Bits for Pets Blog

The Wildlife Trusts run a special campaign to protect hedgehogs in the wild on Bonfire Night.

The Wildlife Trusts are asking people to look out for hiding hedgehogs before they light fires on Bonfire Night (Monday 5 November).

At this time of year hedgehogs begin to look for places to hibernate and unlit bonfires make an ideal refuge. Hedgehogs numbers are in decline due to a loss of habitat, development pressures, possible loss of food sources due to intensive farming and the possible effects of slug pellets. Hedgehogs have recently joined the red squirrel and bottlenose dolphin on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan list of species in need of conservation and greater protection.

The Wildlife Trusts advise people to help protect hedgehogs by following these guidelines when building a bonfire:

• Build the bonfire as close to the night as possible so there’s less chance of a hedgehog moving in
• Make your pile of material next to the bonfire site and re-build the stack before lighting it
• Search the bonfire for hibernating creatures using a torch and rake before starting the fire
• Move any hedgehogs found to a ready-made hedgehog box or somewhere dry and safe away from the fire
• Before bonfire night make an alternative hedgehog home by raking up grass cuttings or autumn leaves into a pile a safe distance from the fire. Hopefully sleepy ‘hogs will choose to snooze there instead of the bonfire

Morag Shuaib, The Wildlife Trusts’ Wildlife Gardening officer, said:

“To a hedgehog looking for a place to sleep, an unlit bonfire is a ready made nest. We are asking people to give hedgehogs a helping hand by following our instructions and checking any bonfires before lighting them. It only takes a minute to do but can save hundreds of hedgehogs from an unnecessary death.

“Hedgehogs are great friends to gardeners and a natural pest-killer. However, numbers are in decline and we need to do all we can to help them out. Once bonfire night is over why not think about creating a hedgehog haven in your garden? Hedgehogs need garden habitats that mimic woodland edge and hedgerow and will feed on slugs, snails, beetles, worms, and caterpillars. You can provide leafy, twiggy places for hibernation – small piles of logs or leaves are ideal. Avoid slug pellets and don’t keep your garden too tidy!”

The Wildlife Trusts is a wildlife conservation organisation only. Any queries relating to animal welfare such as injured hedgehogs should be directed to your local RSPCA office. Telephone 0870 33 35 999 or visit: www.rspca.org.uk

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society can also provide further advice on caring for hedgehogs and encouraging them in the wild and in gardens: Tel: 01584 890801

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A clam dredged up off the coast of Iceland is thought to have been the longest-lived animal discovered.

Scientists said the mollusc, an ocean quahog clam, was aged between 405 and 410 years and could offer insights into the secrets of longevity.

Researchers from Bangor University in north Wales said they calculated its age by counting rings on its shell.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest-lived animal was a clam found in 1982 aged 220.

Unofficially, another clam - found in an Icelandic museum - was discovered to be 374-years-old, Bangor University said, making their clam at least 31 years older.

The clam, nicknamed Ming after the Chinese dynasty in power when it was born, was in its infancy when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne and Shakespeare was writing plays such as Othello and Hamlet.

Professor Chris Richardson, from Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences, told the BBC: “The growth-increments themselves provide a record of how the animal has varied in its growth-rate from year to year, and that varies according to climate, sea-water temperature and food supply.

“And so by looking at these molluscs we can reconstruct the environment the animals grew in. They are like tiny tape-recorders, in effect, sitting on the sea-bed and integrating signals about water temperature and food over time.”

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