Another hedgehog!
Thursday 26th May, 2016
On Tuesday afternoon we returned to Brookdale with the intention of walking all the way up to the top gate and this time we achieved our goal. It is a steep walk and was hot in the sun but pleasant in the shade. I checked the gradient using the gmap-pedometer site discovered that our route climbs from about 150 feet above sea level outside our gate to over a thousand feet at the top gate into the plantation. A climb of nearly 900 feet. I don’t think we have walked all the way to the top since the heather was flowering last year - at the beginning of September.
I stopped near the top to take a photo of the flowering bilberry plants on the bank by the track . . .
. . . and this new sign near the top gate.
While we were reading about the mountain bike routes through the “Brookdale Forest” a superfit mountain biker arrived at the gate. He had ridden up via the Mountain Road from Ramsey. We had a short, confusing conversation about blogs and bike routes before he set off down the forestry track. Most conversations that involve me are confusing nowadays. It is my fault. My hearing has deteriorated, I have no talent for using hearing aids, can’t lipread and I hate asking people to repeat something. So I just try to guess the bits of the conversation that I don’t hear - or smile and nod.. I have thought about wearing a warning badge. It could say something like “I am not deliberately rude . . . or mad . . . just deaf”. But the bit about not being mad may not be strictly true.
On the way home we enjoyed the bluebells for a second time.
As we walked down the Fern Glen road I saw a little hedgehog lying at the edge of the tar near an old stone wall. It didn’t have any obvious injuries but something was wrong. It shouldn’t have been out during the day. I thought it might be traumatised or dehydrated. Also hedgehogs are notorious for their lack of traffic sense - so we thought the best thing would be to take it home and release it up at the top of our garden where we saw another hedgehog last week.
We weren’t sure how to handle it but Tim suggested using my old sunhat as protection from the prickles.
I put “Spike” (which seemed to be the obvious nickname for a hedgehog) down near the ditch which still has a trickle of water running down it, in case he was thirsty. He didn’t move which worried me and I wondered whether he was under-nourished.
I tipped him gently off the hat and went inside to consult Tim. Tim asked me what hedgehogs ate and I went back outside to dig up an earthworm to see if that would appeal to Spike. But when I arrived at the spot where I left him, he had gone. I was delighted that he was obviously well enough to walk around. Later we saw him moving through the plants under the hawthorns and thought that might be the end of the hedgehog saga.
But on Wednesday morning, when I walked into the living room at about half past six, the first thing I saw was a rolled up pin-cushion in the middle of the front lawn.
I read up about hedgehog behaviour and rescue on the internet and found out that (a) they are usually in trouble if you see them during the day and (b) they are highly likely to be suffering from hypothermia. It was a cold morning so, as advised, I brought the hedgehog inside. He appeared to be fast asleep with his paws neatly folded and his nose tucked in.
I filled two bottles with warm water. Then I settled the hedgehog on a towel between the water bottles and covered it with another towel.
When the pet shop opened at nine thirty, we drove to Ramsey to ask for advice about feeding hedgehogs. We returned with a bag of moist pellets aptly named “Spike’s Dinner” and moved the hedgehog from the laundry basket to a large cardboard box with enough room for food and water bowls.
After a while he moved around a bit but he was rather wobbly and didn’t seem interested in the food or water. I tried offering him a small slug and a couple of earthworms but he just ignored them. By lunchtime I was getting really concerned. I was prepared to do my best for the little creature but was worried that my best wouldn’t be good enough and that he needed help from a more experienced person.
Back on the internet, I found a phone number for a lady in Peel who looks after hedgehogs. She was out at work but I spoke to her husband and arranged to drive Spike down to Peel and leave him in their expert care.
Last photo of Spike - before leaving for the hedgehog hospital.
Having devoted most of the day to worrying about hedgehogs we decided to rest when we got back from Peel. It was a rather cold windy day anyway - not ideal for walking.
This morning I found an email from the “Hedgehog lady” in my Inbox. It had arrived the previous night. She wrote “Thank you very much for bringing the hedgehog over . . . He’s now conscious, and eating, trying to get out of his cage as I write - (he is a little boy by the way).
He’s still not out of the woods I’m afraid, and frequently I find they tend to rally a bit when they first come in only to go downhill again and die within a few days, but where there’s life there’s hope so we’ll keep everything crossed for him. He’s certainly got an upset tum so I’ll test a faecal sample and see if he needs worming – that may just do the trick.”
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