Ten years ago two charities, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People's Trust for Endangered Species were left money in the will of the BBC natural history TV producer, Dilys Breese, to help hedgehogs. The charities realised that far more could be achieved for hedgehogs working together rather than competing. So was launched Hedgehog Street.
And March 2021 is our 10th birthday! I have been fortunate enough to work with some wonderful people over that time and we have really made an impact. There are nearly 100,000 hedgehog champions, signed up through the website. The Big Hedgehog Map records over 13,000 hedgehog holes put in place (along with nearly 90,000 hedgehog sightings). We have managed to get the hedgehog up the media and political agenda.
As part of our birthday celebrations we have re-iterated the top ten things we can all do to help hedgehogs - and top of the list is what is at the heart of our petition, ensure that hedgehogs can get from garden to garden. So - don't take your foot off the pedal - we need to keep talking about this (and all the other things we can do, such as making the gardens wildlife friendly, removing hazards, and talking to neighbours.)
And you can also take part in the Hedgehog Garden Challenge - answer a few questions and get some tailored top tips to help make a real hedgehog have.
Maybe we will have a belated Hedgehog Street Party when we can!
In other, and just as important news ... The BHPS petition I have mentioned before is about to reach the vital 100,000 mark, which gives it a chance to be debated in parliament. We need more protection for hedgehogs. Please sign and share.
On any other day, THIS would be the headline - but I will share it now as it is timely and important. The petition, and the Hedgehog Street Facebook Group have combined AGAIN to make a difference - thanks to another polite and persistent campaigner. Nicola Blake had written to the developers Larkfleet Homes who are putting in nearly 200 houses near her at Harriers Rest, Wittering. The initial response was not very positive - BUT she persisted and ... we here is what she told me, "I don’t believe it. I’ve just had the site technical officer on the phone already - they’ve decided to put holes in every fence line and to top it off they want to buy 400 hedgehog highways signs from the BHPS to give funds to them too! And they’ve asked me to produce an info leaflet to include in every house sales pack. I was expecting a huge great hand in my face but I’m now sat here crying happy tears."
Enormous amounts of respect to Nicola, but also to Larkfleet ... they could have just ignored her, but were willing to take time to consider the evidence and to act.
And finally - you may have noticed that we got some coverage in the press - John Ingham at the Express wrote a column mentioning our work, and I was interviewed for the Telegraph - who published a good piece on Saturday.
Okay - really finally - and this is trivial in comparison - but I try and spread my love for life and nature through social media - under the @hedgehoghugh - so if you want to have a little more of this sort of thing, find me on Twitter and Instagram (and just be thankful I have not started trying to use interpretive dance on TikTok ... yet!)