Alison Middleton spends her days tending to hedgehogs in need
WORDS: JANEY SWANSON
Alison Middleton’s day begins at 4.45am, when she feeds the hoglets – or baby hedgehogs – she’s caring for, and ends when she collapses into bed at midnight, after a very busy day of looking after as many as 20 poorly hedgehogs.
“I may also be up through the night as very young hoglets need two-hourly feeds,” Alison says.
She planned to spend her days cycling, gardening and meeting friends when she retired from being a head teacher – but instead opened HogsCroft Hedgehog Rescue.
“It’s wonderful to be able to nurse these wild creatures back to health and, hopefully, help reduce the risk of hedgehogs disappearing from the UK.”
Hedgehogs are officially classified as “vulnerable to extinction”, with a 2022 report finding that, in some parts of the UK, the hedgehog population has declined by over 75% in the last 20 years.
“Hedgehogs aren’t doing well,” Alison stresses.
“Pesticides, the removal of hedgerows and climate change are taking their toll, while car accidents and non-wildlife friendly farming and gardening practices are also contributing to the dramatic drop in numbers.”
Alison became interested in hedgehogs during lockdown.
“I spotted a hedgehog in my garden just as twilight was falling,” she says.
“Hedgehogs rarely appear in daylight so, when he reappeared the next afternoon, I scooped him up, named him Phileas Hog and took him to the nearest hedgehog rescue centre.”
After handing over Phileas Hog, Alison found herself volunteering.
“The more time I spent with the hedgehogs, the more I wanted to help them,” explains Alison. “I joined several online hedgehog groups and did a heck of a lot of training and research.
“I also had a lot of support from my mentor, Dawn Sharkey of Dumbarton Hedgehog Rescue.”
By January 2023, Alison felt confident enough to open a hedgehog rescue centre in her home in rural Perthshire. As she prepared to welcome her first patients, Alison heard about a hedgehog that had been found on a nearby road.
“It was a cold winter’s day and this tiny hedgehog, Eve, was only just alive. Eve had been born in late autumn and hadn’t been able to eat enough to gain the fat reserves she needed to hibernate successfully and was very, very sick.
“I felt terribly responsible for this tiny creature and, with help from Dawn, my friend Anne and my onl
