Well it’s certainly blooming now isn’t it. This week we have reached peak rose season I think and I find myself wandering out whenever there is a tiny moment to be with them. The birds are still waking me at the crack of dawn and although I’m feeling so tired I can’t resist their call to get up and get outside.
Last year we had the pleasure of fattening up 3 juvenile hedgehogs which had been taken into the local hedgehog rescue in Ludlow. Pricklebums is run by the most wonderful lady; Ayley. She runs her hedgehog hospital from her home, literally dedicating her life to the flourishing of these wonderful creatures. Last year she was running at more than full capacity hence we were able to take three off her hands and once they were sufficiently fattened we were able to release them into our garden. A hedgehog needs to weigh at least 600g before it can be released back into the wild, this is because it needs a certain amount of body fat to make it through the long winter of hibernation. They all did amazing and when they had all reached their target weight we popped them in their little houses which Simon had built for them and just crossed our fingers that they would choose to stay in our garden…We did see them a couple more times after that, and then they seemed to have gone walking; this wasn’t really surprising, as we learnt that hedgehogs will travel between two to three kilometres in just one night!
Anyway, all this to say, as I stood in the garden still and quiet before my morning of flower picking at dawn this week and listened for that very distinctive sound of the shuffling of leaves in the hedges, I was rewarded for my early start! Out he came from the undergrowth! Lovely! Now, of course I can’t be sure that it was one of the ones we rehomed here but he definitely wasn’t bothered or startled by my presence in fact he lifted his little head up to greet me and carried on with his business.
If you feel called by the birds to get up and out this week don’t say no to their call. You might get a most wonderful surprise too. This coming Wednesday marks the summer solstice and what better way to celebrate than getting straight out into nature at the call of the dawn?
I wish you a wonderful week ahead, blessings from this patch to yours, until next time, Rebecca.
