Pygmalion

Recently I’ve been learning all about acting at Axbridge Community Theatre where Maggie had a part as a parlour maid in the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.  

I didn’t realise so much hard work went into putting on a play.  Here I am trying out the stage at the Town Hall where the play was to take place, helpfully testing the safety of the crates by sitting on them.

Director, Wendy Mace, was very nice. She gave me a program to look at and told me all about the play.  Pygmalion is a story about a professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins, who makes a bet that he can teach a cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to speak well enough to pass for a duchess at an embassy ball.  He succeeds but it has unforeseen consequences for both of them.

The part of Eliza was played by Sarah Kendall who is pictured here being ‘poshed up’ by Sara Boundy.  'I washed me face and hands before I come, I did' so I didn't muck her up again while I was getting in the picture.

Ede Bailey did my make up just in case but I was rather disappointed to discover that George Bernard Shaw forgot to put parts for hedgehogs in Pygmalion.   

 

So I helped by checking over the props.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find any cake that wanted tidying away safely.

Parlour Maid, Maggie Stanley with Mrs Higgins, Sarah Duncan.

Many thanks to everyone at Axbridge Community Theatre for letting me join in and I really enjoyed the play.

I've taken the opportunity since to learn more about George Bernard Shaw who said “Animals are my friends and I don't eat my friends.”   Very sensible I think in respect of hedgehogs ... although personally I don’t think it counts for slugs and snails.

 

Back soon

Many blessings

Shaman Sham

A Hedgehog’s eye view of the Jubilee

Me in Axbridge with Tessa Munt, MP; the Revd Tim Hawkins; Mrs Yvonne Chamberlain, the Town Crier, Ian Laken, the Mayor and his Lady; and the Deputy Mayor, John Albone.

Sorry I'm a bit late posting my blog about the Jubilee.  June apologies too as she is the one who helps me with the typing and she has been busy pulling together the Summer Edition of the Indie Shaman Magazine.   She had lots of interesting articles from authors and as the magazine is due out of the end of July, this is the month she has to finish the editing.

Anyway back to the Jubilee, which happened while I was staying with Maggie, who took me along to the Axbridge Jubilee Celebrations where I had a great time and met lots of interesting people.  Everyone was very welcoming and nice to me as you can see from my title photo.  I met Tessa Munt, the Liberal Democrat MP for the Wells Constituency; the Reverend Tim Hawkins; Mrs. Yvonne Chamberlain, the Town Crier; Ian Laken the Mayor and his wife; and the Deputy Mayor, John Albone.  I also met Mike Sartain, the Deputy Chair of Axbridge Chamber of Commerce as you can see from the photo below. 

Meeting People - Me with Mike Sartain, Deputy Chair of Axbridge Chamber of Commerce, and the Mayor and his wife.

I’ve been learning about the Queen’s Jubilee.  The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee marks 60 years of the Queen’s reign.   That means the Queen came to the throne on 6 February 1952.   Her coronation was on 2 June 1953.  The only other British monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee was Queen Victoria in 1897 which is quite a long time ago.

One of the special projects launched for the Jubilee was the Woodlands Trust Jubilee Woods.  This will create a 460 acre public wood in Leicestershire and also plant 6 million trees across the UK creating hundreds of new woodlands.  Planting has already started in Autumn last year and will continue until the end of 2012.  I think this is a very good idea and all my wild animal friends will like it as well.

I also like parties.   I got to try some Pimms.

I have been learning about Axbridge while I am here, which is a lovely medieval town on the Southern slope of the Mendips in Somerset.  It has some wonderful old buildings one of which I visited; the King Johns Hunting Lodge is a museum in a 450 year old property owned by the National Trust. 

As you can see I am now a very cultivated hedgehog.   The museum is run by a dedicated group of local volunteers and has many interesting things in it including prehistoric bones found in caves in Bamwell.   There are also rooms showing what it was like in the workhouse, as well as of life as a civilian during the Second World War, an old shop and many more fascinating collections and displays.  You can learn lots there!  

Here I am at the celebration picnic outside Axbridge Butchers with more new friends.  The butchers sell award winning sausages which are very nice.

All that partying was very thirsty work and my Pimms seemed to have vanished but fortunately Maggie lent me her drink to toast the Queen with her and Les.  Apparently toasting someone isn't anything to do with bread like I thought at first.  Which is just as well really as I had no room in my tummy for more food after that picnic!  

Maggie asked if I want to stay another week as she has somewhere else exciting to take me so I'll be back soon with tales of my next adventures.

With many blessings to all my friends old and new
Sham

Hedgehogs Need Your Help!

I took the opportunity to learn more about being a hedgehog during my visit to Secret World.  Of course I know a fair bit about actually being a hedgehog but it’s always good to get a human perspective on our world which I can share with you all.  I also wanted to let you know how you can help wild hedgehogs as we need your help and make good garden friends you know.

Hedgehogs aren’t just handsome (as a friend remarked on my appearance on my Facebook page) we are also valuable friends to have around your garden as we are one of the best pest controllers there are.  As anyone who has had me visit them will know I do have a rather large appetite but did you know an adult hedgehog like me can clear a slug-infested garden in three months?  Hedgehogs are insectivores which mean we eat slugs, beetles, worms and caterpillars.  Bread and milk isn’t good for us but poorly or rescue hedgehogs can be fed cat or puppy food.

Hutches at Secret World.  Note the hedgehog friendly pile of logs!

Unfortunately hedgehog numbers have dropped by 25% over the last decade.  Changes in farming practices haven’t helped but most hedgehogs actually live in suburban areas so I’m sorry to say that its changes in people’s gardening which have actually caused hedgehog numbers to fall so drastically in recent years.   

Hedgehogs do, unsurprisingly, like hedges to hang out in but hedges have been replaced by fences and walls with no gaps for us to get in and out of the garden - effectively locking us out from helping you with your slug problem.  People are also paving or decking their gardens, and appearance and tidiness seems to matter more than having the odd wildlife friendly area.  

At Secret World.  Here the hedgehogs go outside when they are feeling better before being released

So what can you do to get your own wild hedgehog friend helping you with your garden?  We like:

• piles of leaves and longer grass
• a source of drinking water - if it’s a pond please make sure we can escape if we fall in
• log piles, compost heaps, hedges/shrubs
• hedges or walls and gates with gaps for us to get underneath or through.   

Basically a hedgehog, like humans, needs food, water and shelter.  But unlike humans you can provide for a hedgehog with a good compost heap!  If you haven’t got a hedge then shrubs or keeping a wild bramble patch will do – we’re not that fussy.  If you leave some leaf litter that will be perfect for us to make a nest with and did you know slugs also like to eat leaves so they will be eating them rather than your plants while the hedgehog will be eating the slugs.  Once you have a hedgehog in your garden keep it safe by checking any fruit nets aren’t too close to the ground and check your bonfires before you light them please. 

Hedgehog Fallacies

Many people don’t want hedgehogs in their garden as they think we have lots of fleas.  All wildlife has some fleas and hedgehogs have no more than any other wild animal.  Hedgehog fleas only live on hedgehogs so it’s not true that encouraging hedgehog will mean your pets ‘catch’ our fleas!  Of course personally I have no fleas at all!

Hedgehog Facts

• ·         Hedgehogs are nocturnal and adult hedgehogs are solitary.

• ·         Hedgehogs have 2 litters a year between June to July and September to October.  We have on average 4 or 5 hoglets but litters can be as large as 8.

• ·         Hoglets are born blind without spines which develop within an hour of birth.  Baby spines are soft and white with brown spines appearing within a few days.  Eyes open after two weeks.

• ·         Weaning takes place after 3 – 4 weeks when the hoglets will follow their mother on foraging trips.  The hoglets leave home at around 6 to 8 weeks old.

• ·         Hedgehogs hibernate from November to around February/March when there is no food.

Having a much deserved cuppa after all that learning!

 

Back soon with a hedgehog's-eye view of the Jubilee

Many blessings on your hedgehog helping

Sham

p.s.  

Hedgehog information and facts courtesy of Secret World Wildlife Rescue  and the Guardian Online.

To find out how you can help Secret World with their rescue work visit their website or donate via Indie Shaman's Charity Fund to help continue my adoption.

The Secret World of an Assertive Hedgehog

I was so excited to arrive at my friend Maggie’s last week.  I’ve met Maggie before when June, Simon and Judith from Indie Shaman met her on one of David Rowan’s Stonehenge tours.   Maggie knows a lot about hedgehogs already as she volunteers for Secret World Wildlife Rescue where I was born.  Here I am having a rest after my journey and enjoying the late sunshine in Axbridge.

Maggie also runs Pace for Living.  She’s been a therapist for over 20 years which is more years than since I was born!  

Maggie runs training courses and let me help her teach assertiveness at the Carlton Centre, Weston Super Mare. I’m very good at assertiveness apparently.

Then Maggie took me for a visit to Secret World Wildlife Rescue.  It made me feel quite emotional seeing my old home as I haven't seen it since I was a young hoglet.

Secret World is a charity in South West England which rescues, rehabilitates and releases injured, sick or orphaned wildlife.  Last year they helped around 4000 of us.  They also carry out educational visits in schools to teach children about nature and what they can do to protect wildlife, and have a conservation area including woodland and a wild flower meadow.

Do you know that I’m endangered?  It’s not just me and my hedgehog family and friends either as hedgehogs are only one of the many species of wildlife that were once common but are now on the endangered list.   Makes me feel very sad so I'm lucky I have all my friends to cheer me up and to help, and even luckier that there is somewhere like Secret World Wildlife Rescue.

 

Secret World relies on charitable donations to be able to do its work so if you are holding a fundraiser do take a look at their website.  You can also help Secret World by adopting an Owl, Fox, Badger or Otter and you will get information about your adopted animal as well as your own cuddly friend.  And if you treat them well they may develop a personality with assertiveness like I have.

Back soon with more photos of my visit to Secret World and more information about hedgehogs.

Many blessings

Your friend,Shaman Sham the Wandering Hedgehog

Exploring Ancient Pembrokeshire

A shamanic journey to Pentre Ifan*

The second week of our holiday in Wales June, Simon, Indi and I set off again, leaving Stepaside for a short hour and a half journey to a caravan site at Llanychaer near Fishguard. The caravan site was lovely and very peacefully with beautiful views over Cwm Gwaun. However June and Simon’s faces were not quite so lovely a picture as they approached the site and saw the hill they had to go down to get to it. Going down wasn’t a problem but they were right and had to call out a knight of the road from a local towing company to get them back up it in order to go home at the end of the week!

Tycanol ancient woodland

The first place June wanted to visit was Pentre Ifan. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, they turned off the road too soon and ended up at the beginning of a walk to Tycanol ancient woodland. Tycanol,one of the few remaining ancient woodlands in Wales, is representative of the type of forest that would have surrounded Pentre Ifan when the tomb was built around 3500 BCE.

These lucky sheep live in the tranquility of Tycanol

Tycanol is understandably wonderfully atmospheric and if you are fortunate enough to take a walk there yourself look out for one of its outstanding features, the variety of lichen. There are over 400 species of lichen many of which are rare, as well as of course many trees including ancient oak.

Pentre Ifan framing Carningli

Pentre Ifan itself has a huge capstone unbelievably balanced on three upright stones. This Bronze Age megalithic burial is surrounded by extensive views over the Nevern Valley. Turn one way and you can see the sea, turn the other way and you see the stones perfectly framing Carningli, Hill of Angels.

Carreg Coetan - 5 foot 5 inches tall to the capstone as proven by June (and Indi)!

A smaller Neolithic tomb, Carreg Coetan, can be found in the middle of a small private housing estate at Newport.

The Great Cross

Another visit on June’s list of ‘essentials’ was the Celtic Cross at the Church of St Brynach, an ancient church located in a wooded valley at Nevern. St Brynach was an Irish born Celtic monk who married the daughter of a Breconshire chieftan. Legend says St Bryach came to the Gwaun Valley and freed Pontfaen from evil spirits whose horrible howling had made the village uninhabitable. When he arrived in Nevern an angel told him a white sow would show him where to build his church.

Standing under a 'bleeding yew' in the rain

The tower of the church you can visit today is Norman but the remainder dates to around 1425 – 1525. The avenue leading to the church is ancient yew trees. These ‘bleeding yews’ were believed to shed blood and you can see why when you see the red sap dripping from the trees yourself!

Church of St Brynach

If you visit do go into the church itself to see the Maglocunus Stone which has an Ogham inscription in Goidelic, the Irish branch of the Celtic language then predominant in parts of Wales.  No dog's are allowed inside but as hedgehogs weren't mentioned I went in with June.  While you are in the church pick up a booklet (for a small donation) to make sure you don’t miss any of the other fascinating ancient features here. The Great Cross itself is very difficult to miss at 13 feet high. One of the most perfect specimens of Celtic Cross of its kind it dates from around the 10th or 11th century. Just before the Celtic Cross near the church porch is the bilingual Vitalianus Stone, believed to date from the 5th century – one of the oldest examples of this type of monument.

The Vitalianus Stone

Other features well worth looking out for include: the male mask on the wall near the Vitalianus stone; the incised stone believed to be a remnant of a vertical Latin inscription dating from the last years of the Roman occupation on the north wall of the church; and the Consecration Cross on the wall of the Glasdir Chapel.

We will definitely be going back to visit this beautiful area of Pembrokeshire again to explore all the areas of the Preseli Hills we didn't have time to see. In the meantime I am leaving June and Simon to work on creating the Summer edition of the Indie Shaman magazine while I hit the road again. Back soon to tell you all about where I am and what I am learning about!

Many blessings
Shaman Sham

p.s. * My title photo 'A shamanic journey to Pentre Ifan' is apropos and in appreciation of Kenn Day's book 'Dance of Stones: A Shamanic Road Trip'.  June reviewed it for the Indie Shaman magazine and highly recommended it so I'm reading it before I hit the road again for another shamanic road trip of my own.  

Stepaside

The sun is shining so I may help with some gardening again this weekend.  Last weekend when June was doing a bit of weeding she noticed that there were a good few empty snail shells lying around.  Simon said you could tell I was back!  

Waiting for my dinner in the caravan

But first a blog update about my lovely fortnight’s caravan holiday in Wales with June, Simon and Indi.  Indie is my adopted dog-sister.  Like me Indi was born in a rescue so we have a lot in common.  I was born at Secret World Wildlife Rescue and adopted by Indie Shaman in 2009 so I’m a couple of years older than Indi who was born in a foster home with Four Paws Animal Rescue and adopted by June and Simon.  Indi had her second birthday while we were on holiday but didn’t have a cake which was a bit disappointing, only a dog toy, but she did share some of her dog snacks and chicken with me.

 

 Comfy rock 'seat' at Amroth

For the first week we stayed at Millhouse Caravan Park which is in Stepaside near Saundersfoot.    If you are looking for a place to stay the site is very nice and quiet, nestled in a sheltered valley.  You can take a short but lovely walk from there through the woods to Wiseman’s Bridge which is what we did the day after we arrived. 

Amroth Beach

Stepaside is not very far from June’s Mum so I got to meet my adopted Grannie for the first time.  We met her every day and went out to the sea side.  The weather was a bit cold but the rain held off enough for us to go out nearly every afternoon.  I think my favourite place was Amroth, which means ‘on the brook called Rhath’. Amroth has a long sandy beach with lots of rock pools and wonderful views across the coast.  There is a handy pebble bank to the beach where you can find comfy large rocks to sit on if the sand is damp. 

 Petrified wood

Simon found tree stumps and petrified wood while walking Indi down to see the sea.  This is the remains of a petrified forest which grew during the Ice Age that archaeologist believe was destroyed when the sea levels rose over 7000 years ago. 

 Treated to lunch at the Pirates Cafe, Amroth.  The food is lovely!

Back soon with tales of my second week which included a visit to Pentre Ifan megalithic burial chamber and to see the 13 foot high Celtic Cross at Nevern.

In the meantime if you like competitions, the Indie Shaman Facebook page has a new one where you can enter for a chance to win a free year’s subscription to the new pdf version of the magazine. 

Many blessings

Sham

Hibernation

Hi everyone

Sorry about the large gap since my last blog. I decided after all my travels and learning about other things it was time to try hibernating and learn about being a British hedgehog.

Hedgehog hibernation depends on the weather conditions and begins when the temperature turns colder, usually around November to January, and ends around mid-March to early April. Our food, such as slugs, snails and caterpillars, is more difficult to find during this time so it makes sense to conserve our energy - during hibernation a hedgehog’s metabolism is almost at a standstill. If we live somewhere where it stays warm, or live indoors and there is enough food we don’t need to hibernate. So this is why I have never tried hibernating before as people tend to keep me warm and feed me cat food when slugs and snails aren’t available. I also like muesli and raisins very much (always worth telling people what you like to eat I think just in case you go to visit them).

Hedgehogs start looking for the best place to build a nest to hibernate in towards the end of autumn, liking under hedges, by the roots of trees and inside old rabbit burrows. Urban hedgehogs also like underneath sheds and inside compost heaps. Nests may look a bit messy and are made up of things like old leaves and grass. I admit I didn’t start looking until after Winter Solstice and then I didn’t have to look very far to find a nice comfy bed going spare. I didn’t bring in any old leaves as I didn’t think it would be appreciated and the quilt is much comfier.

When hedgehogs hibernate we become immobile, our body's temperature drops to around 10˚c, our heart rate decreases to only 20 beats per minute (as opposed to the usual approximate 190 beats per minute and we only breath once every few minutes.

I woke up a few times while I was hibernating. Once because Biscuit the cat moved into the bed while Judith was visiting so I moved back out into the doll’s cot for the night. The second time because it was my birthday and I didn’t want to miss out on any potential presents and party food. I did think about staying awake then as I gave June a hand with the new Books page on the Indie Shaman website but once I got back into bed the temptation to go back into hibernation and learn more from Grandmother Hedgehog was too much.


The third time I woke up was because Rochelle was here. Rochelle and June went on a Walk with Wolves and brought back my new friend, Laputa. He is only a young wolf so once Rochelle had gone I let him sleep with me as he still likes to sleep as part of the pack. (You can see some of the photos from the Walk with Wolves Day on June's Facebook)

Other hedgehogs also wake up fairly frequently for a day or two during their hibernation but rarely leave their nests. If the weather becomes too cold we tend to wake up and go and build another nest as it’s dangerous for us to get too cold. If you see a hedgehog wobbling, staggering or rocking it needs help as that is a sign of hypothermia - sick, injured and orphaned hedgehogs are very susceptible to hypothermia. They may also look like they are sunbathing as they spread themselves out in the sun to try to get some heat. Hedgehogs with hypothermia can be helped by taking them indoors and putting them in a box with a well-wrapped hot water bottle underneath them. Don’t let the bottle get cold and ring a hedgehog rescue centre such as Secret World Wildlife Rescue or the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

I’m going to stay awake now. The spring edition of the Indie Shaman Magazine is due from Minuteman Press today. It’s got some great articles in it and some wonderful photographs by Rochelle, including some of wolves I want to show Laputa. Plus I’ve heard talk about a trip to Wales so I may see if I can smuggle myself into the caravan without anyone noticing.

Promise not to leave it so long to my next blog!
Many blessings
Shaman Sham