On Saturday 1st November Thame will be celebrating hedgehogs.
We’ve been working really hard for the last few years to get everyone in Thame to think about how hedgehogs can survive in our town – as they are a great benefit to our gardens and a pleasure to see bumbling around at night.
They are difficult to track so we can’t be accurate about the numbers before our work versus the numbers now – but what I do know is that last year I sighted no more than 10 hedgehogs throughout the year and this year I’m nearing a count of 50 !
We talk to many people around Thame and in previous years they were all saying how they hadn’t seen any hedgehogs for years – but this year the narrative has definitely changed. More people said that they have hedgehogs in their gardens. Such wonderful news.
We can’t stop our work yet though ! We still have to achieve a much more wildlife friendly town with more obvious hedgehog highways throughout.
The Wild Things Trail
Hopefully many of you will have picked up on of our Wild Things Trail maps and have taken your children or grandchildren out about Thame to see if you can traverse the town keeping to the grass and hedges and avoiding the roads and pavements. Did you survive ? How many points did you manage to keep ?
If you haven’t seen the trail yet please do go to the Thame Town Council website and check it out.
A Daytime festival on 1st November
Hogfest Itinerary
1:30pm – 3.15pm Wild Things Trail Race – for information click here.
1:00pm – 2:00pm Bring and display all your competition entries to the Cricket club (art, baking, poetry)
2:00pm – 6:00pm Get involved with the family activities:
Biscuit decorating
Bug hotel making
Wild Things Trail competition
Eco stalls
3:00pm Talk on Rewilding with Ali Gordon-Creed
4:30pm Competition winners announced
7:00pm – 9:30 pm Evening of hedgehog comedy with Hugh Warwick renowned nature author
Sometime between 7 and 9.30pm – Raffle prize draw – some really great prizes on offer – attendance is not required – ensure you write your telephone number on the back of the raffle ticket if you are not attending the evening event.
Buy your raffle tickets throughout the day.
Everyone loves a hedgehog and that’s why we’re having this festival.
Click here for the festival poster – which includes information about the daytime activities – fun for all the family.
Click here for more information about the competitions – baking, art and poetry – all about nature. Start composing, drawing, painting, sculpting and join in our festival. Maybe wait til nearer the 1st November before you start baking for it though !?!?!
Join the Wild Things Trail Challenge from 1.30pm to 3.15pm. Start at Southern Road Recreation Ground. For details click here.
An evening of hedgehogs and comedy with Hugh Warwick
Hugh is an ecologist and writer with a particular fondness for hedgehogs. He is the spokesperson for the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. We can look forward to a comical take on conservation, habitat fragmentation, British Wildlife, our relationship with nature etc etc etc…
Book your tickets online at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-of-hedgehog-comedy-with-hugh-warwick-tickets-1712401191059.
Early bird prices available until 25th October.
