Charlotte the hedgehog, who was dreadfully injured recently, probably as the result of someone mowing or strimming the grass she was sleeping in, is making satisfactoy progress. Her carers, at the Ross-on-Wye Hedgehog Care & Advice group posted on their Facebook page: “She continues to gain weight and is back to just eating in the evening (a good sign she is getting back to a hedgehogs’ routine). Concerns remain over the wound as it is still seeping at the top, however it is drying up nicely at the bottom. Antibiotics continue. Hard to get a decent picture today as she had the wriggles.”

It is good news that the wound is healing but there are still signs of infection which might still prove to be fatal but at the moment she is doing well, gaining weight and being more active.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust advise that areas are checked before strimming or cutting to avoid harm to wildlife – walking through the site first usually suffices; it needn’t take long. This applies both to public areas and grass verges but also people’s own gardens as hedgehogs often come to grief at the end of domestic strimmers too. They said this is also a sensible thing to do for the sake of the machinery as some large items of litter can seriously damage mowers.

A spokesperson for the Trust told the Gazette: “Equally importantly we would like to see far less cutting, especially of road verges. Except for areas where road safety needs to be considered, we strongly advocate verges being left to grow and flower. They can be wonderful resources for pollinators and other wildlife – and look rather lovely too. We think that in the vast majority of cases, verges need cutting just once or twice a year.”

As Charlotte was found in the Oaklands area of Ross-on-Wye, the Gazette asked Herefordshire Housing if they have a policy of checking for wildlife before undertaking grass cutting.

A spokesperson for Herefordshire Housing told the Gazette: “Herefordshire Housing’s dedicated Grounds Maintenance Team always conduct a full visual risk assessment of an area before commencing grass cutting or other grounds maintenance. Litter and debris is cleared before work starts and our colleagues are always vigilant to any signs of wildlife.”See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.