Spare a thought for the prickly pest controller

AT a time of large-scale use of pesticides in gardens, it’s strange that one of nature’s great pest controllers is coming under threat from such chemicals.

Hedgehogs are a powerful form of pest control. A single animal can keep an average garden free of pests by eating up to 200 grams of insects each night. For that reason, it is common throughout Britain to see people luring hedgehogs into their gardens with treats and hedgehog-sized holes in their fences.

A problem, however, with employing hedgehogs for garden pest control is the use of chemical insecticide at the same time. While the hedgehog is immune to most poisons, it is not immune when ingesting insects full of them. This causes many hedgehog deaths.