Young country diary: A spiky surprise for the whole family

Shropshire Hills: My dad accidentally picked up a hibernating hedgehog, and it (Gnasher) ended up living in our house for a couple of days

Gnasher the hedgehog is nursed back to health in Robin's lounge. Photograph: Family handout

We were tidying up the garden where we grow vegetables. Mum suddenly whispered, “Robin, come ’ere!” I went over and found her and Dad crouching over a hedgehog. It had been hibernating in some leaves and Dad had accidentally picked it up. He handed me a pair of thick gloves so that I could hold it, although I was scared to start with. It seemed to be still asleep, so we put it in a plant pot on its side, with dry leaves and grass surrounding it.

A few minutes later the plant pot was empty – the hedgehog had woken up and was wandering around. The weather was due to get cold and we weren’t sure if Dad had injured it with his spade, so we were a bit worried. I looked up hedgehogs while Mum (who is a vet) phoned the local wildlife centre for advice. I found out that they are “vulnerable to extinction” in the UK, but also that they recover well if looked after properly.

‘It seemed to be still asleep, so we put it in a plant pot on its side.’ Photograph: Family handout

We followed the advice and put the hedgehog in a cat basket in the lounge and gave it some dog food and water. At first it didn’t eat any food, but after a couple of days it started eating more and more, exploring and pooing everywhere. We thought it was well enough to let it back into the garden, and built a hedgehog house out of some old wood, and made sure the entrance had a tunnel so that predators like foxes and badgers couldn’t get in.

So now in our back garden we have a hedgehog (we’ve called it Gnasher as it ate so noisily!) to guard our vegetables from slugs.

Robin, nine

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/22/young-country-diary-a-spiky-surprise-for-the-whole-family