I was up late on Thursday night not because of politics but because of hedgehogs. Driving back home past 11pm we spotted something in the road near where we live. As we got closer, it became apparent that it was a hedgehog and that it wasn’t moving out of the way. Pulling to the side, it turned out it must have been knocked by an earlier car and was injured, although we couldn’t really see how much. I used a cloth from the car to help pick it up and move it to the pavement and we decided to take it home and see what we could do to help further.

First we put it in a shallow box in the back garden in a sheltered area near our pallet-based bench. Then we checked the Internet and discovered that we should have put it in a steeper sided box and contacted a 24-hour vet. There was a small challenge in that it had crawled under the bench but, with thick gloves, I was able to encourage it out. In better light – and an escape proof box – we could see that it was expelling flecks of blood as it snuffled and had some kind of head trauma but we aren’t experts so we arranged to take it straight to a vet (Medivet … up in Woodstock). The took it in and we won’t know whether they were able to treat and release it or decided to put it down but I think it was the best we could do.

It was rather a sad evening but, returning home, there was another hedgehog on our drive! I went and stood near it while Jane drove in – it stayed cautiously still while I was near and then retreated safely into the bushes when the car came up. Sensible thing! It is a shame the first one had been injured but at least there are more in the area – the second sighting was a lovely gift to end the evening on a better note than otherwise might have been.