News from Stroud's Help a Hedgehog Hospital.

Now that the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is with us, adult hedgehogs will be eating as much as they can in preparation for hibernation, but many females will still be having late litters, as long as the weather remains mild.

Hoglets born in the spring and early summer will have had enough time to put on weight and be ready to survive the winter, but the late-born ‘autumn juveniles’ will have little time to gain sufficient weight to keep themselves alive during hibernation on stored body fat.

From early October onwards, keep a look-out and pick up and weigh any that look quite small.

If they weigh less than 500gms, please call us for advice on 07870 378 207 or 01453 823871.

Although they may be quite healthy, any smaller ones would be unlikely to survive the winter without care.

The summer brought the usual influx of tiny hoglets, both with and without their mothers - those mothers were enabled to get on with their caring role, while the motherless ones were nurtured by our team of carers until they were big enough to feed themselves and survive in the wild.

We have now completed our busy programme of summer events, with outstanding ones being Stroud Show, Stroud Nature Festival, and Gatcombe.

Thanks to everyone who supported our stall at these events, enabling us to raise enough funds to pay the bills throughout the winter. We will be attending a few Christmas Markets in coming months, and our calendar for 2020 is also now available.

Talks have started again from September after a summer break – so if you would like to book a talk, please contact us via helpahedgehog.org and you can keep up with our activities on Facebook and Twitter.