This might not be the most lucid of posts - have spent the last few days feeling drunk, without the good bits. It is probably just an annoying cold as key symptoms are missing - but am keeping myself pretty much locked away just in case.
Enough about me - how about the hedgehogs? Well I have some news of a small victory that has happened for two key reasons - one is the persistence of an individual - Barbara Steele - and the other is the persistence of 688,000 of you! Without both this would not have happened.
Barbara contacted me about a housing development in Chudleigh. She runs a campaign called Chudleigh Prickly Hedge to raise awareness about the hedgehogs in and around the Devon village. She was bothered that the Oaks development, being built by Linden Homes, would have a negative impact on the resident hedgehogs.
Initial communication was not fruitful, but she kept at it - and I joined in as did the BHPS - and she wrote to and spoke to everyone who could help.
The gentle art of polite persistence can be a bit unappreciated - but there has been a great result. The new development will be built with hedgehog highways included.
There is more to this story - you see when Barbara started her campaign Linden Homes was - well, Linden Homes. But now it has been bought by Bovis Homes - the company that made the pledge in January for all its new developments, where possible, to come with hedgehog highways. And why did Bovis do that? Because of us!
What does this tell us? Very clearly, developers are listening - they are recognising that the cost of helping hedgehogs is pretty much zero and the benefits are large. But they won't know that it is important if we just stay quiet ... so when you see a development either being planned or underway - get in touch with them and politely ask that they 'think hedgehog'.
Thank you Barbara for your persistence!
ps
I know that some of object to me plugging 'me' - but I do not have a job, my income is mainly from photography, public speaking and a day a month from the BHPS as their spokesperson ... and my diary has completely emptied (as I am sure most of yours have) ... So - if you are able and interested, please have a look to these links for the four books I have written (a fifth will be out in August, all being well). If your local bookshop is still open, try there ... but otherwise ... the links take you to the tax-dodgers ... thank you for your continued support - it means a great deal.