the story of one poor hedgehog who was thrown into a lake, the idea being that if the creature could swim it was a witch, it did swim, and for its reward it was burned, a real no-win situation. The hedgehog is popular with gardeners because of its love for slugs, and in 1974 it was introduced into the Outer Hebridean island of North Uist.

This had a devastating effect on the natural inhabitants of the island, such as dunlins, redshanks and ringed plovers, when the hedgehogs began to eat the eggs of these groundnesting birds. This in tum led to a cull of the invaders, and was the subject of much controversy.

But a man who has almost fallen in love with these prickly little creatures is an Englishman named Hugh Warwick, and he has just written a book called ‘A Prickly Affair’, which is a homage to hedgehogs. He describes them as being the most charismatic creatures on the planet, and have more character than other small mammals, there are grumpy ones, shy ones, bold ones and friendly ones.

According to Hugh, there simply is not another wild creature in the world that you can get so close to as a hedgehog, such is his love of them that he was one of the volunteers who helped to evacuate the hedgehogs from North Uist when the authorities decided to cull them. From 2001 to 2005 there was 20 per cent drop in the population of hedgehogs in the U.K., one of the causes could be the destruction of their natural habitats, such as hedgerows.

In Hugh’s view, this drop should be alerting us all to a much broader problem, namely a breakdown in the ecological food chain, his argument is; If you can save the hedgehog, you can save the world. And, he is not alone in his belief, there are no less than 600 registered hedgehog carers in the U.K., and one of the most dedicated is a lady called Sue Kidger. Sue is so dedicated to the cause that she will tum out at any time of the day or night to rescue a wounded hedgehog, in her own house she has at the moment fifteen to look after, including one albino, but at busy times of the year she can have up to forty five, all clamouring for her attention.

The busiest time of the year is autumn, when the young hedgehogs, called hoglets get separated from their mothers and are attacked by foxes and badgers. Contrary to popular belief milk is not good for hedgehogs, as according to Hugh Warwick it is too rich for their digestive system.

In the past few weeks I have been contacted by people living in the urban area of Fermoy who have an unusual amount of hedgehogs in their gardens, they were not made to feel welcome by the family dogs, and in one case the dogs wound up with fleas. I am grateful to Helen and Tom who live near Cappagh Cross for telling me that in their beautiful garden they had a friendly hedgehog.

This little creature was a bit of a Hello Magazine hedgehog, and gladly posed for some photographs for myself and for some local schoolchildren. And, I learned something, far from being the slowcoaches they are portrayed as; they can scuttle along quiet swiftly when they have to. Traditionally, Romany Gypsies used to eat hedgehogs, when roasted over an open fire they are said to taste like chicken.