It has been heartening to see a huge increase in the number of verges and roundabouts left alone by councils this year which of course hugely benefits wildlife. A headline in The Mirror remind us: “Garden owners face unlimited fine and even prison for trimming hedges in June.” As usual there are so many loopholes in the rules that they may as well not exist. Hedges around here continue to be flailed within an inch of their lives and not one but two local schools have ripped up hedges to install secure metal fencing (why not just install the fencing behind the hedgeline?) The picture above shows a hedge very near our house. I understand that oil delivery vehicles and fire engines need to be able to get through, just as some trimming needs doing at road junctions, but this seems brutal and rather sad – and it is nesting season.
Meanwhile a useful post by Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue has appeared about feeding hedgehogs.
Hedgehog Feeding Advice | Oxfordshire Wildlife (oxfordshirewildliferescue.com)
In short, the only safe options are tinned or dried meat or fish based dog and cat foods. And that’s it. Even the tinned food, I recently learned, must not contain gravy which will cause diarrhoea in hedgehogs. They also point out that of all the products marketed as hedgehog food only two, Brambles and Spikes, are ok and safe, the rest being completely unsuitable. “The current issue here is that the market for wildlife food is not regulated at all, and therein lies the issue where companies can put just about anything into them, including bulking agents to keep costs down, unnatural amounts of salts, sugars, calcium, proteins, phosphorus and even food items such as dried mealworms, seeds, peanuts and even dairy products have been seen. All of which can potentially kill a hedgehog.”
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