A Hedgehog's View

I don’t know what that other chap’s been telling you, but this is a lot better than the place they usually make me live. Forget the scenery, the rolling hills, the lakes and streams, the roses, the rosemary, the partridges, the cool evenings and the rest of it. The best thing about this place is the insects. It’s full of them, and all my favourite kinds. It’s like the Savoy Grill in the shooting season. The beetles are excellent and plentiful, the spiders of a very high standard, the ants and flies make a good snack and the crickets are wonderful. If I could fly it would be perfect, but the butterflies usually get away.

It all smells of a hundred kinds of earth, and under every sod and every stone there's a meal, something new and delicious. They don't even bother to try to make me sleep in a cage here, I just curl up under something soft and safe and wait for evening. Bliss.