Posted: Wednesday 7 November 2012
by Richard Jones
There has been much woe expressed about the dramatic decline in hedgehogs, so I was pleased to hear some good news about them recently.
The last time I saw a hedgehog was in September 2010. It was dead at the side of the East Rochester Way near Eltham - a sad indictment of the increasing conflict between humans and nature.
There has been much woe expressed about the dramatic decline in these charming and curious creatures, especially in the suburban gardens where they previously made regular appearances. Even last month, Adam Pasco was bemoaning their absence from his own garden. So I was pleased to hear some good news about them recently.
There has always been a sparse population of hedgehogs in south-east London. I used to see them regularly when I lived on the Peckham/Camberwell borders (I claimed I lived in Peckham, but for the woman in the top flat it was Camberwell). The large gardens around Grove Park and Chadwick Road were rambling and many were overgrown - making perfect secret nature reserves. Returning home late from the cinema or theatre, I would often come across a hedgepig or two snuffling along the pavement, or rootling about under a cotoneaster bush in someone’s front garden.
I’ve only ever picked up a hedgehog on one occasion - it’s a mistake most people make no more than once. It has nothing to do with the sharp prickles. As long as you’re gentle, handling a hedgehog is no more uncomfortable than holding a large handful of nails. No, it’s the fleas. Hedgehogs are home to hedgehog fleas, Archaeopsylla erinacei, and loads of ’em. And if you pick up a hedgehog, the flees start hopping out onto your arm before you can say Mrs Tiggywinkle. I doubt they’d do much harm, apart from the odd bite, but the sheer number of them is rather unnerving. Hedgehogs, of course, can’t groom their defensive spikes, so they have to suffer their infestations in ignominious silence.
So, what was that good news? Well, at a recent biodiversity meeting in Lewisham, several people reported seeing hedgehogs. There have been regular sightings along Devonshire Road. This is, perhaps, no coincidence. There was much discussion about whether a drop-off in slug-pellet use might be encouraging hedgehogs. Or had the wet summer delivered up a bumper slug crop for them?
Or was it the fact that a railway line with broad, partly wooded embankments ran through this part of the borough? Come to think of it, this is part of the same rail network that runs through Peckham and Camberwell too.
nutcutlet
09/11/2012 at 21:22
I haven't seen a hedgehog for years and feel quite deprived
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