Hedgehog Awareness Week starts on April 30.

It’s organised annually by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) to raise awareness of the problems hedgehogs face and what we can do to help them.

This year’s efforts are focussed on a strimmer campaign.

The BHPS has produced water proof stickers that it’s sending to councils, tool hire companies, grounds maintenance teams, etc free of charge on request via its website - www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk

The stickers remind operatives to check areas for hedgehogs before using any machinery.

As well as checking foliage before strimming there are other things we can do to help hedgehogs:

Ensure there is hedgehog access in your garden - a 13cm x 13cm gap in boundary fences and walls.

Move piles of garden rubbish to a new site before burning them.

Ensure netting is kept at a safe height.

Check compost heaps before digging with a fork.

Stop or reduce the amount of pesticides and poisons used (eg. slug pellets)

Cover drains or deep holes.

Ensure there is an easy route out of ponds and pools.

Most hedgehogs have come out of hibernation now and if you’re lucky enough to have one in your garden it is more likely to stay if you feed it.

Tinned dog or cat food (not the fish variety) is best, along with a fresh supply of water, but please remember that hedgehogs cannot digest milk and it is harmful to them.

The ManxSPCA works closely with several very dedicated hedgehog rehabilitators on the island, and between us we are able to give sick or orphaned hedgehogs a second chance.

If you are worried about the health of a hedgehog you should place it carefully (ideally using gardening gloves!) in a cardboard box and bring it either to Ard Jerkyll or to your nearest vet.

Our rescue dogs like cardboard boxes, and we use them as a cheap and cheerful form of enrichment by sealing dog treats inside - the dogs have hours of fun sniffing out the treats through holes on the boxes and then tearing up the cardboard to get their reward.

A new arrival, JT, is particularly adept at this sort of thing given he is an intelligent and inquisitive border collie.

He’s seven years old and has clearly been a much-loved family pet, but like all collies he needs lots of exercise and stimulation and his previous owners simply did not have the time to do this. He’s seven years old and full of beans, with a kind and loving personality. He’s good with older children, having lived with them previously, but he’s not keen on other dogs and he likes to chase smaller creatures.

Which means that our three guinea pigs, Hugo, Rudy and Ginger, won’t be going to a new home with JT!

They’re all the same age, just two years old, but they are very different from each other in terms of looks and personality - one is fluffy and one is smooth-coated; one is shy and one is confident - and they are all different colour variations of ginger, dark brown and white.

They have grown up together and so we would like to rehome them as a threesome. They are amusing and playful little creatures and they will make a great addition to a family.

We couldn’t provide these rehoming services without the financial support of the Manx public, and one lady in particular, Tabby Wright, is pushing the boundaries of fundraising as a contestant in the 2017 Miss Isle of Man Competition.

You can keep up to date with what she’s planning via her Facebook page ’tabby wright for miss isle of man’.

She also appears in this week’s Manx Independent, which features news about her fundraising attempt to swim around the Tower of Refuge in Douglas Bay.