Fire and Ice (From Wiltshire Times)

Fire and Ice

It's bonfire time again and most children are looking forward to a late night and some fireworks.

But one neighbourhood resident can't wait to shut his eyes and get some sleep. The hedgehog is starting his autumnal hunt for a comfy nook where he can take his seasonal snooze through winter.

The trouble is, the most attractive bed to a sleepy hedgehog is the lovely big heap of dried leaves and twigs you've been collecting for Guy Fawkes Night and other bonfires you've got planned for the cold evenings.

Hedgehogs build their hibernation homes by collecting twigs, leaves and grass to make a cosy nest under some cover and your bonfire is its idea of a luxury hotel. So the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is asking anyone making a bonfire to carry out a simple hedgehog check before lighting up.

Carolynn Jureidini, the Trust's Wildlife Counts project officer, gives some tips on what you can do to save hedgehogs from the fiery furnace.

"Search the heap for hibernating creatures with a torch or gently turn it over with a fork and make sure it is clear," she says. "If you do find any hedgehogs, please don't wake them up. Just put some gloves on and transfer them carefully to a dry safe place away from the fire or further disturbance."

"It's also a good idea to try and build the bonfire as close to the night of burning as possible as this cuts down the time that hedgehogs can move in," she says. "Or at least, when you are collecting material to burn, pile it in one place, but build the bonfire in another."

You can build a hedgehog hideaway by leaning a piece of old board against a wall and filling the gap with leaves. Or you can get details about how to build a hedgehog box from the Trust.

Hedgehogs have to hibernate because the insects on which they feed have either died or gone into hiding until spring. In order to survive the coldest months a hedgehog's metabolism will drop almost to the point of standstill. Its temperature plummets, its heartbeat slows and its breathing fades to one breath every few minutes. But still, deep within the dead-looking ball of spines, the temperature around the heart stays warm enough to keep the flicker of life alive.

Many hedgehogs do die of course and the cold weather is particularly tough for youngsters born in a second, late summer litter who have not had time to grow fat before winter.

Throughout the autumn and early winter a hedgehog must put on fat equivalent to 30 per cent of its whole weight. You could help them do this by leaving out snacks such as canned pet food mixed with crushed dog biscuits or muesli.

"They will eat scrambled eggs too, and a small amount of vegetable leftovers will provide a well-balanced diet. It's best not to give hedgehogs milk though, as this can give them diarrhoea; instead you can provide fresh water," says Carolynn.

Up to 70 per cent of hedgehogs die in their first winter. Yet when they do survive, they can be a real friend in the garden gobbling at least 100 invertebrates a night, of which slugs are a particular delicacy.

But while hedgehogs run the gauntlet of fire, death in an icy trap could befall the frogs, toads and newts in your garden pond once the temperature starts to plummet. Sub-zero temperatures don't necessarily pose a threat in themselves as watery creatures, such as the common frog, adapt pretty well to the cold. With the first frost the frog's body starts to wind down to enter a dormant phase.

Females tuck themselves into crevices in garden walls, under stones or logs, while the males sink beneath the mud at the bottom of the pond. The water under the ice remains at a constant temperature as the ice acts as a buffer against the cold, and the frogs have developed the ability to breathe through their skins in order to stay alive.

However if the pond remains frozen for several days, toxic gases such as methane build up from decaying vegetation, and cannot escape through the lid of ice. This is the time for a simple rescue remedy stand a saucepan of hot water on the ice until it melts a hole (keep hanging on to the handle though), and then float an old football in the hole to prevent it freezing up again.

Whatever you do, don't try to smash the ice as this creates shockwaves that can kill pondlife. Never use salt or antifreeze on the ice pondlife doesn't like a diet of chemicals. They would however appreciate it if you left small piles of stones and logs at the fringes of the pond to shelter in.

If you see any hedgehogs please phone Carolynn on (01380) 725670 as she is building up a picture of the hedgehog population in Wiltshire.