- Hedgehogs, distant relatives of shrews, are widespread in Britain and Europe. They inhabit mainly woodland, hedgerows, fields, parks, town and country gardens and live off slugs, snails, caterpillars, beetles, earthworms and birds’ eggs. They have a distinctive spiny coat, and long coarse hair on their face and underbelly. They are primarily nocturnal, sleeping by day under shrubs or in hedgerows. They can live up to six years.
- Hedgehogs are one of the few mammals that are true hibernators. During hibernation they are not really asleep, instead they drop their body temperature to match their surroundings and enter a state of torpor, slowing down their bodily functions and preserving energy.
- Hedgehogs have changed little in the past 15 million years, but are now considered to be a vulnerable species in the UK, steadily disappearing from the wild. Old names for them have been ‘urchins’ and ‘hedgepigs’.
http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/about-hedgehogs/
- The ladybird above (seen in March) is a seven spot one, measuring up to 8mm it is the larger of the two most common ladybirds (the other being a smaller two spot measuring up to 5mm). Surprisingly, 40 other species of ladybird can be found in the British Isles.
- Ladybirds don’t usually emerge from winter hibernation until April (when they emerge to look for a mate) so, in this slightly warmer climate of Devon, it is out earlier here in March, albeit late March. The RSPB tells us that the bright colour of ladybirds warms off predators like birds, ants and people because they have a bitter taste (who thought of eating ladybirds!).
On the last day of May I came across these ladybirds mating on our young Oak tree.
- Ladybirds are good to have in the garden as they eat aphids and small insects, thus a natural insecticide. The larvae which hatch from the ladybirds eggs, steely blue with creamy-yellow spots do not resemble the adults, but eat aphids voraciously.