Our beautiful robins become engaged in January and marry at the end of March. The male presents her with a courtship present, a tiny grub, a love gift to prove his feelings for her. If she accepts his gift the days of engagement are over and the serious work of married life begins.

In the early summer, when the hedgerows are white with May (the blossom of the hawthorn), the scent of which is heavy upon the breeze, and the birds singing lustily above, the spirit of the times is felt even underground by the mole—the blind miner whose senses are so keen it triggers him to start breeding in earnest.

Beneath the flailed clippings of a hawthorn hedge is the home of Fidget and her little friend Piccolo. This is the place where Bob and his trusty spaniel Blue would frequent every morning, a little lane which winds like loose string baffling your sense of direction.

Moses is a little long-haired kitten; his fur is champagne in colour and as soft as the early buds of the willow. He would often sit beside the pond and watch Big Fish basking in the sun.

Spike came under my watchful eye on the 20th November, 2016. This gave me a further opportunity to expand my observations and knowledge on his mode of life. Spike was not the first hedgehog I had reared over the years.