Hedgehog hazards as hibernation looms

WHEN the clocks are altered and bonfire fever strikes the nation, it is the time to turn our attention to hedgehogs.

Very few of our native mammals hibernate - that includes the squirrel - and therefore how the hedgehog manages to do this is always of interest at this time of the year.

Apart from the "normal" white fat which all animals have as a food reserve, hedgehogs produce a "brown fat" which is better known as the hibernating gland.

This is a high energy food reserve which is built up during autumn.

When it hibernates, the hedgehog reduces its blood pressure, its pulse rate and its body temperature.

This means that it could become a victim of thrombosis.

Nature has taken care of this in the case of the hedgehog by the production of a blood thinning chemical. These chemical changes start to happen from late October onwards, depending not only on the outside temperature but also on the weight of the hedgehog.

The animal then looks for a place to hibernate.

Piles of wood laid ready for bonfire night are often selected so those building the fire should take great care to search among the wood. If they find a hedgehog it should be removed to a safer spot.

Hedges are the best. The animal may not be totally asleep by this time and it will be able to adjust to a new and safer habitat. In autumn the hedgehog's body clock, like our own clocks, will go back.

And, again like ours, it will spring forward for the warmer months of the year.

Let us wish these attractive mammals the best of luck as they prepare for their winter sleep.

Conservationist was Antarctic hero's son

THIS week's postbag requires answers to three questions.

Several people asked if Scott of the Antarctic was related to the late Sir Peter Scott, who founded the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust. Yes - Sir Peter was the son of the famous explorer. The second question came from 90-year-old Ellen Walmsley, of Kingsway, Lower Darwen. Ellen has noticed robins on her lawn and wonders if this is a sign of a bad winter to come. The answer here is not particularly. Britain is warmer than most of eastern Europe and robins migrate during October to spend the winter with us. This is why there seem to be more robins in our garden at this time. Having said that, by the law of averages we are due to have a cold winter soon and so we will have to see what happens.

The third observation is one directed at the readers of this column. I have spent a few days strolling around our local reservoirs and I have had three sightings of a fascinating seabird called the fulmar. This species was once rare but has been spreading its range over the last 30 years or so. I wonder if readers have any other fulmar sightings?

Artist puts us in the picture

THE main reason I take photographs of wildlife is that I cannot draw. I am always pleased when I see local artists make the grade. Martin Wilcock, of Brownhill Drive, Blackburn, has obtained a first class honours degree for scientific and natural history illustration at Blackpool and the Fylde College.

Martin has been interested in the decline of traditional flower meadows over the last 50 years. These meadows are the base of the food chain on which insects, birds, mammals and other animals depend.

Martin's work is an inspiration to all of us to protect those few meadows that remain and also to try to restore others which have been lost. This can be done in some cases, providing the chemistry of the area has not been totally destroyed by herbicides and pesticides.

People like Martin Wilcock can play a vital role in the future.

Wild visitors prove entertaining

THESE letters show what fun can be had by watching wildlife. You do not have to walk miles in order to observe the behaviour of animals:

I LIVE on Westgate, almost in the centre of Burnley, so was somewhat surprised to find that a pair of peregrine falcons are regular visitors to a tall mill chimney that is practically at my back door.

I spotted them after my 24-year-old son Elliot called to see me on a Sunday afternoon. It was he who heard them calling. We spotted a pair on the chimney attached to Oakmount Mill, in Wiseman Street,off Westgate.

I don't know what surprised me the most - whether it was Elliot knowing the cry of a peregrine or actually seeing them. They remained for about three hours and we did not see them again until the following Thursday. On Thursday the larger of the two, possibly female, was eating a seagull. Some days later both birds were there from 7.40am until 10.10am. In that time the larger bird ate at two meals, which we think were the remains of the seagull. followed by a pigeon. The smaller bird was not present for much of the time.

Another day both birds were there from 7pm till 11.30pm. It was very difficult to see them but they were both there when I went to bed, one on the edge and one on the lower lip of the chimney.

They returned on several occasions.

At no time have we seen the smaller one eating. The largest one does not like to share its meal. We have a spotting scope trained on the top of the chimney all the time so we have an excellent view..

HEATHER CROWE, Westgate, Burnley.

PS: I am 52 years old and had never seen a peregrine falcon before.

Ron replies: I am sure that Heather has been watching a pair of peregrines, with the female being the larger of the two. A pair have been resident around India Mill in Darwen for many years so I think that this Burnley chimney may prove to be equally attractive. Perhaps Heather will keep Nature Watch informed.

MY WIFE and I thought you might be interested in the following incident which we observed about six days ago.

My wife and I parked the car to observe three bird tables, the most popular of which stood in the corner of the car park by some trees. Watching chaffinches, blue tits and great tits feeding for some time, we then noticed two rats which appeared intermittently beneath the corner table, taking pieces of bread that had fallen to the floor. The food on the table itself we reasoned was safe from the rats, the bird table a square board nailed on to a stake being in effect like the funnels attacked to ship's ropes to deter rats. However, before long one of the rats started, without any difficulty, to climb up a hawthorn tree next to the table and on drawing level with the table simply jumped across the one foot gap separating the two.

The rat examined the food but didn't eat because there was no bread left, only nuts and seeds. It returned by the same route to the floor. A short while afterwards a grey squirrel appeared and in the twinkling of an eye went straight up the stake on to the bird table and proceeded to eat.

One of the rats then started to climb up the hawthorn tree. We were fascinated to see what would happen next. When the rat drew level with the bird table the squirrel leapt on to the tree in front of the rat and viciously attacked it.

The rat retreated down the tree and the squirrel returned to the table and continued eating. A few minutes later the rat was again climbing the hawthorn tree. We couldn't help but admire its persistence, or perhaps it was the first rat's companion. When the rat drew level with the table the squirrel immediately flew at the rat and knocked it clean out of the tree to the ground. The squirrel returned to its eating on the table as if nothing had happened and the rats did not bother it again.

CLIFFORD FORMBY, Keats Close, Baxenden.

Ron replies: This is a wonderful example of how tough the grey squirrel is. It was introduced from North America in the 1870s and is larger and tougher than our native red squirrel. These days in some areas the grey squirrel is quite rightly regarded as a pest. Given a choice, however, most of us would prefer a grey squirrel to a rat.

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