Where to start … two days of fascinating hedgehog information in the company of 200 hedgehog nerds from 22 countries, and also shared with another 526 online!

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Actually, there is a good place to start - with a huge THANK YOU to Sophie Lund-Rasmussen and Dorthe Madsen for pulling this amazing gathering together, and persuading a team of volunteers to help it all run so smoothly (well, lets ignore a few of the technical issues shall we!!!!)

We last met two years ago in Hartpury University, where it was organised by Lucy Bearman-Brown, along with Sophie and Dorthe. These conferences form an important bridge between two different communities - hedgehog scientists and hedgehog carers. 

I have never been a carer, but have spent a lot of time with carers, and am patron of a few wildlife hospitals. I used to be a hedgehog scientist - in that I was out in the wilds doing field work, but am now much more often to be found at a desk … writing about hedgehogs. So - I am neither one nor the other really - and as such think I am reasonably placed to comment on what I have seen change.

There certainly was a time when some scientists did not think a great deal about the value of the carers, beyond the actual work of fixing hedgehogs … and this was also a time when some carers really felt that the scientists were just making up excuses for grant proposals and why did they need to study hedgehogs when the carers already knew everything!!!

Those unenlightened days are long gone and now there is a real spirit of sharing - and that was really on display in Copenhagen. There are still some dodgy elements, more on them later, but they were not going to come to something that praised honesty and kindness over bullying.

I do not have the time and I doubt you have the patience for me to write about each of the 30 talks that took place, but if you would like to know more please have a look through the abstracts that are available HERE.

It was good to see the whole thing opened by MEP Sebastian Everding from the Animal Welfare Party in Germany - and then straight on to  Professor Peter Sandøe from the University of Copenhagen. He is an ethicist and set the bar high for the conference with a fascinating look at the question of whether we should ‘let nature take its course?’ He touched on an issue that also occurs in the scientist/carer debate - do we concentrate on the welfare of the individual or the health of the species? It would be interesting to hear what you think …

I am really fascinated by the work of Lea Grayston-Smith - using data collected from museum specimens to assess what hedgehog were eating … might write more about her use of stable isotope analysis … but not just now.

There are some really detailed studies going on into the bodies of road kill hedgehogs that Sophie collected - Anja Strathe looked at food choice and stomach characteristics, while Carys Harry explored the state of their kidneys. 

Dylan Yaffy from the Royal Veterinary College talked broadly about work that is being done, but I was particularly keen to learn more about what he is finding out about road configuration and speed limits - and whether a better understanding could make roads safer for hedgehogs (and us!!) Personally I would like to see rural A roads approaching villages to have slower speed limits enforced further out …

There was evidence presented that hedgehogs hear at far higher frequencies than was previously thought - raising questions as to whether they are communicating more than we think … though I imagine bat ecologists might have picked up their chatter when out at night!

Lucy Bearman-Brown presented the now functioning WildlifeRecords - a free wildlife data management tool that could make record keeping and sharing so much easier for rescues. Rikke Hansen gave a really insightful presentation on the assessment of pain … and how to handle it.

Then there was me, rounding off the first day - rabble-rousing a little as I talked of the very good and very bad that can come from keyboard warriors! Very generous reaction, thank you!

Sunday morning started with two important presentations about Hedgehog arterivirus-1 … you might not have heard of this if you are not in this world, but it has been causing serious worries since 2019. Dr Hanna Davies gave us the science, but what really shook the room was the honest and powerful words of Vicki Oliver - talking honestly about the emotional and mental cost of having an outbreak such as this hit Brockworth Hedgehog Rescue. 

I have never seen a standing ovation to a talk at a conference before. She has been through so much - not just the death of hedgehogs, but also abuse from people online …

Too many more … Emily Thrift - her work looking at plastics in hedgehogs was alarming. Abinesh Muthaiyan and Brawin Kumar gave us an insight into their work on the Madras Hedgehog … and made me want to visit India to go hedgehog spotting!

Grace Johnson gave us all an insight into the National Hedgehog Conservation Strategy which was followed by a story very close to my heart - as Vicky Grant and Thomas Churchyard explained how they are hoping translocate and release the hedgehogs from the Uists in the Outer Hebrides. 

I am sorry - there was so much more - but I was hoping to keep this post to just 1000 words … in fact I have not even talked about some of the most important bits - the bits in between, when we had coffee and snacks or dinner - here were the moments when connections were made that may well have career defining significance … oh, and the posters, I forgot to mention the posters … look, read through (damn, over 1000) THIS.

Another thing … if you have ever questioned what the British Hedgehog Preservation Society does, well, the appearance of their logo on the presentations of so many people was a good indicator … they have been at the heart of funding research that is vital to our better understanding how best we can help hedgehogs … oh, and they helped make the entire conference available through a livestream too!

Along the way I took photographs of all the speakers - and a few of people mingling - oh, and the mass-group shot - I have made new friends - I want to go to Malta, Sweden, Poland, India, Estonia, Romania, and lots more places, to meet them and their hedgehog friends!

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