VALERIE Pennington, President of Colebrooke Women’s Institute, welcomed members to our May Meeting which was held at Colebrooke Parish Hall.

Our speaker was Genevieve from the Hog Hospital at Cheriton Bishop who spoke to us about hedgehogs and how we can help them.

Hedgehogs live on average for two to three years, although they can live for up to six years.

They have from 5,000 to 6,000 spines which are not for protection primarily but are for shock absorption should they fall a long distance.

If they feel threatened they roll into a ball and can remain like this for up to an hour.

Their main diet is beetles, caterpillars and millipedes.

If hedgehogs are out in the daytime they are in trouble unless they are gathering twigs and leaves for nesting.

Hedgehog numbers have decreased by 50 per cent in the last 25 years. The main threats to hedgehogs are badgers, pets (dogs and cats), blank gardens with no bio-diversity, bonfires, parasites, insecticides, roads and large-scale farming.

To help hedgehogs, the advice is don’t cut wild flowers, ensure any garden fences have holes at the bottom so hedgehogs can move between gardens, any ponds have ramps out of them, have bug hotels in the garden, have water bowls in warm and dry weather and hedgehog food as they come out of hibernation and before they go into hibernation.

For our June meeting we will have a talk by Crediton Dairy. All ladies are welcome.

Members decided they would like to go to Bicton Gardens for our annual outing in July.

For further information please contact the secretary Andrea Armstrong on 01363 84198.

AA