There’s a dusting of white on the higher fells, almost looking like snow from a distance, from swards of cotton grass. Down in the valley bottoms it’s no-mow-May so I’ve let my lawn grow apart from a few paths that I’ve mown through the sward so that I can walk around the garden in the early morning without my feet getting too wet from dew. There’s a good crop of buttercups and plenty of dandelions giving a sheen of golden yellow; and a sprinkling of lady’s smock with it’s delicate pale pink four petalled flowers.

By mid-morning there’s a buzz of bees, a flap of butterflies, and a flutter of birds coming down looking for food among the long grass. Less poetically, there are also signs of hedgehog activity in the form of elongated black scats. Initially this brought a little leap of joy because I thought they might be made of digested slug, then I did a bit of internet research and was disappointed to discover that hedgehogs didn’t eat as many slugs as I thought. 

Apparently, their diet is mostly beetles and caterpillars. Their role as slug munchers is just wishful thinking of gardeners. Not that it’s a problem this year as the dry weather is keeping slugs at bay. Nonetheless it’s wonderful to have hedgehogs living in the garden so I went out to look for them just after dusk and there they were – two of them snuffling loudly amongst the buttercups. 

They went quiet and still when I got close, so I left them alone as I didn’t want to disturb them too much. But a couple of evenings later I decided to have another hedgehog safari to see if they were out and about again. No sign of them on the lawn, then as I was walking slowly along by the shrubby borders listening for snuffling, a hedgehog came bursting out of the shrubs running towards me. 

When it got to my feet it stopped suddenly and looked rather surprised. My guess is that it heard a rustling in the long grass as I searched away from my mown paths and thought my stealthy wildlife-searching footsteps were the sound of its friend beetle hunting in the no-mow-May lawn. 

I crept away as quietly as I could so as not to disturb them anymore and hoped that they got together later. The evening hedgehog meeting reminded me of a poem from ‘Poems on the Underground’ called Perseverance by Marin Sorescu. Here’s the last stanza:

I shall walk beside all things/ Till all things/ Come to know me.

You can read the rest of the poem here:

https://poemsontheunderground.org/perseverance

Have you had any Spring wildlife experiences? Wildlife experiences in general – not only good ones. Nature’s rich tapestry of biodiversity can sometimes be annoying. Last year in the wet rainy Spring all my young allotment plants were being eaten by slugs, which was rather frustrating. Foxes are regular visitors in the garden of my London friend, but they cause a lot of damage with digging and chewing, so are not appreciated very much. They’ve even had to block the hedgehog doors that make a garden hedgehog highway because the foxes are using them.

Rowan on the Moor

A Moodscope member