"Ow," she said puzzledly. "What is THAT?"
Well, THAT turned out to be a hedgehog.
Most English people take hedgehogs to be a part of the daily routine. I do not. In my almost 6 years here, I've only spotted two live ones. (And a few dead ones, but they don't count.) I bemoan the fact there are none in my back garden (or yard as we say in America) and because they stubbornly refuse to set up house at my house, I blame them for the massive army of slimey slugs that march through my garden and decimate my feeble attempts at gardening.
So, here under the church stairs, was a rather small hedgehog. No one knows quite how he managed to make his way in, but... he did.
He was obviously a little one born late in the year (another effect of the changing climate patterns.) Sadly, this meant that he would be too small, too underweight, to survive the winter hibernation. So, Clare put on her superwoman cape and charged to the rescue. She has a friend who is an experienced hedgehog nurturer and the inital plan was that if this woman wasn't willing to take on this rather prickly hedgey-in-need then perhaps she would take it to one of the hedgehog rescue organizations such as Tiggywinkles. (We take our hedgehogs to heart over here!)
So, off she went.
When I emailed her later in the day for a "hedgehog update", she informed me that in a surprising change of circumstance, she and her family (with advice from the friend) were going to winter the little prickleball themselves!
Which brings us to February.
A few weeks ago at the Women's Wednesday Morning Group that I attend (Let me tell you... Wednesday's are more churchy than Sunday's for me!) Clare looked at the group and rather forlornly put forth her request. "I don't suppose anyone here would be willing to watch a hedgehog for a weekend?" Her very body language said volumes. She didn't expect anyone to volunteer.
She certainly wasn't expecting me to practically jump up and yell, "Kate and I would LOVE to take care of the hedgehog for a weekend!"
And so... Alejandro Hedgehog spent a weekend at Chip and Kate's Animal Spa. Kate was thrilled. (He's leaving today and she's been a bit tearful.) I learned some things about hedgehogs. (They will release Alejandro in April (in Clare's back garden) and though they eat them in the wild, I was instructed not to give him any slugs from the garden during his visit (they carry lungworm). They like a little mashed banana as a treat. Oh, and they eat cat food (wet and dry).)
And.... I took a few pictures of our little friend....
He's actually much larger than he was in November.
Mum? Can we have a pet hedgehog PLEASE?!
Handle with Care!
Awww.... wook at the wittle hedgie-hog face!
Who wants a kiss!?
