The Hedgehog

Available for over a year

This bonus episode for BBC Sounds explores the hedgehog - once a common sight in British gardens, now a creature in steep decline. Though myths abound, from Pliny the Elder’s tale of apple-gathering spines to Darwin’s strawberry-studded hedgehogs, the truth is more down-to-earth: hedgehogs are insectivores, not fruit collectors. Their name is relatively modern; in Middle English they were known as “irchouns” or “urchins,” and even featured in medieval recipes as almond-studded pork canapés. Hedgehogs were once everywhere - thirty million in the UK during the 1950s, more than the number of pigeons today. Now, fewer than a million remain. Pesticides, climate change, and the loss of hedgerows have devastated their numbers, turning a once-prolific species into a rare sight. Their decline is a quiet but urgent warning about the fragility of our ecosystems. This episode is a tribute to the hedgehog’s cultural legacy and ecological importance. From ancient stories to modern conservation concerns, Katherine Rundell invites us to reconsider a creature we thought we knew - and to act before it disappears from our landscape entirely. Presented and written by Katherine Rundell Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Natalie Donovan