Phil
Thanks for that - lovely! A long time ago my first wife and I lived near to the conglomeration of MI/MH hospitals on the outskirts of Epsom (at their peak, those hospitals held nearly 12,000 patients, and there had been unpleasant episodes of patients assaulting locals) and in the early early hours of one morning Susan woke me because she could hear strange noises in the back garden (we slept in the back of the house for reasons I can no longer remember). So, donning dressing gown and seizing torch and pistol (I was a member of the local rifle club and at that time and who knows what was in the garden, tried by 12 was preferable to carried by 6) out I marched.
I found a family of hedgehogs, making quite loud snuffling noises. Two defied me to do my worst and continued to drink from the milk we had left out for the cats, one scuttled off as fast as his little legs would carry him/her, and the other curled into a tight ball 'if I can't see you, you can't see me!'
Have you ever picked up a baby hedgehog? Although the spines are all there, they are soft, and bend in your hand
Mike