Congratulations, The Hedgehog Program is five years old!

Today is a celebration! On october 14th, 2019 we officially registered The Hedgehog Program as a business at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce! Though we have been doing research and education for around 12 years and THP has been a platform for about 10 of those years, officially the business exists for 5. And we’re about to celebrate BIG!

New book

There’s a new book waiting to be published VERY soon! A neverending diary about European hedgehogs living in today’s world, a world filled with cars, predators and… feral cats. A world where people hardly acknowledge the wildlife around them, for the most part at least. ‘Hedgehog stories: a neverending diary’ is a book that takes you along by telling stories of different hedgehogs from their perspective. And at the end of every month, you’ll find a list of gardening tips to support wildlife, whether that’s hedgehogs or others. And to add even more: there’s additional activities to do each month, that you’ll find at the end of the book. You can read one chapter each month and just go along with the seasons, or you can read it all at once! That’s totally on you. Do you know what the real fun part is? You can read the book over and over and over and follow the tips every year again to really make good use of it. Keep supporting the hedgehogs in your area and you know.. maybe talk about it with your neighbours to do the same?

Sneakpeak

Now, we do have a sneakpeak for you. If you don’t want to read the first chapter of the book, then just skip to the next heading to read more about the other celebrations that are to come! Here we go….

Chapter One: Januari

The new year has just started and the world is still cold. Fortunately, those flashes of light and loud bangs are over, what a situation. I don’t know what that is, but it happens every year at the same time. I live in the city, you know? So many strange things happen here when I walk down the street at night. I’m actually supposed to sleep during this period, but if I’m awake anyway, I better look for something to eat. First stretch, because I’m so tired!

My name is Julia by the way, and I live in Amsterdam. To be a little more specific, I live in the Volewijck in Amsterdam North, near Noorderpark. Sometimes I take a trip to the park, especially if I need to drink, but the park is often so busy during the day that I can’t really sleep well, so when it gets light again I prefer to go back to my own house in people’s garden.

Well, let’s see if that orange cat Bas is near the food again. The people I live with in the garden have put out a bowl of food and water especially for me, but every evening Bas also comes to eat and then there is nothing left. He growls as soon as you come near and when I stand next to him he tries to hit me every time! Luckily I have my quills… Oh thank the heavens, at least he’s not here tonight! I can finally have a bite to eat in peace.

Brr, it’s so cold and white outside. There isn’t much, it’s just a small layer, but it is very cold on my paws! There are still some plants in the garden, but none of them have berries at this time of year. And most gardens either don’t have plants or I can’t reach them. Fortunately, people have a bowl of food, otherwise I don’t think I would have made it this winter. Last week I heard them talking about a hotel for hedgehogs? I hope they don’t mean that they want more hedgehogs in the garden, because then it will be busy! In one evening I often meet three others. Billie from Hazelaarstraat often comes by and sometimes Marie from Duindoornplein also comes around. And there are more hedgehogs living in the Volewijck. We all use the park for water, but actually everyone prefers the nighttime peace and quiet in the residential areas. But, with so little food and water, there is a lot of hassle to get anything to eat. First come, first served. When it’s gone, it’s gone and you’ll have to keep looking. Especially in the beginning after those bangs when more hedgehogs have come out of hibernation and not so many people think about us around that time. If you can’t find anything, it will be difficult to get through the rest of your hibernation.

Jaap did not survive last year. He lived on the Heggerankweg and often had to cross the busy Kamperfoelieweg for food. That hedgehog really had guts crossing that road every night with all those cars! Living so far away from the park and still having to use the food and water here is not an easy life. After the explosions ended in the middle of the night, he wanted to cross the busy road and just managed to avoid a car speeding past! But we didn’t know he would come by so late, so we had already finished eating and drinking when he arrived. Jaap then spent the whole night looking for food and drink, but there was nothing left at other houses either. It seems that in the end he was too tired on the way back to quickly cross the Kamperfoelieweg and Bas found him on the roadside the next night. A car sped too close to him and he was literally scared to death. At least, that’s what Bas told us. He hates us anyway, so he might have made that story bigger then it actually was. But still, that doesn’t make it any different for Jaap. Shame, Jaap was a real daredevil, he didn’t deserve all that.

Sigh, at least I have food tonight, the people just refilled everything an hour ago before they went to sleep. And no Bas to be found, so that glutton must have been fed somewhere else today. He never has a problem with it, he finds food everywhere and if he can’t find anything he just goes to his own people’s house and eats there. They won’t let me in, because that’s not allowed, I heard.

“Sniff!” Oh there you’ll have Marie! “Ah, you woke up again? What do they do every year to have to disturb us like this? I was just into hibernation after those warm days a few weeks ago. Now i can start all over again!” Marie walks closer. We often eat together. You have to do something with so little space and food in the city. I step aside so she can reach the food bowl and then we chat a bit about the neighborhood. Marie tells me that more hedgehogs are awake, she has heard at least a few. So it will quickly become busier at night.

After dinner I say goodbye to Marie and when I walk towards my house, I see that Bas has also emerged. I’m very tired and in an hour it will be light again, so I’m going to try to sleep again in a moment. Fortunately, the people I live in the garden with provide food every day. It will take a few nights before I fall back into hibernation, but at least I will survive this year and so will Marie. I’m glad i’ll make it another year..

Availability

The book will be available as a hardcover and as an ebook and will become available in two weeks time at October 28th! We will share another post when it officially gets published. The book will be available in Dutch and English. The hardcovers will be available in every Dutch library and CB bookstore or in our own webshop ofcourse. The eBook will be available in our shop and through Kobo Books. Prices are to be determined.

New courses

We have been working on the new courses for a while! They’re still listed as ‘coming soon’ but they soon won’t be! We’re about the publish the first courses with new and updated information. And we will keep releasing new courses as we go. These are the new courses that will soon be aired: