As part of our Wilder Horsham District project, I recently visited the children at Lower Beeding school. I had received some lovely handwritten letters from two of the pupils Nyah (aged 9) and Charlie (aged 10). Nyah’s letter told me that her classmates had really learnt to appreciate wildlife during the pandemic.

Charlie informed me that ‘biodiversity means a lot to our school because we really do need to pay attention to our wildlife and look after it’ and they invited me to come and talk to their class.

The children were keen to show me their plans to create a wildlife friendly garden with a pond, hedge, log pile and wildflower area and the Sussex Wildlife Trust team agreed to help them out. But first we decided to investigate what wildlife was already using the school grounds. We set up a trail camera (a night-vision camera which is triggered by movement) and, a week later, we came back and the children viewed the results.

The camera footage showed and crow, a cat, a fox and then anybody living within a 20-mile radius of Lower Beeding would have heard the children let out a very excited cheer as something very prickly snuffled in front of the camera…

I can’t help but smile when I see a hedgehog. Maybe I’m fondly recalling my own childhood hedgehog encounters in my garden. Or maybe I still have fond memories of cheese and pineapple hedgehogs at parties. Either way they are amazing little animals. Sadly, I just don’t see many hedgehogs around anymore. Upper Beeding schoolteacher Jackie Jameson told me ‘I haven’t seen a live hedgehog since I was a child, so I was thrilled to see one too!!!’ You can view the video on our Wilder Horsham District Facebook page.

There were an estimated 30 million hedgehogs snuffling about in the 1950s. By the 1990s a survey estimated that only 2 million were left.

A more recent study suggests that we can now half this number again. There are many reasons for the low population of this prickly Armageddon. Pesticide use has left them with less slugs, snails, beetles and other bugs to eat and changes in farming practice means that there are simply less hedges to hog.

Our own urges to tidy up and fence off our gardens don’t help our spiky friends either. But we can all do our bit by leaving a small corner of our gardens to grow a bit wilder to provide hedgehogs with food and a home.

The children of Lower Beeding are showing us the way.

They are making their school grounds wilder and ensuring there are gaps in the fence to let the hedgehogs roam through. They’ve also had a full woodworking day, making nesting boxes, bug hotels and a hedgehog home.

Like young Charlie said, ‘we really do need to pay attention to our wildlife and look after it’.


By Michael Blencowe:
Learning & Engagement Officer, Sussex Wildlife Trust

Sussex Wildlife Trust is an independent registered charity caring for wildlife and habitats throughout Sussex. Join Michael Blencowe on our regular wildlife walks and also enjoy free events, discounts on wildlife courses, Wildlife magazine and our guide book: Discovering Wildlife in Sussex.

It’s easy to join online at: www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/join

or T: 01273 497532.

Hedgehog © Tom Marshall Sussex Wildlife Trust