Dear All,

You don't need me to tell you about the weather! It can be unbearable for us, I know that in the afternoon the sun will hit my garden shed full-on and I can only cope thanks to a fan that cools the back of my head! But our wildlife is not so fortunate ... and providing garden fans is not an ecologically sustainable solution! 

In this heat the very best thing you can do is make sure there is a shallow dish (or three!) of water in your garden - and make sure you top it up before you go to bed. While food is obviously important - water is, right now, even more so - and it is much easier to provide. So please, if you do one thing to help hedgehogs (and other wildlife too), make it a water dish (or three). 

Next on your list is shelter - but it is a bit late for now. Maybe consider how you could manage your garden with hedgehogs in mind - let a bit go wild, pile logs and other bits of wood in a corner - this will help to create a place for the day nest of a hedgehog. 

Over the long nights of radio tracking it was clear how important these places can be - as the sun began to rise 'my' hogs would head to the base of a hedge, a pile of leaves, a tussock of grass and cover themselves up for their daytime snooze. In this weather it can be little more than just a few leaves hiding them - so PLEASE - do not be too tidy!

Okay - that is the public information broadcast out of the way! Let me know how you get on ... though as always, communication is easier here in the Hedgehog Highways Facebook group.

Last night I did a talk in Wheatley, not too far from Oxford - and last week I was in Guildford (oh, they have such an amazing eco-centre there, right in the middle of town - Guildford Zero - a volunteer led project that has so much to offer and shows what good use the abandoned shops of a town can be put to!) - oh and before that I did two talks at Vale Wildlife Rescue for their open day ... the reason I mention my talks is the frustration ... there is news coming - of a competition - from the Hedgehog Street campaign ... but I am not allowed to talk about it yet ... maybe next week ... 

While I do travel all over the place to share my love of hedgehogs, I can't get everywhere! During lockdown my wife recorded me doing one of my talks - and here it is - I had to remove some of the more edgy jokes, as this was for the BHPS and you don't get a chance to buy books from me at the end ... but all the same, it is a good starting point!

Talking of books! I noticed that my first book (that has been updated) was quite reasonably discounted on the dreaded Amazon ... I don't make a penny from sales of that book (in the complicated world of publishing, I was given an advance in 2008 which assumed lots of sales, which there weren't, so all I get is the warm feeling of sharing my love for the hogs!)

And on that subject - last night, talking in Wheatley, I met one of my coffee providers - for the first time - and it was such a delight to meet someone who has been able to throw a few coins into my metaphorical hat ... I have also had messages from people who are apologising for not having money to spare - please - I really really only want those who are fortunate enough to have a little more than enough to help keep my work going. We are all struggling, not just with the heat, so do not feel any obligation. 

Thank you to Nick Upton for this amazing photograph.