This update is full of information and also fun. There are some top tips on persuading councils to adopt hedgehog highways, there are some films, there is a reminder to get your bookplates while you can - and there is an announcement … one that thrills me almost as much as it terrifies!

Let’s start with the work. I am often asked how best to approach developers when they move into a community. We have already had on here some fascinating success stories from people who have managed successfully to get hedgehog highways integrated into the work. But I am ashamed to admit I had not seen THIS IMPORTANT GUIDE until last week … please follow the link and if you do not use Facebook, please write to Grace Johnson at Hedgehog Street and she will send you a copy (hedgehog@ptes.org). It lays out the law - and gives you the information you need to be able to present a robust case. 

Another bit of law - but this time it is behaving rather less constructively. There was a flourish, you may remember, about a new road sign for the UK featuring a hedgehog. And here I have to admit that I let my enthusiasm get in the way of the reality. I thought that this was a road sign warning motorists of the potential risks of them killing small mammals. I was wrong. And for the sign to be officially put in place a Local Authority has to approach the Department for Transport with evidence of injury/damage caused by a hedgehog. This really annoys me - the deeply warped anthopocentric position - that is, this is only a problem if a person is injured, is why we are in such a mess already. Anyway, the story has been picked up by the press - and in so doing actually undermines the good work we do. I am going to see if we can change the requirements for new signs. In the meantime, we will have to resort to the Ghost Hedgehogs.

Now for the entertainment. I was reminded of these two films recently - and feel they are worth sharing. The first is the iconic Hedgehog in the Fog made by Yuriy Norshteyn in 1975. It is so wonderfully atmospheric - please indulge yourself! The other really amused me - wonderfully done but so utterly devoid of accurate hedgehog behaviour! De Herinacio is reminder that just because people in authority say things are true, it does not necessarily mean then are … in this case, none other than the rather well-respected philosopher, Aristotle! Of course the reason there was such a long-standing myth that hedgehogs collected fruit on their spines to store up to survive hibernation is due to the hogs being seen snuffling around fallen fruit … but they were eating the macro-invertebrates - the bigger bugs and beasties …. Not the fruit!

The reminder … I have never had so many letters - it has made me feel really popular!! Thank you to all who have been in touch with your stamped-addressed envelopes - if you would like me to send you signed bookplates for books for Christmas, do it soon! Drop me a line to: 176 Campbell Road, Oxford, OX43NR - and I will get them in the post as soon as I can. The bookplates use an image from the endpapers of my latest book - The Hedgehog Book - also available from your local book shop … as well as the online place that does not pay the tax it should! But it will fit inside my other books too … and you know this is a win:win … you get a good book for Christmas and I get the warm feeling of sales! 

And finally - the terror - the thrill - the terror … a few years ago I was lucky enough to be invited by Robin Ince to appear on stage at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London as part of his science(ish) variety show - Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious Minds … I remain (I think) the world’s only hedgehog stand-up comedian! I have done a few more gigs with Robin over the years and now … well … covid has made him have to be extra creative. And he has created an absolutely stunning event that will require him to be up for at least 24 hours … Nine Lessons and Carols for Socially Distanced People - the names already announced give me goosebumps … such wonderful thinkers and speakers and musicians … it will be a wonderful marathon! Free to watch, but donations MASSIVELY appreciated.