Good morning you lovely hedgehog-loving bunch. The Oxford Mail has recorded my transformation in the paper - in an article about a festival at which I was talking yesterday. I talked about our petition - but actually was mainly talking about my work that resulted in the book Linescapes. Quite nice to mix things up a bit!

That talk was - as is often the case - rather exciting because of what happened around it. My theme was connectivity and fragmentation - and a woman in the audience not only works for a construction company but has become a campaigner - and now uses her considerable skills to help wildlife and the environment.

Another audience member was so impressed by her contribution - that she bought her a copy of my book as a gift ... that is very heartwarming.

We can make connections for hedgehogs - but without making connections with our neighbours and other people in the community, it won't work. I am a strong believer in the importance of breaking down fragmentation for us as well as hedgehogs!

My wife, Zoe, filmed the last bit of the talk (with a mention of our petition) - and posted it on twitter ... have a look see ...

Last week was rather hectic - the wildlife photographer Craig Jones visited the Oxford Photographic Society - he has been very generous in his support of wildlife campaigns over the years, is an amazing photographer (check out his website) and all round lovely guy. 

I was on stage in London in the delightful Wilton's Music Hall on Thursday as part of One Track Minds - this was VERY much outside my comfort zone - telling a personal story (about meeting my mother for the first time) - and then sitting on stage while the audience is made to listen to a piece of music that is significant and related. In this case it was the song Seize the Day by my friends in the band ... Seize the Day. Check them out - they are not just wonderful musicians but also beautiful people. Theo - who I first met at the Twyford Down protests - even has a hedgehog in one of his songs!!!

One of the other contributors that evening was Denise Gough - an actor of great renown. So - in the 'green room' there were five of us getting ready to perform our pieces - one of whom is an award winning, Star Wars universe ... star ... and she did something so quietly effective to help us all. Rather than be aloof she drew us in as a 'company' ... we were all in this together. Making connections with people is so important - and she is brilliant at it (and do check out Andor!!)

And on Saturday my wife took our daughter off to university!! Was not sure we would ever reach this point, but we did - and we will see how the foundation year works for her. Zoe did most of the work to make this happen ... my idea of packing for the term ran rather counter to theirs!

In other news - please allow me a moment of vicarious pride - two friends won the top two adult spots in the Wainwright prize for nature writing - Amy-Jane Beer and Guy Shrubsole are two of the loveliest people around and really deserve this accolade. 

Again - I was going to write a detailed introduction to some research ... but - have been distracted. So will wrap up with a few dates for your diary.

12th October I will be at the Calstock Arts Centre, Cornwall (not Devon as I originally wrote!), talking about hedgehogs. 

On the 16th October I will be in Freshford, near Bath - talking about... well, you can guess!

I am also doing a couple of gardening clubs - West Northants village of Woodford Halse on 2nd October and then Tackley on the 24th October. 

In between this I have to write a book on bats (and finish the final touches on the new big book - due March 2024).

Quite a bit of what I have mentioned is done for free - or at very low return (including writing books!!!!) - so if you have an SPARE change and feel like dropping it in my hat, that would be appreciated.