Hedgehogs

Meet our newest arrivals Fred and Jenny. We have now rehomed 15 hoglets! Our Hardwick Hogs continue to be spotted around the village and are immensely proud of every child who has taken such good care of our little orphans and enabled them to thrive within their community. Jenny was desperate to leave as soon as she arrived! We certainly heard how loud a hedgehog can growl this rehoming cycle - Jenny was very loud! Born wild at heart, she tried to dig her way our of captivity as soon as she arrived, even though we pride ourselves on providing a 5-star living experience! Children expertly made sure she could not escape and checked on both hogs regularly during their first few days with us. As hogs are nocturnal, children did this be looking at what had been eaten, or not, rather than expecting to see Fred or Jenny awake during the day which would have been be a concern once they settled. Fred (the largest hoglet) was less than 1 inch long and weighed only 15g when orphaned. Mary Barrow tirelessly took care of him until he was strong enough to be rehomed with us. THANK-YOU for all your hard work over the years Mary - for us all here at school, you are indeed 'the hedgehog lady'!

Hardwick's Hogs

Rudolf was the very first hedgehog to move into our nature area. He lived in a dedicated pen for two weeks before we opened the door and let him leave to begin his new life in the wild. We hope he has by now found a mate and will choose to live in our nature area and neighbouring gardens for years to come. We will be forever thanking Mary Barrow, of Befriend a Hedgehog, who gave us the opportunity to become part of this wonderful conservation project and Alan Everitt who built us such a super pen that has since provided a comfortable and safe starter-home for Wanda, Groot, Rosie, Jim and Prickles. Soon, four new hoglets who have been rescued from a digger, will be joining our hedgehog family and children are very excited about meeting them. How you can potentially help with this project, can be found in the 'parental support' section.

Rehoming Rod and Jane takes our number of rescued hogs up to 13! We are all super-proud of our on-going contribution to the conservation of these beautiful creatures. Hedgehogs really are in need of our help, if they are to survive as a species. Local Hardwick residents tell us numbers around their gardens are up, so we like to think Rudolf's legacy is going strong. We have even heard reports of one family finding a hedgehog upstairs in their bedroom! Rod and Jane were rescued from a stable when their mother took fright and abandoned them. Year 5/6 children all met them when they were very small and were surprised to feel their spines, to learn about self-anointing and to see how long their legs were. Once stronger and fatter, Rod and Jane returned to live in our dedicated pen for a week before being released into our nature area. They were growly and grumpy and ready to be returned to the wild when they came back to us. Rod didn't appreciate being woken up, but Jane was more relaxed about her relocation. Children made sure they were fed and watered each day (even when their teacher forgot!). The collective effort, commitment and enthusiasm for this project is admirable again this year. As the weather is still so mild, we don't expect Rod and Jane to hibernate just yet, but if they do then they have a cosy hog hotel filled with fresh straw in which they can safely settle in for the winter. Hedgehogs typically hibernate October/November until March/April. Year 5/6 children in Miss Haji's class wrote diary-entries in role as Rod or Jane and have also written factual non-chronological reports about hedgehogs that they will be editing soon ready to share in classrooms and online in the Outdoor Learning section of this page.

Frosty is one lucky hoglet. We managed to rehome him just before school had to lock down. He is the 11th hedgehog we have helped rehabilitate. He is our first ever hog to prefer hedgehog food to cat food! We hope he will wake up from his hibernation and enjoy his new life in our nature area which is soon going to be blooming with wildflowers again now that the warmer spring sunshine is arriving. We have a lot of tidying up to do in our area, once we can get our club up and running again, but meantime the wildlife still love it just as it is - they won't care that it has become a bit too wild again whilst we have been stuck at home!

We have now had a vote and named our most recent array of hogs. We decided to call mum Dotty and her 4 hoglets have been named Pea-Tree, Russell, Snuffles and Spike. Our newest family thrived under the care of our dedicated gardening team (with the weekend help of the invaluable Mrs Berkley) and has now been released from its pen. We very much hope they will move in alongside our other project-hogs and live happy and healthy lives in our school grounds and neighbouring gardens. This means that to date we now have re-homed 10 hedgehogs and we are ready to adopt more as the need arises - probably not until after hibernation now, so in the Spring term. Thank-you to parents who supplied cat food and fencing to help us with this wonderful project.