When I first heard of a new project that was looking for Crowd Funding, I liked the look of it straight away; a new programme aimed at young children to help them learn about British Wildlife. The project is called ‘Wildlife Jack’ and you can visit their website by clicking the link below.
I pledged to help the project and they managed to raise all the money they needed to get it off the ground! Through Twitter, I ‘met’ Ed, who is developing this series with his wife, and we got talking. I have large amounts of video footage of all sorts of animals, and said that I was happy for him to use any of it for the series. Ed needed some hedgehog footage and I suggested my friend Joan who runs the West Midlands Hedgehog Rescue. She has a very tame hedgehog that she uses to help educate people about the plight of these fantastic creatures. A hedgehog such as this would be perfect for getting the shots Ed needed for the programme. Cellie was discovered in a cellar, very close to death and after a lot of TLC, he recovered, but completely lost his fear of humans. This is why Joan has not released him and he remains fundamental to her education programme, visiting many schools, groups and organisations.
Here he is, preparing for his big appearance…..
We all met here at my patch and decided that the bridle path near my home was perfect. We really wanted to film at dusk, as hedgehogs are not really seen out in daylight hours and if they are, then a lot of alarm bells should be ringing, but we decided to film during the day (it was pretty gloomy) and see if the footage could be processed to look more like dusk or dawn. We introduced ‘Cellie’, Joan’s tame hedgehog to Ed and we set up the filming equipment in the bridle path.
We had several hours of filming as Cellie ambled around the undergrowth, rarely choosing to go where we wanted him to, but he seemed to be enjoying all the smells and beetles around!
We think we got some clips that will be perfect for Wildlife Jack’s encounter, so keep an eye out when the DVD is released.
Ed and I both donated some money to help Joan in her tireless task to care for and release her hedgehogs back into the wild. Last year Joan cared for over 400 hedgehogs, all self-funded! She is a very special lady and lots of hedgehogs have been saved because of her dedication. Joan’s work can be seen (and supported) by clicking on the link below.
It is great to be able to help a project like Ed’s and also to support a wonderful local charity! A big thanks to Ed for driving all the way from Brighton to film here and to the lovely Joan and Cellie!
