Hedgehog in Hanover Close

Fri 31 May, 16:33

'Edgehog 'oles Task Party appeal - Could someone with consistent  energy and consistency of activity organise a " 'edgehog 'ole 'acking party" of fit Citizen Scientists to blitz an area, putting in 'edgehog 'oles all around in each and every garden wall and fence? According to BBC Worldservice 'inside Science' radio programme there are over 8 or 10 million (!) gardens in England (sic) covering 800,000+ acres of land. Almost totally most of that built on prime agricultural and market garden top grade soils. Talk about irrational waste by 'the market forces'. If those gardens were managed properly without deluges of pesticides and preferably being turned into "Micro Nature Reserves" as we are attempting in our front garden (granted unusually large for a suburban plot due to accident of history) it would make a huge contribution.

Take the area of gardens in this section of contiguous land, a slid 'L' shaped block, running from the Enstone/The Slade crossroads and the Toll House, all the way along to Ditchley Rd/Chertwell Drive, merging into The Green - without crossing a single road. At most a twitten intervenes if one extends the area beyond the said twitter up along the north gardens of The Green. It must be acres of suburban garden!

All it needs are Hedge Hole Volunteers to inform and encourage householders to put properly designed passage holes in fences between gardens and any gates between front and back, and have people willing to do the modifications if a householder can't manage for any reason.

I'd foresee something like first a leaflet drop outlining the area that is self-contained and free of any intersecting roads and hence dangers. Take it from there with the first passageways being installed coupled with whatever seems to work best - leaflets to neighbours, door knocking, so forth.

I'm not in good health and subject to relapses which makes for unplanned inaction and ball-dropping. It needs someone with reliable capacities to take up. 

I think this one self-contained area of garden free from the dangers of road traffic, an oasis of suburban nature reserve if we can persuade people to manage their plots more eco-sensitively, could make a contribution to our bristly 'lil favourite critters ... ad if other car free "islands" of land can be identified around Town surely enhance the threateningly low population numbers ... ? Anyone up for it?