Brigit Strawbridge

WILDLIFE

A Prickle of Hedgehogs in Hazelbury Bryan

By Jeanette Hampstead

Lockdown has had a surprising effect on people here in Dorset, with most finding a new found interest and delight in the wildlife living in their garden. Hedgehogs have become a firm favourite with more people trying to attract these prickly friends into their gardens; there is nothing like the sight of a hedgehog bumbling around the garden at night.

It is worth remembering that they are mainly nocturnal, so if you see a hedgehog sitting sunbathing, or huddled under a bush not moving much - or even running around in a frenzy - it is probably in need of help.

This month we may see the first pregnant females out and about during the day foraging for food before they give birth; the difference being that the female will be looking for food whereas the poorly hog will be hunched and not moving, or else madly running around. That is the time to call a rescue for help.

The gestation period is around 30 days, and hedgehogs give birth to between 1 and 5 babies. Having ready food in your garden will encourage hedgehogs to stay for a while. Leaving fresh water and feeding dry cat biscuits or wet cat food in jelly is always a welcome treat, especially when natural food is scarce, in dry or freezing weather.

We have released 47 hedgehogs so far this spring, and have a few more to leave us yet. It is such a wonderful sight to see a hedgehog that has been sick or injured being released back into the wild. A heart sing moment. Giving timely and appropriate intervention can be life saving, so please do not be tempted to pick up a hedgehog and keep it in your shed or garage to let it get better on its own - it will not. They will need fluids for dehydration, and possibly treatment and warmth to assist recovery. Your local vet or rescue are always there to give advice or assistance.

The use of Strimmers in our gardens are such a hazard for hedgehogs.

Their nests can, to the casual observer, look just like a lump of grasses. But the wounds inflicted can be devastating and life changing for the unsuspecting hedgehog, who is sleeping the day away. Please check those wild areas of your garden before using heavy gardening equipment. It could save a life.

Many hedgehogs are presented to rescue centres with ticks. Healthy hedgehogs (those arriving following an injury perhaps) will have a few whilst those hedgehogs that are sick will often have large numbers of ticks.

Do go and follow the Rescue’s Facebook page - where you are not only kept up to date with news, but upon which there is also a gratuitous supply of cute hedgehog videos. And you can donate direct to the Hedghog Rescue here.

“Without your help we would not be able to continue our valuable care of these beautiful, grumpy, smelly and endearing little creatures.”

Slow Worms

The mating season for slow worms kicks off in May. During courtship, the male takes hold of the female by biting her head or neck, and they intertwine their bodies. Courtship may last for as long as 10 hours! Females incubate the eggs internally, ‘giving birth’ to an average of eight young in summer.

Our local wildlife columnist is north Dorset resident Brigit Strawbridge Naturalist, wildlife gardener, well-known British environmentalist and bee advocate.

On the top edge of our allotment, between a grassy path and a sprawling patch of Russian Comfrey, lies a sheet of old corrugated iron. The corrugated iron was already there when we took on the allotment some years ago. It was half buried under a mound of rubble, just waiting to be pulled out and relocated to a new sunny position. We wasted no time in doing this. If there were Slow Worms anywhere on our plot, they’d soon find it.

Slow-worms (Anguis fragilis) - sometimes known as blindworms - are neither slow, nor are they worms. They look like small snakes, but are in fact lizards with no legs. Like all reptiles, slow worms are cold blooded, which means they can only regulate their body temperature by lying in the sun to heat up, or crawling into the shade to cool down.

Although completely harmless to humans, slow-worms are wonderful predators of slugs and other garden pests, so it is well worth providing a refugium (a piece of material which catches the sun to heat up, and retains warmth even when it clouds over) somewhere on your plot. This doesn’t have to be a sheet of corrugated iron; a piece of old carpet would do just as well, as would slate, stone, or a plank of old wood. So long as it is placed in a position where the sun can easily warm it up, and with dense vegetation nearby to give the slow-worms cover, pretty much any of these materials will do. Compost heaps are also key habitats; providing both warmth, in the form of decaying vegetation, as well as a plentiful supply of slugs, earthworms, and other invertebrates.

Six years on, a thriving population now enjoys the benefits of our refugium, and last year we found baby slow worms beneath it.

Slow worms are ovoviviparous, meaning the eggs hatch out as the female lays them, or just moments later. The young are delightful - around 6cm in length and perfect miniature versions of the adults which can, apparently, live for up to 30 years in the wild, and even longer in captivity where there are of course no predators. The record for longevity is held by a male that lived at Copenhagen Zoo from 1892 until 1946. Slow worms are a protected species in Britain (they are absent from Ireland) under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.