Hogtastic

hogtastic! by Angie Marr

What a thrill to know that beautiful Ballater has a thriving population of hedgehogs!

I’m very lucky as I have a hog visiting the garden every night. My neighbour also puts out food and water, and we often compare notes on what we’ve seen and heard. They are very noisy eaters!

My love of hedgehogs began late one summer evening when my dog was out in the garden for his bedtime constitutional. He became excited around a box plant and I was immediately alerted. Much to my delight there was a hedgehog! In the following days I set up a food station with a night camera and started to enjoy the footage of the comings and goings.

At the end of Sept I was thrilled to see a baby hedgehog, but they need to be around 600g to survive the winter hibernation and it was too late in the year for this hoglet to fatten up. I had a chat with the wonderful folk at The New Arc near Ellon, and was told to get rescuing!

I caught the first baby and dispatched him safely, only to be told that it was almost certain there would be more. I ended up making three journeys, with a total of five hoglets, each weighing around 100g.

I’m happy to report that all were safe and sound. They enjoyed a six-star all-inclusive winter break, resulting in a successful release in the spring; all fat, happy and healthy.

If you would like to encourage the population, here are a few hedgehog tips:

• they eat insects, snails, slugs, beetles, worms and caterpillars; • their diet can be supplemented by leaving out cat or dog food, but no fishy flavours as it can give them an upset tummy; • only give them water to drink as they are lactose intolerant, and therefore milk makes them very sick; • the food station should be placed away from the nest; • be careful when using chemicals in the garden as the food chain means you may kill a lot more than you intended; • try and leave a messy part in your garden; • cover all drains and keep garden netting higher than 30cm off the ground; • where there is a pond, always provide an escape route; • check bonfires before lighting; • when using gardening machinery, check for sleeping hogs; • with neighbours’ agreement, by cutting a space in the bottom of fences 13x13cm to link your gardens, you can create a hedgehog highway, as they like to roam every night; and • if you see a hedgehog out in daytime, there could be a problem, so check and, if necessary, contact a rescue centre for advice.

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Grieving mum helps others in new career

The loss of a beloved son has led an Aberdeenshire mum to offer bereaved families a personalised way to remember loved ones.

When Ben Gray died suddenly, his family wanted to remember him in a way that paid tribute to the man he was.

His mum, Isabel Addison, said: “Ben lived with Cystic Fibrosis, which we knew would limit his life, but when we lost him it was a terrible shock. We wanted Ben’s service to reflect who he was, and so as a family we gathered together the limited pieces of information he had shared. The only thing we knew for certain was that he wanted his guitar placed on top of his coffin.

“Ben loved playing his guitar and was passionate about it. He especially loved 70s rock music. Ben’s dad said that Ben wanted Burn by Deep Purple played at his funeral.” But other than that, everything was guess work. It was an extremely stressful and worrying time. Even now Isabel still questions if she got it right.

When it came to his eulogy, Isabel wrote that herself, collecting stories from family and friends and getting those close to Ben involved, especially his closest friend. Often Isabel would think: “I wish I’d known that about him when he was alive.”

Working in care management, Isabel came across people who were approaching the end of their lives. She would often ask if they had thought about what they wanted to happen when the time came and most had never had that discussion with their loved ones. On one occasion when she asked this question her client responded by saying her son refused to discuss this and that she was relieved to be having that conversation with someone.

As a result, Isabel has trained and is now an accredited Independent Funeral Celebrant. This means that she can plan and run a funeral

Isabel is a funeral Celebrant and End of Life Practitioner

She offers a unique and tailored approach to Planning for a Good End

Funeral Services | Memorial Services Eulogy Writing | Interment/Scattering of Ashes Pet Funerals | Living Funerals End of Life Planning

Get in touch if you would like to find out more about her services: isabel@legacycelebrant.org.uk | 07846 689884 www.legacycelebrant.org.uk

or memorial service that is a true reflection of the deceased. She is also offering a Funeral Planning service where your wishes are recorded so that your loved ones do not have to worry if they are getting it right.

Talking to the living about death is never easy, but it is an accepted part of coming to terms with the end of life, with cancer charities recommending the step after a terminal diagnosis.

Isabel feels it is important that other families have the opportunity to have a deeply personal and loving funeral: “Being able to remember the person the way they want to be remembered is very important and I work with the family to make it a commemoration of the person, their life and loves.”

At a time when we are unable to say goodbye to our loved ones the way we would like, Isabel is also able to advise on memorial events: “It’s important that we come together to share our memories, as it is an important part of our healing. I hope that what I am doing is able to help, even in a small way.”