You can actually find hedgehogs in the wild? I thought they were all converted into furry little pets with spikes? Or at least have had running shoes strapped on them.

You're right they've all gone Hollywood, becoming the darlings of the internet, but SG was talking about 20 years ago. :haha:

Nope, they still live wild here.

My sister lives in a damp area (everything on the outskirts of this town is built on land that was previously flood plains) and they have hedgehogs in their garden.

"When I started here, all there was was swamp. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp, but the fourth one... stayed up!"

My sis and I kept saying that while we were in New Orleans.

All this talk of wildlife has encouraged me to go buy a fieldguide to back yard birds. I have the binox (russian military surplus, natch) and a primo view from my kitchen table.

And the birds I see perched on the lightpoles most days on my way to work? Peregrine falcons. Very cool!

Peregrine falcons on light poles, very cool, sure, great, sitting up there all pretty and shit, wonderful... until you have to get out and change a flat tire.
Then they swoop down and mug ya... carry ya off to their lair, and strip the flesh, your flesh, from your bones to feed their young.

Ever think of that? Betcha didn't did ya? Hah, I thought not. :headshake

I need to get a guide too. My brother can name any bird, by sight or sound, any time. I love birds.

Coming this spring to a computer near you, watch the peregrine falcons nest, pop out babbies, and nurture said babbies at the Boonshoft Museum webcam in Dayton OH.

http://www.boonshoftmuseum.org/index...sk=view&id=249

I bought some Eye-Spy books when I lived in Leicester. Because I wasn't confident that what I so confidently identified was in fact correct.

They were written for children, with very high grade illustrations. We were bought them for journeys/ holidays (they had points you ticked off, making a competition of it) but could easily have been used at home - except that then your parents were assumed to have educated you, as ours did.

The ones I bought originally cost something like 25p and sold for £1.20. Well worth it to realise I knew my trees and birds pretty well though. And let me know the ones I didn't. And to confirm that the ubiquitous trees on my walk into the city were limes. I thought I knew, but wasn't positive. After all I'd seen plenty of roads called Limes Avenues and I don't think I'd ever seen a lime tree in my life!