And so the mystery of the missing pink knickers is officially solved.
Can you spot them (below)?
It turns out, our spiky little garden friends like nothing more than gathering up whatever smalls might have happened to escape the laundry basket, and using them in turn for their own bed-building purposes... in a compost bag!
Ordinarily, these thieving antics, not to mention the missing knickers, might have gone over our heads.
But now, in these times of heightened altruism and appreciation for nature, it’s got our attention, and got us thinking...
What can we do to help make the hedgehogs’ lives that bit easier than having to swipe knickers under the cover of darkness?
Extending the hand of kindness to nature isn’t just beneficial to the creatures on the receiving end. It also pays dividends in terms of our own wellbeing, since the feel good effect of good deeds cannot be underestimated.
It is a sad reality, that nearly a quarter of the hedgehogs born into the world die before leaving their nest, and probably a half of the rest do not survive their first hibernation.
Our gardens, when combined, provide a space for wildlife larger than all our National Nature Reserves, but fences make roaming the 2km they average per night (for food, mates and nesting sites) a challenge.
One thing we can all do this Garden Wildlife Week therefore, is to create access points (known as ‘hedgehog highways’) to help link up our gardens (make sure it’s your fence first!). Afterwards, you can record your hedgehog hole on the national network at Hedgehog Street, which is joint campaign run by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS).
Another useful tip is to make a small corner a wildlife sanctuary with accumulated leaves, twigs, brushwood, etc.
A bowl of drinking water should also be available at several sites around the garden. .
One word of advice, though, is to avoid giving milk. There is more advice on how to help at www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/helping-hedgehog/
📷 PHOTO CREDIT: @talesofeleanor