I LIKE Ellie Harrison a lot.

Apart from her good work and connections locally, she has been a breath of fresh air on Countryfile.

But in trying to rescue the hedgehog from terminal decline it is a shame her BBC credentials prevent her from using the B-word.

The correlation between the decline of the hedgehog, and the rise of badger populations, is blindingly obvious.

They eat them, and are their primary enemy, not habitat reduction.

Actually, the badger is also responsible for the decline of ground nesting birds, such as the skylark, slowly emptying from the skies over the Common here.

The madness of a government, or perhaps its London-centric civil service advisors, to pass the Protection of the Badger Act in 1992, and then have to license culling because of the problem created, is in need of a serious reality check.

It is a shame that Brian May and his friends cannot see the folly of putting artificial imbalances into the natural world.

Culling is a complete nonsense, just as vaccination will be.

Pass an amendment to the PoBA to remove that control in hotspot counties like Gloucestershire and the farmers will sort the problem without activists looking over their shoulders all the time.

And then perhaps the harmless little hedgehog can rebuild its numbers.

Nick Hurst

Minchinhampton