So - this is my first outing into AI image generation - thought I would toss the mega-mind the phrase 'Halloween Hedgehog' and see what it spat out ... have to say I am rather impressed with this!
Right now hedgehogs should be considering taking some time off from consciousness ... though I have just checked my Met Office app on my phone and it won't be dropping under 11 degrees tonight ... which might encourage our friends to stay up a little longer.
Hibernation is utterly amazing - the only other true hibernators in the UK are dormice and bats. For the hedgehog hibernation is a combination of both metabolic shut down (they tick over at about 2% of their summer metabolic rate, allowing them to stay just alive, but use the bare minimum of resources ... which for some other famously hibernating species would be the bear minimum!!) - and practical nest building.
The hibernaculum, as it is known, is a brilliant build - a grand design! The hedgehog needs a structure - whether that is a hedgehog house you have placed in your garden, or better still, some brambles and other denser vegetation. Into this structure the hedgehog will bring vegetation - leaves and grass (and, as an unfortunate measure of our rubbish behaviour ... sometimes bits of rubbish too) - this is then combed into shape - the hog uses their spines to tease the leaves into a layered structure.
The laminar design is crucial, it makes the nest far more insulated. Now, obviously the hedgehog does not want to get too cold (it won't freeze - unless massively undernourished, extreme cold causes the animal to use more energy while remaining unconscious) - but it is also important that the hedgehog does not get too warm - as this can stimulate emergence from hibernation before the winter has finished with us.
Hogs do emerge, change nests, throughout the winter - that is normal. But for it to happen too often, that is when the trouble starts. This undermines their special brown fat reserves - that act as the starter motor. And if these are too depleted, they may fail to rouse in Spring.
So - the take home message for the next few weeks is twofold. Firstly - hogs NEED vegetation. So please - leave the cult of tidiness and embrace a bit of sharing of your patch with nature.
And secondly - now is also the traditional time for bonfires. PLEASE - and I can't stress this enough - PLEASE do not build a bonfire and leave it ... collect what you intend to burn and then build the bonfire on the day you burn it - thereby stopping hogs thinking you have just made the very best hog home ever. And if you won't listen to me - then maybe you will The Archers!! I don't normally indulge, but ... well - have a listen to this!!!
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