Bridget Thorley

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@HumbugAndToby Love the festive buckets. Just waiting for sparkley stable decorations. Followed by sparkley poo

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@HumbugAndToby Silver lining breakie was early Humbug

[Hedgehog Cabin @HedgehogCabin]

It's not normal for an owl to use a bird bath to bathe.
But she's desperate.
See how nervous she is?
She wouldn't naturally take such a risk, in such a small space.
But despite some rain and much lower temperatures our soil is still parched, and our ponds and streams and lakes are still dry.
So please keep providing water dishes for our struggling wildlife.
Many people see the birds in the day and provide for them, but our nocturnal animals - the hedgehogs, foxes, badgers, bats and owls - are unseen: their needs unconsidered.
This water tub sits on the bed of a dried out stream, which won't recover from the extended hot weather and drought of the summer for a long time yet.
When the ground becomes this parched, most rain is absorbed by dry earth rather than reaching or refilling ponds, streams, and underground aquifers.
So until our natural water resources recover, please be a life saver and provide clean water each night.

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@HumbugAndToby Hope you have got your jumper on underneath the rug Humbug

[Hedgehog Cabin @HedgehogCabin]

Every day now is filled with phone calls from finders of out-in-the-day hedgehogs. And they are all saying the same thing: "We brought him in, put him in a box and gave him food, he was starving."
They don't realise, but these sweet kind people have just sealed this hedgehog's fate.
Please NEVER feed a daytime wildlife casualty.
I know, it's so hard not to.
When we see a suffering animal we feel a strong, innate impulse to help, and a desire to provide immediate tangible comfort; equating food with survival and care.
Feeding feels like a direct, immediate and nurturing action to alleviate suffering.
Yet it is the most catastrophically harmful thing you could ever do.
Especially hedgehogs out in the day, who will be hypothermic.
It takes a lot of energy to digest food, energy these compromised animals just don't have spare.
Every last bit of their energy is being used to maintain vital bodily functions - to keep the heart beating, to oxygenate the organs.
Forcing energy away from these critical functions for something as non-critical as digesting food will be a death sentence.
It won't be immediate, it may take hours, or a couple of days, but eventually, no matter what the experienced rescue you later take them to tries, the animal is already on the unstoppable journey into shock, organ failure and death.
It's tragic for the casualty and heartbreaking for the rescues.
So please help in the right way.
An out-in-the-day hedgehog needs *contact* warmth, a safe indoor space away from flies, and cover to reduce their stress (please see advice below).
They are not going to die of starvation in the couple of hours between you finding them, and getting them to a rescue.😊
And please remember - any website that gives you DIY information on caring for or feeding injured or orphaned wildlife is, by default, wrong.
The ONLY right action is to get them to a good rescue (never a vet) where their complex needs can be met.
Even if you have seen this vital information before and understand it, feeding wildlife casualties is a powerful compulsion because it directly activates human instincts of empathy and compassion, often overriding the scientific advice against it.
So please remember this warning and spread it as far as you can.
Helping a wildlife casualty get to the expert treatment they need is an incredibly kind, altruistic act of great humanity.
Just remember to provide them with what they need, not what you need.🥰

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@HumbugAndToby Aren't you lucky a lucky boy. Fresh from the ground you can't beat them

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@HumbugAndToby Propper spa treatment especially if Taz can take a nap

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@history99917180 Lovely Rug. They don't sell Gareth coats at Horse shops

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@history99917180 Eqine related shopping going to happen

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@HumbugAndToby Its a lovely picture and gosh that's three residences ago I think and significant chunk in time. We all felt a lot younger then. And Spirt was still very much the boss

[Hedgehog Cabin @HedgehogCabin]

🔥If your bonfire wasn't built today - then please MOVE IT NOW.‼️
It won't take nearly as long as you think, and then you can relax and enjoy it tonight.
I've seen the face of someone handing me a hedgehog smelling like a barbecue and screaming.
You never want to be that person.

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@HumbugAndToby No wonder Toby is short he has been prevented from growing because of you putting your weight on him

[Bear Grylls OBE @BearGrylls]

I failed 21 SAS selection.

One hundred and twenty men started. Four finished. I was not one of them.

I do not tell that story to be humble. I tell it because of what happened next, which nobody ever asks about.

I went home. I was 19 years old and I had failed at the one thing I had told everyone I was going to do. There is a particular silence that follows that. Friends are kind. Family are careful. And you sit in your childhood bedroom and understand that the failure is now a fact about you.

Six months later I went back and did the whole thing again.

Passed the second time.

Here is what I actually learned, and it is not what people expect. It was not about grit. It was not about wanting it more. It was that the first attempt was not wasted, it was the reconnaissance. I knew where the ground broke you. I knew what the third day felt like. I was not braver the second time, I was better informed.

Most people treat a failure as a verdict.

It is data.

The only real failure is the one you refuse to go back and look at.

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@dog_gem @HumbugAndToby @AprilWheeler5 I think Humbug would load easily. The FOMO and love of a road trip is all the incentive needed

[Prickle Lodge - Hedgehog Rescue @pricklelodge]

Please help by reading and spreading the word 🙏

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@autcareandshare This is tough for you both. And I'm so sorry. Is there no specialist unit for Ryan to attend? I do know they exist

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@AprilWheeler5 @dog_gem @HumbugAndToby Well Humbug suffers badly from FOMO so there would have to be a big drama. Besides he loves a ride in a horse box

[Bridget Thorley @BridgetThorley]

@AprilWheeler5 @HumbugAndToby Oh how right you are

[Hedgehog Cabin @HedgehogCabin]

So many otherwise trusted sites are posting deadly misinformation about bonfires, and hedgehogs who may be nesting under them.
PLEASE BE CLEAR:

❌Poking a broom or stick under the bonfire will do nothing - even if you actually hit the hiding hedgehog and hurt her, she will NOT run.
Hedgehogs DO NOT have the flight or fight reflex that humans and other animals have. Their response to threat and danger, and even pain, is to curl into a ball and stay put, and wait for the danger to pass.

❌A hiding hedgehog will NOT hiss, or make any sound at all! They are a prey animal, you are a predator - they will NOT alert a predator to their presence, they will stay silent.

❌Lighting the bonfire from one side will NOT WORK. Their response to danger is to STAY PUT AND CURL INTO A PROTECTIVE BALL. They won't come running out. As the heat comes closer and the smoke fills her lungs, a hiding hedgehog will just curl tighter.

Whoever wrote these 'tips' does not understand the nature of a hedgehog.
THEY DO NOT RUN FROM DANGER.
Broadcasting this total nonsense is spreading a false sense of security and is potentially extremely harmful.

The only safe bonfire is one that is built or moved ON THE DAY IT IS LIT.
Moving a bonfire takes less time than you'd think.

There are lots of late-born baby hedgehogs around right now, who would see a bonfire as a safe place to nest.
Regrets won't turn back the clock.
The 'If only' will haunt you for a lifetime.
If you have to have a bonfire, please make sure you do it right.