The picture here is a screen grab from the Guardian and it REALLY caught my eye.

If you would like to join the debate around this, PLEASE - pop over to the Substack version. There will be more photos too!

Those of you with a long memory will know that this petition was started with the very aim of getting planning law changed so that new developments would be required to come with hedgehog highways. A VERY small ask - I was hoping for something more dramatic like compulsory 'ecoducts' across all major roads or a call to dismantle industrial capitalism and replace it with something kinder ... but Change thought that was a bit much ... and we settled for this target.

Over the years there have been moments when I thought we were making progress - back in July 2019 the late James Brokenshire almost had me setting off champagne corks when he announced a change to the National Planning Policy Framework. 

But what my excitement had caused me to miss was the fact that this was a change in the 'guidance' - and that came with no teeth. So I keep going!

Now you may also remember that, back in April, a new planning bill was announced in parliament which caused outrage. Thirty-two UK nature organisations wrote to the government warning that the planning bill “throws environmental protection to the wind”.

The Guardian reports that, "Experts have said the bill could allow developers to ignore environmental protection rules and create a “cash to trash nature” system. This is because it allows developers to pay into a nature restoration fund rather than ensure they protect wildlife on sites."

Another analysis by the Guardian in June revealed that over 5,000 precious nature sites were at direct threat from these changes. 

I had, briefly, hopes of an improvement in the state of Britain's nature under the new government. But this has swiftly been dashed - despite meeting Steve Reed at an event and finding him someone who seemed to really care. At the time he was the Environment Minister but was recently shifted over to Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Now, that is a shift in government that MIGHT just be a cause for hope, as - unless he was very good at creating a false image, he might be an ally ... 

Back to the news ... I am breaking all the laws of journalism here - I should start by telling you the NEWS in the first few lines, but you have had to wait until now ... sorry.

The House of Lords has put forward amendments to the planning bill that would, if accepted, help create a more wildlife friendly country.

They have called for the inclusion of things like bird-safe glass - did you know that an estimated 30 million birds die each year after flying into windows? You hear an awful lot about the relatively few birds killed by wind turbines - but very little about this. I also did not know that there is a solution!

Alexandra Freeman, the cross-bench peer who tabled the bird-safe glass amendment, said: “Birds can’t see glass and think they can fly through it – but bird-safe glass, using ultra-violet coatings, and simple tweaks to building design, can reduce the chances of a collision by over 90%, for a very low cost."

And it turns out that the UK is a leading producer of this sort of glass ... but fails to mandate its use at home!

Swift bricks are another easy way in which a positive can be brought from a development.

But it is the hedgehogs we are here for ... though ... I am making a bit of a leap with this - but I do imagine most of you care a whole awful lot about nature in general, don't you!

I have been running this petition for six years, and helping the Hedgehog Street campaign, a collaboration between the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and Peoples' Trust for Endangered Species, since its inception in 2011. 

We know that small, 13cm square, holes in the bottom of fences or walls - connecting gardens, help create a habitat that will allow hedgehogs to thrive. Such a small thing to do and such an easy thing for developers to do (if they are required to do it!!)

So - all power to the House of Lords amendments. BUT I remain concerned about the entire essence of the planning bill - especially how it seems to give developers an option to pay to flay - or cash to trash ... 

If our representatives are willing to listen to the vast numbers of us who care about nature - maybe we should see this as just a first step ... we need a real shift in overall policy away from the rich being able to buy their way out of destroying the nature the rest of us relies upon. 

I was going to be writing a piece about Ukrainian hedgehogs today but got distracted by this news ... 

If you would like to see what else I get up to, there are pictures on Instagram, and words of varying articulacy on Twitter and Bluesky!