Spikes and Feathers
Re-examining our relationship with garden wildlife in lockdown
Though lockdown restrictions are easing in the UK, limitations on movement have caused us to reevaluate our relationship with our most local nature: that in our back garden.
The scene: we live in a new build house. The garden was fairly basic — lawn and patio squeezed into an odd wedge-shape — and we’ve done little so far to improve it. We always assumed that it was a bit too sterile and uninviting to local wildlife; what birds we did see over-flew us and the insect life we had seemed barely enough to sustain a solitary bat.
We also assumed our dog — a black working cocker spaniel — helped to keep some of the wildlife away, as he spends a lot of time in the garden. As it was he helped us find it.
Spikes
One spring evening before bed, the dog stopped, fixated at something on the ground. Though the dog is barely visible in the dusk, I watched as he rotated about this object, trying different perspectives to help him identify it. The dog’s body language said, “I’ve found something. I don’t know what it is, but it intrigues me”.
I called to my partner and hurried outside, grabbing the dog by the collar as I got near enough to confirm what it was. A plump hedgehog, displaying the…
