Prickles Please (Poetry Monthly)

By Rhiannonw

Sat, 26 Sep 2015
  • 2931 reads
10 comments
 

The last hedgehog in Herefordshire ?

… only 1 in 5 people in the UK have
ever seen a hedgehog in their garden.

No wonder –
95% lost since the 1950s
Disappearing faster than the tiger?
(but we’ve recently seen such an ‘urchin’*,
while eating our tea, it was sniffing and searching
– probably one that our neighbour took care of,
rescued, released, now enjoying a share of
our garden’s small fauna.)

They like
gardens easy to wander through
(not too tidy for shelter?),
woodland and meadows,
and hedgerows (a hedge to hog),
insects (bugs) and slugs;

not
roads, (their little legs can run so fast,
but when a speedy car sweeps past,
they’re often caught,
and curling up in a prickly ball
can’t stop that crushing weight at all),

impenetrable gardens
(some gaps around the fences, please,
through which a hog might squeeze with ease),
concrete and gravel with no space for insects to live,
slug pellets (could someone supply a hedgehog to try
biological control – a worthy goal:
not an indoor pet to hug
but out of doors
they may serve, de-slug,
and the sight may please,
with no scratch or itch
from their prickles and fleas).

Help hedgehogs love Herefordshire
help Herefordshire love hedgehogs.

(extracts from a leaflet of the Herefordshire Nature Trust, entitled ‘The last hedgehog in Herefordshire?’ slightly rearranged, and comments inserted. The photo is our recent visitor [actually running], not yet probably the last one in Herefordshre!)

*’urchin’ is a folk name for a hedgehog

 

Certificate U
Poem
Nature
Humour
Nature

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

makes me think, a long time, since I've seen a hedgehog. I'd need to go back to my childhood. But I remember seeing a dead one a while back. As you said, probably road kill. 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks, Celt. That was why we have been so pleased to see this one recently. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Poor hedghogs, their prickles not quite enough defence.  

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks, Helen,.No, they don't understand about cars - pheasants don't seem to either, they don't seem to know which way to scurry. Their is a lot of uncertainty about why really they have declined so much. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Wonderful poem Rhiannon, if only more people would take care of these little creatures, cause as you say, they're very helpful in the garden.

Very much enjoyed and thank you for sharing.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks, Jennifer, it was a fascinating little leaflet, but it's still not clear altogether why they've declined, but hopefully we will see more of them around (but not in the house! when I was young, our dog pushed one in through the French door, and my parents were'nt very welcoming! ) Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Bee on

I think they must all live in my road. Like the poem. Works well.

Bee

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks very much, Bee. Glad you enjoyed. Sounds as if you have many sightings – quite a piriviledge it seems these days. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by jeand on

Hi Rhiannon

Interesting and well written piece. We did have hedgehogs in our last house which had a huge wild garden attached. But I've seen none in the last five years in my new mid-town bungalow.

Jean

Jean Day

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks, Jean. Yes, it will be nice if we begin to hear more evening snufflings, and hear that their numbers are increasing again. Rhiannon