If you are going to have a bonfire here in Plymouth with your firework display then before lighting please PLEASE check deep inside the bonfire to ensure small animals such as hedgehogs or toads are not sheltering or sleeping there. Bonfire heaps are a common place for hedgehogs to hibernate and toads to linger. To make this process easier, when you first collect wood for a bonfire, assume that the heap is not the bonfire itself but a pile next to where you will actually light it. Then, on your firework evening freshly rebuild the bonfire next to the heap you have already collected.
If you find hedgehogs curled up in your bonfire heap then select a thick cardboard box and line it with a thick bed of newspapers. Pack it with dry, dead leaves and some straw if available. Put the box on its side (so the hedgehog can walk out) and then carefully put the hedgehog inside. Cover the hedgehog over with more leaves and cover the entrance lightly with leaves/straw. Position the box in a dry area, which is properly sheltered from rain and just high enough off the ground (a couple of inches) to avoid risk of flooding and excessive damp. Frogs and toads may also use bonfire heaps for shelter, so keep an eye out for them too. Plymouth is well endowed with hedgehogs because they inhabit our wooded valleys that are not suitable for house building and then wander afield.
So Please.....
Look for hedgehogs before you light your bonfire in Plymouth on Nov 5 2009
