Help a Hedgehog is now a Registered Charity!

As our last article for the Stroud News Green Scene page disappeared into a black hole, here is the April column which should have been published weeks ago.

Help a Hedgehog Hospital is now a registered charity!

Pauhla Whitaker, our Chairperson has been working hard over the last few months to make sure our governing documents complied with the Charity Commission's requirements.

All the current committee members and officers are now the Trustees of the new charity. We have come a long way since Annie Parfitt started the hospital in a very small way in her back garden in 2008, but our aims remain the same – to rescue, rehabilitate and release sick, injured and orphaned hedgehogs. We also 

aim to educate the public about the wild European hedgehog

(Erinaceus Europeus - our native species) by means of talks and events. 

Our spring release programme is now well under way – 10 pairs have been
released in the Cranham area so if you live in the village - look out
for hedgehogs marked with pink or blue nail varnish! If you find one in
distress please contact us quickly. If all goes well, there should be a
new population in the area soon. Others have been released in the King's
Stanley, Stonehouse and Frampton areas, and also around Tetbury,
Brimscombe and Bussage.  Altogether 174 hogs were in care over the
winter, and most of those have regained a healthy weight and will go on
to continue their life cycle.

Our fundraising activities will be gearing up soon too – we will be
attending many outdoor events during the spring and summer, and hope to
see our friends there. The Hospital is run entirely by volunteers and
relies on donations and sale of our merchandise to fund the care of the
hedgehogs. If you would like to book a talk for your group or school,
please call John on 01453 885653. We don't charge a fee, but a donation
towards our work and supplies of meaty catfood are always welcome.

For more information and contact details, please see our website
http://www.helpahedgehog.org/

Spring is almost here!

Now we're into March already and the hibernating hedgehogs should be waking up soon! In fact, this winter has been so mild that many hogs have not hibernated at all. Many have been found out and about during the winter, and people have been kind enough to pick them up and pass them onto us for care. Most of these have been very underweight and hungry, as although the weather has not been cold, their natural diet of worms and beetles is very hard to find. Sadly many will have perished in areas that have suffered flooding, which makes the work of rescues such as ours even more important to help keep this endearing little creature safe from extinction.

More than 170 hogs have spent the winter in our care – most of these were “autumn juveniles” born at the end of the summer, too late to put on sufficient fat reserves to survive the winter. Those weighing less than 500 gms are unlikely to survive without care, and a safer weight margin is 600gms. So if you see a hedgehog in the early spring, it is likely to have lost weight during the winter and need some extra food to boost its chances of a successful breeding season.

Talking of food.......fast food in particular generates litter....... which is a danger to all wildlife but items such as MacFlurry lids, and Krushems cups – the sort with a hole in the dome -shaped lid can be lethal, as we found a few days ago. An otherwise healthy hedgehog had to be put to sleep because of the injuries caused when it tried to escape from one of these lids which was round its neck. Please don't leave these things lying around.

We will be starting our release programme in April – I hope you have had a chance to see the window display at the Stroud Valleys Project shop – the map boards indicate where the “hotspots” for hogs are, and also the many areas where hedgehogs appear to be absent. There are many reasons why some areas seem devoid of hedgehogs – including unsuitable habitat, loss of hedgerows and a high badger population: badgers can and do eat hedgehogs if other natural food is in short supply.

For more information, emergency numbers, or to book a talk for your group or school – please see our website http://www.helpahedgehog.org/

Happy New Year from Help a Hedgehog Hospital!

Now it's January and still wet & windy!

Still the little hogs have been coming in.......cold, wet and hungry! The mild weather so far has meant that autumn juveniles are still being found, many of them seriously ill with internal parasites, and very underweight. If you find one – please call our emergency number 07870 378 207 (after 9am) or 01453 823871 -  or your local rescue if you are not in Gloucestershire -  as time is of the essence and these little ones need specialist care. Please do not think you can keep them in a box and all will be well – it won't.

Currently the Hospital carers have more than 150 little mouths to feed – gradually those which have put on enough weight can safely go into hibernation, but those under 600 g will continue to need food and care.

As 2013 drew to a close, our pre – Christmas fund raising efforts stepped up! Many thanks to all who gave generously at our Tesco collection, bought our calendars or visited our stall at Westonbirt Arboretum Enchanted Forest. Our four evenings there were very successful in spite of the downpours.

Countryfile gave us some very good publicity – and a classic moment! Hedgehogs don't normally bite – but that little one showed John Craven he'd had enough! Fortunately Carole was on hand to briskly remove the hog and put him away safely! Our website enquiry form was red hot for a few days after the programme.

We take a break from fundraising for a few weeks until the Festival of Birds at Slimbridge WWT on 1st and 2nd February, but talks continue throughout the year, and our carers continue to clean, feed and look after our spikey friends every day.

For more information, contact details and what to do in an emergency, please see our website http://www.helpahedgehog.org/index.html

The defining moment on Countryfile!!

Update from Help a Hedgehog

Well - we haven't had time to do much blogging lately!  We've been busy with events, talks and general fundraising efforts, as well as the day to day tasks of caring for the hedgehogs - which after all, is what it's all about!

If you are a regular reader of the Stroud News & Journal you will have been able to keep up with our monthly article in the Green Scene.

So what happened in October? No Green Scene! So here is the article which would have been in ............

News from Help a Hedgehog Hospital

We've now passed the Autumnal Equinox and the nights are drawing in fast! Temperatures are still fairly warm so the hedgehogs will be out and about each evening looking for food. Please continue to put out dry or wet cat food for them as they need all the food they can get at this time of year in order to boost their fat reserves for hibernation. Don't forget to leave out fresh water as well, as this is vital for all wildlife.

Young hogs born towards the end of the summer will be trying to make their own way now, and you may well find small hedgehogs in your garden. While they may be perfectly healthy, please pick them up and weigh them, as if they weigh less than 450 gm now, they will not be big enough to survive the winter. As hedgehog numbers have declined so rapidly over the last couple of decades, it is an important part of our work to ensure that as many as possible of these little ones are cared for over the winter to be released in the spring, to carry on their life cycle.. Please contact us if you find a small hog – 160 underweight autumn juveniles made it through last winter in our care.

Hedgehogs need to be a minimum weight of at least 500 – 600gm to survive the winter.

It is also important to contact us quickly if you see a hog out in the daytime, or an injured one, as delay can mean the difference between life and death. Hedgehogs do not hibernate or sleep in the open – if a hog is not moving it is either very poorly or already dead.

Also at this time of year we have to issue the usual warnings about bonfires and strimmers – gardeners are out tidying up – please check before strimming as they cause horrific injuries, and unlit bonfires are attractive to hedgehogs – with obvious and distressing results if they are lit some days later. The rule must be – light the bonfire the day it is built!

Our talks team will be happy to talk about our work with hedgehogs to groups large and small – please call John on 01453 885653 to book a talk. We do ask for a donation, and we have some merchandise to sell to help our funds. Thanks to all who supported our stall at the Stroud Festival of Nature and Frampton Country Fair – we rely on your help! Our next event is our Autumn Hibernation event at the Arkell Centre on Saturday 19^th October. We hope to see you there! For contact details and more information, please see our website http://www.helpahedgehog.org/

BBBBBRRRRR!!!! ..... Is it nearly Spring yet?

It's been a while since we updated our blog.......... not since Christmas in fact.

Most of the more than 140  hedgehogs have put on lots of weight and those large enough to hibernate have been asleep for quite a while. Some smaller ones have decided to stay awake & take advantage of the food on offer. We will be releasing most of them when they are ready to go.....hopefully when the weather warms up a bit.

It's been quiet on the fundraising front lately too, apart from our programme of talks which has continued throughout the winter months. We do talks to groups of all ages - call John on 01453 885653 to book a talk for your group. We don't charge a fee - but as this is an important source of income for Hospital, we are grateful for donations, or for the group to organise an event.

Our young friend Isabella is doing just that - a sponsored swim - all this week from 23rd - 30th March she will be swimming two hours daily at the Virgin Active pool in Gloucester - by the end of the week she will have swum 1300 lengths of the pool - 19 miles - equivalent to a Channel swim! If you would like to sponsor her - just go to our Paypal button on the website and say what it is for.

Now we are starting to get busy with our Spring events.........let's hope we get some warmer weather soon!

A full list of our planned events is on the website - but we will be starting off with a Craft Activity Day
( hedgehog themed of course!) at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester, on Easter Saturday, March 30th, from 10am -4pm.. This is also tied in with Cath Hodsman's exhibition of her prints, which is currently running, till April 8th.

Our Spring Event at Bussage Village Hall will be on Sunday 14th April - 10am - 2.30pm. There will be stalls, games, tombola, and refreshments, including Cream Teas! Tickets for our Spring Draw will also be on sale. There may also be a chance to meet one of our patients.

Our Art and Craft Fayre at Frampton on Severn on Monday 27th May promises to be a great day - lots of super stalls and a chance to win one of the lovely prizes donated by the stallholders in our Spring Draw.

We have also booked space at many local events throughout the next few months, so hope to see lots of our friends there.

Merry Christmas from Help a Hedgehog Hospital!

Christmas is here and the hedgehogs are getting fat!  Over 140 little guests eat lots of food!  Most of them are too small to hibernate or they would not wake up again so we have to keep feeding them until they are strong enough to face life in the great outdoors when we release them in the Spring.

Our fundraising efforts have come to a halt for the time being - we had eight events in the run up to Christmas so now we are taking a breather until the last weekend in January, when we will be at the WWT Wetland Centre at Slimbridge for the Festival of Birds.

We went to craft fairs, goodwill evenings, charity fairs and supermarkets - our friends were generous - buying our calendars, Christmas cards and other merchandise.  All proceeds go towards the care of the hedgehogs. We also received some generous donations, which will enable us to keep on caring and not have to turn away any needy patients.

So enjoy the Christmas break - but remember to keep a look out for little hedgehogs out in the cold and wet - they will not survive without help! Pick them up and weigh them - any under 600gms need to be looked after for the winter.  They do need specialist care - our carers are experienced and trained to give the medication they need; so don't try to do it yourself - just give us a call on 01453 886424.

Events update

Our event at The Arkell Centre in Forest Green on Saturday 27th October was a great success, raising nearly £600 towards the food and vet's bills for the care of the hedgehogs.  Our thanks go to all who came and supported us at the event, those who helped on the day and behind the scenes.

We have several events coming up in the run up to Christmas - yesterday our hedgehog stall was at the Cirencester combined charities Christmas fair - a lovely event which was very well attended. As the only wildlife stall there, along with all the others supporting humanitarian causes, our merchandise was a little bit different and sold well. We raised £200 to keep our hogs in food for a week or two!

On Friday November 16th we will be at the Frampton Community Centre in Lake Lane from 3pm -7pm and hope to see some of our friends there. Our calendars for 2013 and our exclusive Christmas cards - the painting done specially for us by our friend Tricia Britton - have been selling well and people tell us they love them! Thankyou Tricia for the lovely painting!

The next event after that will be the Charities Fair at Wotton Under Edge on Saturday 24th November - this is always a lovely event and well supported. We hope that this year will be no exception!

On Sunday 25th November, Pauhla will be at Cranham Craft Fayre, selling Help a Hedgehog merchandise along with her own beautiful things, which will also benefit the hedgehogs by 10%.  So go along and support Pauhla as well as the hedgehogs!

The following weekend will see us at Teckels Christmas Fair - Saturday 1st December, starting at 6.30pm. Last year this was a great event - lots of stalls and lots of people - so go along and get your Christmas gifts and help animal charities at the same time.

We will be beginning to get event fatigue by the time Stroud Goodwill Evening is held on Friday 7th December!  But we will be there and hope you will be too!  Our hedgehogs need us to raise all the money we can - over 100 hungry mouths eat lots of food!

Finally, our last two events before Christmas - Friday 14th December will see us back in Frampton for another Fayre at the Community Centre - this will be the one where we will be pulling out the prize winners for our Christmas draw - so buy your tickets in good time at any of our events beforehand! Lots of lovely prizes!

On Saturday 15th December - do your shopping at Tesco's in Stroud!  We will be there with our collecting boxes for Help a Hedgehog Hospital, hoping that our friends will be as generous as ever and give a little bit for the hogs at Christmas!

Autumn Hibernation Event on Saturday 27th October

Help A Hedgehog Hospital's main Autumn event will take place on Saturday 27th October 2012 at the Arkell Community Centre, Forest Green, Nailsworth. Doors open at 1.30pm.

Autumn can be a dangerous time for young hedgehogs - especially the late -born, underweight "Autumn Juveniles".  Come to the event and learn more about the dangers they face.

There will be a special performance by the Hazelwood Puppet Theatre of "Tales of the Hedgerow" which will highlight these dangers.

There will also be stalls selling HHH merchandise - calendars, Christmas cards, tea towels and other gifts; teas and cakes; tombolas, childrens' games,  and tickets for the Grand Christmas Draw.

As you know, the Hospital relies on fundraising events and donations from generous friends and all money raised goes towards caring for the hedgehogs - food and vets' bills being the biggest items.

So come along to the event - we hope to see many of our friends there!

A Great Weekend!

Our fundraising team was out in full force at the weekend!  On a glorious sunny Saturday in beautiful Stratford Park in Stroud, we joined many other organisations for the Stroud Festival of Nature - a celebration of all things wild and wonderful.  Thousands of people came and enjoyed a lovely family day out, with activities and lots to see.

On Sunday, again in sunshine, we were at the Frampton Country Fair - one of the biggest shows of its kind in the West Country - we were delighted to see so many of our friends there in the huge crowds attending.

All in all - a very successful weekend's work which saw £500 come in towards our food and vet's bills.

This summer has seen an influx of mothers and babies coming into the hospital, all needing treatment and lots of food! We now have to prepare for the busy Autumn Juvenile season, which will no doubt bring another lot of hungry mouths to fatten up before hibernation.

Thankyou to everyone who has supported our efforts!

Events in September

Help a Hedgehog Hospital will be busy fundraising in the next week or two, attending three events in early September.

First will be a new event for us - a summer community fete held by Listening Post, a small local charity,  at St Aldate's Church, Finlay Road, Gloucester, on Saturday 1st September.  The fete starts at 11am and continues till 2pm.  We will have our stall there, and also hope to give a short talk about hedgehogs at 11.30am.  Our new calendars and other merchandise will be on sale.

The following Saturday, 8th September, will see us taking part in the Stroud Festival of Nature - this was a lovely event last year and promises to be bigger and more successful this year. There will be lots of local organisations there - all with a common interest in our wildlife and natural places, so come to Stratford Park and learn more about our endangered wildlife and support us too!

From there, we will go straight to Frampton to set up our stall at the Frampton Country Fair, which is the main country event in Gloucestershire. Sunday 9th September will be a busy day for us we hope!

We hope the weather is kind and that as many of our local friends as possible will come and see us and support our efforts to raise much needed funds for the Hospital. This year has seen a large number of admissions, consequently expenditure on vet bills and food for the hedgehogs has been high.

Hope to see you there!

Tetbury Flower Show 12th August

Fundraising events have been a bit thin on the ground lately - we had to forgo the Dursley Festival due to the waterlogged field, then the Stroud Show was cancelled....... but we will be at the Tetbury Flower Show on Sunday 12th August.

Our Help a Hedgehog Hospital stall will include a Tombola and Lucky Dip, lots of new hedgehoggy  merchandise and our new 2013 Calendar will be on sale for the first time!  It's not too early to be thinking of the New Year - so make your next calendar a Hedgehog one - full of photos of our lovely hedgehogs!

We are hoping the sun will shine and hope to see you there!

HHH event at St Augustine's Farm

Help a Hedgehog Hospital will be at St Augustines Farm, Arlingham from 11 am to 3 pm on Friday 8th June.


 Come along and see the farm animals and see a couple of rescued hedgehogs and lots of hedgehoggie things. 


 Carole and Jo will be available to answer questions about hedgehogs in Gloucestershire and there will be a quiz for those who feel up to the challenge.  


We hope to see you there at this family event.

Fundraising events in May

The Help a Hedgehog team has been busy fundraising during May!  Our stall at Randwick Wap on 12th May raised over £180 and we had a good day in the sunshine.

On Sunday 20th May our Jumble sale in Frampton was a great success - lots of jumble & other stalls, wonderful cakes & teas - and the final total raised was over £450!  Many thanks to all who donated items, made cakes, helped on the stalls and to the people who came & spent their money!  Special thanks to Jo who made it all happen.

Yesterday - 26th May was the Grand Village Fete at Brimscombe, our home patch, and a glorious sunny day brought out the crowds!  Our efforts raised another £200 for the Hospital. Everybody at HHH is a volunteer - there are no salaries or rents to pay so all the money we raise is used for the care of the hedgehogs - food, medication and and vets' bills being the main expenditure.

The beautiful print of Hugo donated by the artist, Cath Hodsman, (see the last blog entry) was raffled at Frampton and Brimscombe, with the draw taking place yesterday afternoon. The lucky winner was Mr Stuart Baker.  Other signed, limited edition prints of Hugo are available to buy at £30 each - Cath is generously donating 10% of her sales of this print to Help a Hedgehog.

Our next event is next Saturday, 2nd June, when we will be holding a stall at the Stroud on Water festival on the Marling School field.

Many thanks to all our supporters - we hope to see you at an event soon.

Portrait of Hugo

This beautiful portrait of Hugo has been done for us by Cath Hodsman- please see her website for more wonderful works. As you can see, Cath is a supporter of Help a Hedgehog Hospital. Many thanks Cath!

Hugo the Hedgehog

Cath has also very kindly donated one of her prints of Hugo for our sale which will take place at Frampton Village Hall on Sunday 20th May from 1.30pm -4,.00pm.

I have just finished a graphite portait of "Hugo" the Hedgehog, a much loved former rescuee of Help a Hedgehog Hospital. A fab organisation who nurse, rehome, replace, and nurture hundreds of hedghogs back to health and back to the wild. A percentage of all sales will be donated to this great cause.

Upcoming Events in May

Help a Hedgehog Hospital will be holding a stall at Randwick Wap on 12th May!

Come and see us there and support your local hedgehog rescue. You can buy some exclusive 3H cards and Tea towels, as well as lots of other merchandise.

On Sunday 20th May we will be in Frampton on Severn!

Our carer Jo is organising a Jumble Sale - there will be teas, cakes and hedgehog things for sale as well as jumble and bric a brac.  Doors open at 1.30pm - till 4pm.  If you have any items you would like to donate, they can be left at Frampton Village Hall on the morning of the sale.

Saturday 26th May will see us on our home turf at the Brimscombe and Thrupp Grand Village Fete on the playing field.  Last year it was cold & wet - will this year be any different?  Come and support us there.  The Hospital relies entirely on fundraising and donations - all monies raised go towards the care of our Spikey Friends!  

We look forward to seeing some of our many friends at these local events.

Hedgehog Events at Cirencester

Thankyou to all who supported us by coming to the Prickles and Fur exhibition at the Corinium Museum, the craft activity session on Saturday afternoon, and the Trail event at the Abbey Grounds yesterday.

It was a sunny but chilly afternoon yesterday - quite a few families came and enjoyed a wild walk around the Abbey Grounds, learning about hedgehogs in the process, and also met the two hedgehogs who made a guest appearance.

At the Art exhibition, several of Cath Hodsman's beautiful prints were sold - Cath has kindly donated 10% of her proceeds to Help a Hedgehog Hospital - thanks Cath!   Thanks also to the Museum staff for their support and the children of Miserden School for their lovely artwork.

A special thanks to Maureen, our treasurer, who made it all happen!

Hedgehog Trail at the Abbey Grounds

Join us on Sunday 15th April at the beautiful Abbey Grounds in Cirencester for a wild walk with hoggie clues!  This is a family event to raise our profile and hopefully some funds too!

There will be some light refreshments available and also some Help a Hedgehog merchandise for sale.

Prickles & Fur at Corinium Museum

Our art exhibition at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester is up and running!

Featuring limited edition prints by renowned wildlife artist Cath Hodsman alongside artwork by the children of Miserden Primary School, the exhibition is in the Hare Gallery at the Museum. The exhibition itself is free but normal Museum entry charges apply.

The exhibition will run until Saturday 14th April, and on the final afternoon Help a Hedgehog will be hosting a craft activity session, with one of our patients making a guest appearance.

Cath is generously donating 10% of her sales from this show to Help a Hedgehog Hospital.

Brownie Points!

A big Thankyou to 1st Painswick and Cranham Brownies for their fantastic fundraising effort for HHH!
The girls made cakes and held a coffee morning which raised a wonderful £130 which they have donated towards the care of the hedgehogs.

A Prickly Affair!

What a wonderful evening we had!  Hugh Warwick's talk was brilliant - very witty and enjoyable. We had a full house and wonderful cakes too!  Thankyou to everyone who came and supported the Hospital and helped us raise over £400 towards the care of our little spiky friends!