Hedgehog day

 Today was to be a day when we continue to get organised to welcome a refugee - we need new towel rails and a soap dish that isn't broken.

But I found a hedgehog, who was not at all nervous of me, sitting in a sunny patch of the garden in the middle of the day. Awake as well, I could see small movements.

Checked online - this is not good behaviour for a nocturnal hedgehog. 

Followed the advice to pick it up with a towel and put it in a steep sided box in a quiet place with water and meat-based cat food.

Richard took time researching and contacting various hedgehog rescue places, most of whom were already full of sick/injured hedgehogs.

Eventually found one, and took hedgehog there.  No obvious signs of injury, apart from some spines that had been broken at some point, but the lady agreed that the behaviour indicated that something was wrong, so she's taken him in for observation.

If he is fine in a couple of weeks, then he'll be brought back to our garden, where he already knows the territory. Will make donation regardless - these volunteers incur a lot of costs.

 

On a separate front, we had the Allotment Society AGM, and I got chatting to one of the Chair of the Council who has been really helpful to the allotment society.

He's been out selling blue and yellow wristbands to raise money for refugees, and he has a  friend who is running regular trips to Poland with supplies.

We've given him details of the kind of person who would hopefully feel welcome and less stressed in our home, which he can pass onto his friend.  I think it's really important to have a reasonable degree of overlap - this is a long term relationship and if the refugees don't feel safe with their hosts, then the effect on their mental health will be disastrous.

I also don't know what the refugee's situation will be if the hosting breaks down -will they still have the right to remain? Will they have to apply all over again with a new host?  Will they be able to find another host?

I worry about how much support will be available to hosts...

I bitterly regret the fact that the government is doing nothing to help match hosts and refugees and is relying on already overloaded charities to do this.  I can see a lot of things that could go very badly wrong.