Imagine the scene.  My husband cheerfully mowing the lawn, when a sudden movement catches his eye. Is it a rat, a mouse with a Mohawk?  No, it’s a hedgehog. Cue, sigh of relief!

The little guy was running along the ditch, obviously terrified by the sound of the lawnmower.  As hubs stopped to take a better look at him, he curled up into a ball.  By the time I arrived it looked like he had gone off to sleep, as he remained firmly in position.  There wasn’t a sign of his face.

It’s amazing for me to see a hedgehog at all though.  I’ve only ever seen pictures and television footage before.  As a child, I remember envying those far off people who had hedgehogs living in their gardens: aunties, uncles, a friend of a friend who lived in the countryside. At first they fed them bread and milk, then they swapped to cat food to spare their digestive systems.  None of it ever happened to me.

Hedgehogs always seemed just out of reach; gentle, inquisitive creatures, that inspired Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggy-Winkle. How I wished I could get close to one.  I remember attending a lecture on hedgehogs, thinking it would be educational and unravel some of the mystery.  Unfortunately, the focus was on their vulnerability and featured lots of gory images to deter gardeners from using strimmers!  I realise that’s an important message too, but a few stories of friendly, snuffling characters wouldn’t have gone astray.  There were too few ‘aaahh’ moments!

Anyway, it’s happened, one of my life’s goals achieved, and all because a hedgehog saw fit to call on us and make his home in our garden . . . Makes me feel like a child all over again!  Our new friend has also inspired me to write a micropoem, and just when I was wondering if I would write anymore of them.  I won’t post it on here just yet, as I’m thinking of entering it for the New Writer ‘Poem on a Postcard’ Competition.  If you fancy entering the competition, you can check out all the details here.

My hedgehog poem isn’t the only one I’m considering sending.  I have a poem called ‘Sea Oak’ that I wrote back in June and I’m working on a few more hasty scribbles as we speak!  I’ve had great encouragement lately, as a story of mine was published in the latest edition of The Bohemyth, an online Irish Literary Journal.  Why not have a read here?

I’m also very excited following the announcement of the ‘Blog Awards Ireland Long List‘.  ‘K. S. Moore’ has been nominated in four categories: ‘Arts and Culture’, ‘Personal’, ‘Lifestyle’ and ‘The Great Outdoors’.  It’s amazing to see the variety and quality of all the blogs out there and I’m delighted to be a part of the blogging scene in this country!

I’m certainly not short of writing inspiration at the moment.  Do you remember me mentioning a swallows’ nest a few posts ago?  At the time, I thought it had been built by a hopeful, chickless swallow but it turns out that wasn’t the case at all.  Just as I was standing on the doorstep, saying goodbye to my husband, the industrious parent swooped in and two tiny heads popped up!

So now there’s no escaping the mess . . . But their little beaks and soft cheeps are totally worth it.  That’s my heart completely melted.  I love a late summer wildlife story!

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