I was shocked myself to see the hedgehogs

I was shocked myself to see the hedgehogs

26 August 2015

THE humble hedgehog is disappearing fast — but one family of the spiky species has made itself at home in a Drumaness garden.

Sightings, once commonplace in gardens and parks and hedgerows across the country, are now rare, so the Spratt family has been treasuring the regular nocturnal wanderings around their garden.

“My neighbour noticed them coming up from underneath our garden shed,” said mum Claire. “It has been every night, a family of five — mother, father and three babies.”

The best time to spot them is at around at 9.30pm, according to Claire, who said she had “absolutely no idea” why her garden had proved so habitable over the past two weeks.

“I was quite shocked myself to see them,” she said. “I had never seen one before in real life. They looked how I imagined but with more spikes than I thought.

“We have been watching them every night. We saw the mother first. It is as if the mother is going out first to make sure everything is safe.

“We did some research and found out it was normal for babies to be born around June so I think they have been there for a few weeks before we spotted them.”

Increased urbanisation and unpredictable seasons are some of the reasons why it is feared there are now less than a million hedgehogs left in the UK from the peak  of over 36 million in the 1950s.

The nocturnal nomads normally travel between one and two miles a night to forage for food, but this family have so far only made it from the Spratt’s back garden to the front garden.

“Having looked into the food they take, we have been giving them hard boiled eggs and dog food, which they seem to like,” said Claire. “They do not want to go now.”

One appears to have taken leave, though — the hedgehog dad.

“He doesn’t seem to be about anymore but apparently that’s normal,” Claire added. “He just takes off.”

Claire’s husband Phil and three year-old daughter Emily have been enjoying the nightly parade and apparently the hedgehogs “don’t seem bothered” by the attention.

“Emily loves it but is a bit wary of them,” said Claire. “She definitely has been interested in them. It’s the hot topic. 

“She said they were too prickly to touch and I myself would not fancy touching them, they are quite sharp.

“The hedgehogs do tend to stick together and we don’t really want to see them go at this stage.”